Acid-Alkali Balance

Immunity, Energy, Mental Clarity and Weight are Related to Body pH

Jun 24, 2007
Victoria Anisman-Reiner

Coffee is acidic & creates congestion in the body - jeltovski at morguefile

The human body has a normal "healthy" range for pH, but the balance of acid and alkali "ash" foods in the diet can affect health and almost every chronic condition.

A relatively recent concept in the field of natural healthcare, the pH or acid-alkali balance of the body has an impact on almost every aspect of well-being and health. Acidity is a major factor in congestion and inflammation, weakens the immune system and aggravates most chronic conditions. Body pH is affected by what we eat and is key in preventative medicine.

What is pH?

pH is the scientific term representing level of acidity. It is a calculation based on the concentration of hydrogen (“H” or “H+”) ions present in a liquid. The pH scale runs from 1 (or lower, for extremely strong acids) to 14.

7 is neutral pH (neither acid nor alkali);
pH under 7 is acid;
pH over 7 is alkali.

Water is generally considered safe to drink so long as the pH is between 5 and 9.

The human body operates within a normal, “safe” pH range. Within that range, however, there can be some change due to diet and stress factors. When pH is at the acidic end of the safe range, the body becomes more inviting to viruses and bacteria, as well as more vulnerable to mucus, congestion, and other chronic or “mysterious” recurring health issues such as sore throat, persistent headaches, cold and flu, fatigue, gout, chronic pain and achiness or arthritis.

What Makes the Body Acidic?

Most scientific models conceive the ideal pH of the human body as 7.4, slightly alkaline, although hair, skin, and saliva are all normally acidic.

Internal biochemical factors can combine to alter pH, but in most cases it is dietary factors that imbalance the pH of the human body. Every food has a specific impact on the pH of the body, due the pH of that food’s “ash.”

Acid Ash and Alkali Ash

If you’re thinking that acidic foods like coffee, oranges, vinegar and lemons make the body acidic, you’re right in part, although it’s not quite so simple.

Almost every food we consume enters the body as an acidic substance. Yet many foods have the ability to increase alkalinity by absorbing or neutralizing acidity.

Lemons, in particular, are remarkably able to balance the pH of the body. They enter the body as an acid – but through the digestive process, are transformed into an alkali-ash food, so named because the process of digestion is similar to combustion. When lemon juice is “burned” or digested, the product is an “alkali ash.”

The impact of a food on the pH of the human body is due not to its original chemical composition, but its acid or alkali ash.

Foods that Promote Acidity and Alkalinity

Acid-forming or Acid-ash Foods & Substances: AVOID

Sugar
Artificial sweeteners
Sweet foods
Coffee
Tea (black, green)
Juice
Pop
Alcohol
Vinegar
Meat, cheese, animal products
Antibiotics, pharmaceutical drugs

Acid-binding or Alkali-ash Foods & Substances: INCREASE

Lemons, limes
Apple Cider Vinegar (the exception)
Soy and tofu
Avocado
Most vegetables and vegetable juices
Most spices and essential oils

For more on foods that promote alkalinity in the body and improve pH balance, see Tips to Balance pH.

Victoria Anisman-Reiner, B.Sc., C.C.A., C. Anisman-Reiner

Victoria Anisman-Reiner - Victoria Anisman-Reiner is a freelance writer with extensive experience in holistic health care and animal training.

Comments

Sep 26, 2009 1:14 AM

Guest :

The Importance of ph Balance and body health
According to a current stream of research, the natural pH in the human body fluctuates, over a 24 hour period, between alkalosis and acidosis. If this oscillation did not occur, it would be impossible for the various biochemical processes in the body to take place and metabolism would grind to a halt. This ebb and flow in our pH is precisely what drives the engine of biological life. These are only small fluctuations around the point of equilibrium, but they are sufficient to create biochemical motion.
Although it is generally accepted that pH is the inverse logarithm of the concentration of hydrogen ions, the concepts of this almost mathematical definition are virtually impossible to understand. What it really means is that pH tells us the quantity of hydrogen ions in a solution, and more specifically, for what concerns us here, in the human body. Hydrogen ions have a positive electric charge and there is a constant state of equilibrium between these and other hydroxide ions which have a negative charge. The result of this interplay is that the quantities of both in a solution will always remain constant (ionic result), because if one rises then the other must inevitably fall. When the number of hydrogen ions rises, the positive electrical charge will rise and the negative charge, in the form of OH or hydroxide ions, will fall. In such a case we say that we are in a state of acidosis, and in the opposite case, when the negative charges predominate, we would be in alkalosis. As we can easily deduce, the oscillation of these electrical charges creates an electromagnetic field, and this is the first moment in scientific medicine that such fields are mentioned. It is therefore that in physics, a magnetic field is defined as that place in space where electromagnetic forces occur and since Maxwell, the concepts of electrical charge and electromagnetic charge have been intertwined. So when we speak of pH, we are also speaking of electromagnetic fields.
Every living biological system, be it an ant, a plant, or a bacterium, even a single cell, is therefore an electromagnetic field fluctuating between positive and negative charges, and owes its life to this motion.
This motion can only be explained by the living organisms’ drive to escape a state of charge, be it negative or positive, to find repose, or in other words, electro-neutrality, but absence of charge would mean the end of biochemical motion, which would be the

Mar 9, 2010 12:00 AM

Guest :

Just this week I neard about 1/2 a lemon in a glass of water,so I looked up why it's needed,I've found out all about Alkali PH & acid PH ,now I've just read it all means =electromagnetic fields,I would love to know if this has anything to do with A/P.Any way your notes explains things in a way that someone like me [just new to the world of alt- meds] was able to follow thanks:~}

Mar 22, 2011 11:39 AM

Guest :

Oversimplified. PH does NOT tell you anything about charge, hydrogen ions are but one of many types in the body. The cell charge is the result of the net charges of all ions of all kinds present on either side of a barrier or membrane. PH is NOT supposed to fluctuate to any significant degree, neither is temperature. The body has methods of restoring balance, however, these measures are only short term fixes, like leaching minerals from bones and organs. The way to keep healthy is to eat more alkaline than acid food, it's no coincidence that the best things are the most natural, and these are fruit and veg- all usually alkaline, in contrast to processed foods,meats and sugar which are acidic.

3 Comments