Alkalize your body?

[DRBUZZ0]

I posted a video here: http://depletedcranium.com/?p=337


This guy has managed to get some mainstream coverage on CNN and CBS and other news outlets. He claims to be a research scientist but got his PhD from a deploma mill.

The book he is pushing is "The pH miracle" it claims that all major health problems are caused by an acidic body and we need to alkalize it. Furthermore, it claims there are special foods you have to eat that are not "acidic" but rather "alkaline."

So which foods qualify? You'd probably think stuff like baking soda would be what you need to eat. Well according to this quack it's not as simple as that. You can't just go by the pH of the food itself, but rather by the "ash residue" of it after the body has metabolized it.


Sorry about linking to my blog, but it's all written up there in full and I thought it was mainstream and post-worthy enough to mention here.

[Loss Leader]

There's a guy in my business-group that's trying to sell a water dispenser that alkalizes the water to help restore your natural body pH. How do you know how much water to drink is my question. Also, how is it different from having an alta-seltzer?

It is all nonsense. The body's pH level is not controled by the foods we eat. If it were, a liter of orange juice would make you die.

[El Greco]

Alkaline substances have been in use as ergogenic aids for ages. This is not what the OP refers to, but do a search on lactic acid buffers and you'll see that there are certain well-known effects of ingested alkaline substances like potassium citrate, sodium citrate, sodium bicarbonate etc.

[Apathia]

OMG! the Polarity Diet!
http://www.weare1.us/Health%20Building.html

[Leicontis]

Raising the pH of the human body is NOT a good idea. Our bodies are naturally acidic because that is the environment that our enzymes function properly in. If a person raises their body's pH above a certain point they will DIE. This was a problem during the period of America's westward expansion. Certain water sources were alkaline, and would sicken or kill anyone that drank from them. After a while, they would end up marked with warning signs, letting later groups know that the water was dangerous. See this Wiki link (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alkalosis) for some information on the alkalosis, the condition of excessive body pH. It's a bit of a stub, unfortunately, but it's some info, at least.

[fls]

I feel obliged to point out that our pH is already alkaline. It is kept to a narrow range around 7.4 through a variety of mechanisms which are not overcome by what we eat. If your pH were acidic, you'd be dead or dying.

Linda

[casebro]

Beside, Lactic acid is an energy source used by your heart during exercise. Seems the skeletal muscles burn the sugar and fats, then give off the lactic acid to keep from starving your heart. Like anything else, even water, too much is not good but only a mal-adjusted metabolism will raise the amount to toxic levels.

[DRBUZZ0]

I feel obliged to point out that our pH is already alkaline. It is kept to a narrow range around 7.4 through a variety of mechanisms which are not overcome by what we eat. If your pH were acidic, you'd be dead or dying.

Linda

I believe you're refering to the blood pH. There is no single pH of the body. The blood, urine, bile, digestive fluids, lymphatic fluids, spinal fluid... all this stuf is different and is going to have a different pH.

[fls]

I believe you're refering to the blood pH. There is no single pH of the body. The blood, urine, bile, digestive fluids, lymphatic fluids, spinal fluid... all this stuf is different and is going to have a different pH.

I was referring to the blood pH. It seemed most relevant.

Linda

[JJM]

{snip} Our bodies are naturally acidic because that is the environment that our enzymes function properly in. {snip}Not quite ... each enzyme has its optimal pH; some alkaline, some acidic. As one might imagine, the optimal pH usually corresponds to the compartment in which it is needed. Also, pH can control an enzyme. For example, the digestive enzyme, chymotrypsin, is stored in an acid environment in the pancreas to prevent it from digesting that gland. It becomes active when released into the, slightly alkaline, intestine.

Beside, Lactic acid is an energy source used by your heart during exercise. {snip}Don't be confused by the label "acid." Whether or not it is in acid form (or, slightly alkaline) lactate form depends on the pH of the compartment in which it is found. Rather than being bogged-down in contingent discussions of which form it is in (or, the proportion of each), we use one or the other as a shorthand.

The FDA has a long list of typical pH for foods:
http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~comm/lacf-phs.html
It turns out, most are one the acid side. Therefore, the "alkaline diet" proponents have to invent some criterion by which certain foods are "alkaline." As pointed out in this thread, that could be the ash remaining after combustion; which tends to be alkaline in most cases (e.g., potash ...).

Of course, each author is free to make up his/her own facts; but many of the diets make a certain sense because they promote consumption of fruits and vegetables. Unfortunately, they can also contain very bad advice:
http://www.eatright.org/ada/files/PhMiracle.pdf

[XBoxWarrior]

Somehow, I feel completely safe in just eating my food....

No matter what the brilliant doctors say, Tonight's menu is BBQ'ed chicken, brown rice, and some freshly steamed broccoli.......

I love the broccoli.

Sure hope I don't die before my time. ;)

p.s. I NEVER eat baking soda, it's only used on my car battery. :)

[flume]

the author of The pH Miracle is one of those nuts who believes that cells can morph into other life forms like bacteria or fungus in the wrong conditions.

[casebro]

... but many of the diets make a certain sense because they promote consumption of fruits and vegetables. ...

Aren't meats about the highest pH of foods? So wouldn't a low veggie diet be very alkaline?

But I dunno from potash...

[flume]

Aren't meats about the highest pH of foods? So wouldn't a low veggie diet be very alkaline?
Meats have the most tendency to produce acid in the urine. When sulfur-containing amino acids are broken down they produce acid which has to be buffered in the blood and ultimately makes the urine more acid.

[JJM]

Aren't meats about the highest pH of foods? So wouldn't a low veggie diet be very alkaline? {snip}Not if one is making-up a contrarian notion to sell to people. You have no future in quackery.

[NeilC]

Whilst you can't usually, and wouldn't want to, change the pH of your bloood etc the pH of foods and their metabolites might be a health factor in some diseases.

The idea is that diets with lots of animal proteins (one of the so called "acidising foods") require the buffering of the acids produces in metabolising them and that buffering comes from bone minerals which can be a risk factor in bone density disease. This effect is supposed to be countered by "alkalising foods" including many fresh veg.

Here's an article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2000/12/001227082125.htm

[alfaniner]

I'd sure like to be able to neutralized the acid that's causing my gout right now.

Ow.

[robinson]

Funny you should say that. I was pondering that very issue this morning, in regards to this topic. While the body is good at keeping the blood Ph stable, excess acids certainly can cause problems.

[DRBUZZ0]

Not if one is making-up a contrarian notion to sell to people. You have no future in quackery.

Well obviously you have to buy the book to figure out which foods are the "alkaline" ones and which are the "acid" ones. it's very complicated and you have to refer to his charts.

What? Do you think there is some kind of simple "litmus test" for this stuff?


oh wait... yea... nevermind on that last one.