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Importance of Blood pH

The pH (degree of acidity-alkalinity) of the blood is extremely important and is now, more and more, being considered an important indicator of one's health.

Oxygen is critical to health, and lack of it has been linked to numerous diseases (see Energy & Oxygen). Hemoglobin is the substance in the blood that transports our vital oxygen. As blood becomes more alkaline, hemoglobin flattens out more and more in this more alkaline environment, and is able to allow more oxygen molecules to attach to it. As a result, even slightly more alkaline blood is able to carry much more oxygen to the cells of the body.

Maintaining Blood pH

The human body attempts to maintain itself in a state of balance (called homeostasis). The body has built-in mechanisms for maintaining the acid-alkaline balance (measured by the pH scale from 0 to 14) of the blood. Many foods that we eat turn our bodies highly acidic as they produce acids (e.g., phosphoric, sulfuric, and lactic acids) which handled in two different ways are dumped into the bloodstream. The blood is able to neutralize these acids with substances, called buffers, that react with the acids to produce far less acid substances, called salts. The body can then safely eliminate these salts via the urine and kidneys, and the skin. The lungs (i.e., by breathing out acidic carbon dioxide), are also able to expel weaker acids (e.g., vinegar) provided that they have been oxidized by the body.

Sometimes the blood is unable to maintain its own pH within very narrow limits (approximately 7.35 - 7.45) due to a lack of these buffers, so the body will then take more drastic steps to regulate the blood's pH. This results in alkalizing, "bone-building" buffering materials being removed from the bones and tissues. Calcium and magnesium are some of these materials often "robbed" from Peter (the bones) to pay Paul (the blood). While good in the short run for neutralizing more acids in the blood, this robbery from the bones, as well as from other areas of the body, often leads in the long run to other problems, such as weakened bones. The result is often osteopenia (bone loss) and osteoporosis (severe bone loss), leading to fractures.

Measuring pH with Litmus Paper

While a blood sample is needed to measure blood pH, it turns out that other fluids (e.g., saliva and urine) in the body can give an indication as to how acidic or alkaline the body is. It is relatively easy to measure the pH of urine and saliva during the day (they fluctuate widely throughout the day) using "pH paper." Some experts disagree about how, or even if, saliva or urine pH correlates with the pH of the blood and tissues. They also may not agree exactly as to the ideal pH.

James LeBeau, in Balance Your pH (see references below), defines the ideal range for saliva pH as between 6.4 and 7.4 (is on higher side when eating). He indicates that the ideal range of urine pH is between 5.5 and 7.0, and should average about 6.4. He mentions that some others believe that healthy vegetarians may have higher urine pH ranges than these, perhaps from 6.8 to 8.5. Balance Your pH is an extremely detailed manual (about 200 pages) which describes saliva and urine pH testing as a tool that can be used to analyze one's diet and pH status, with the ultimate goal of balancing one's pH, as the title indicates.

Most high school chemistry students have used strips of litmus paper to measure pH. When coming in contact with liquids, the litmus paper changes color, and the color indicates the pH (how acid or alkaline it is). Some brands show acidic solutions (pH below 7) with colors in the yellow range, and show more neutral solutions (pH closer to 7) as green colors and more alkaline solutions (pH above 7) as blue colors. Other brands use different colors, but a color chart is usually provided so the color can be correlated with pH, and you can determine how acidic or alkaline (also called basic) the liquid is. pH paper with a range from 5.5 to 8.0 (such as the pHydrion brand) is sold in health food stores and on the Internet. The pH of saliva and urine usually falls within this range, provided the body is reasonably in balance. Individuals with serious diseases, such a cancer, may have pH values near the limits of or even outside this range (e.g., close to or even less than 5.0). Blood pH, however, is kept within much more narrow limits.

Standard American Diet (SAD)

One of the reasons the body is forced to steal bone-building materials from the bones in order to give them to the blood is because the body's tissues are often far too acidic on the Standard American Diet (ironically called SAD). The SAD is very deficient in alkaline minerals, and tens to be a very acidifying diet, Dairy products, meat, fish, fats, fried foods, most grains and sugar are acid-forming. Most fruits and vegetables, as well as many seeds, are alkaline-forming. The SAD does not indicate the quality of the food, and food that has been refined or grown in poor soil or under bad conditions is often deficient in many nutrients, and in the Chi which makes the food alive.

Most individuals in the U.S. on the Standard American Diet (SAD), as well as many other people throughout much of the industrialized world, have an ongoing problem of acidosis - tissues that are overly acidic. Within these individuals, in an attempt to make the blood less acidic and more alkaline, calcium. magnesium, and other materials are continually stolen from bones and tissues. Often this is a losing battle, as a continually over-acidic body will fail to replace the "borrowed" bone and tissue materials.

Factors Affecting Alkalinity

Including food, there are many factors that affect pH, including some that are often unknown or neglected. Since the tendency of modern diet and lifestyle is to make our bodies too acidic, the challenge is to make the body more alkaline. Here a few things that will make us more alkaline (even though good health does require various acid-forming activities and foods):

• Chewing food well, especially carbohydrates, since their digestion, aided by saliva, begins in the mouth
• Eating food raw
• Not cooking food too much
• Prayer/Meditation/Contemplation
• Calmness (anger makes us acidic)
• Minimizing adrenaline
• Drinking water with a negative polarity
• Drinking water with alkaline-forming minerals in it
• Eating most fruits and vegetables, especially those low in sugar
• Eating less sugar, candy bars, white rice and white flour (which are acid-producing)
• Eating less fats (which are acid-producing, due to fatty acids)
• Eating less protein (which is acid-producing, although plant protein is less so)
• Avoiding most legal and illegal drugs (which are mostly acid-producing)
• Avoiding stress and anger (these are extremely acid-producing)
• Body manipulation, such as acupressure (deep massage can be acidifying when acids are released)
• Limiting very strenuous exercise (which can produce large amounts of lactic acid)
• Harmonious music
• Most alternative healing methods

As to alternative healing methods, here is an interesting quote from Dr. Baroody.

Alkalizing Fluids

Dr. Young also mentions a method of boosting pH more quickly by drinking liquids with a few "pH drops" added to them. These "pH drops" are solutions of compounds that contain oxygen and, if properly ingested, cause the body to become more alkaline. He mentions several types of "pH drops" such as chlorine dioxide (ClO₂), hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) and sodium chlorite (NaClO₂). According to Dr. Young, pH drops are substances that release oxygen in the body. See The pH Miracle: Balance Your Diet, Reclaim Your Health by Robert O. Young, Ph.D. & Shelly Redford Young for additional information. It should be noted that some of these substances come in food grade (for internal use) and non-food grade (for external use only) varieties. However, food grade solutions are often extremely concentrated (e.g., 35% instead of a safer 2%) and, if directions are not followed exactly, burns and more severe medical problems can and will occur. On the other hand, learning correct breathing techniques will put more oxygen into the lungs, then into the blood, with possibly less difficulty. There are also a variety of other alkalizing liquids such as "mineral drops" (even low sodium varieties), and juices (diluted or concentrated) such as black cherry juice.

pH Balance, Food and Lifestyle

pH balance can be partially achieved by proper eating (many experts suggests consuming about 80%, by volume, of alkaline-producing substances such as fruits and vegetables, some of which should be raw), drinking, taking supplements, and engaging in alkaline-producing activities.

The Bible mentions food as being medicine. This is found in the Book of Ezekiel (Ezekiel 47:12).

Eating and living in such a way as to be able to balance Acidity and Alkalinity depends upon the Metabolic Type of each individual. Good health is not just a simple matter of eating a proper mixture of acid-forming and alkaline-forming foods. It more a matter of understanding your metabolic type, since an acid-forming food for one metabolic type can be an alkaline-forming food for another metabolic type. This means that a food such as a lemon or a tomato can make the body of one individual more alkaline, yet make that of another more acidic. More information on eating correctly for your metabolic type can be found in these books:

Yin-Yang Balance, Chi and pH

From a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) point of view, foods should be consumed in a manner that promotes the balance of Chi/Energy within the body. TCM focuses on balancing Yin and Yang in the body. Acid and alkaline forming foods can be further divided into Yin Acid-forming foods, Yang Acid-forming foods, Yin Alkaline-Forming foods and Yang Alkaline-forming foods. The book Acid and Alkaline by Herman Aihara contains lists of foods in these four categories. Mr. Aihara, is a Yin-Yang specialist who was born in Japan and later moved to the United States. He advocates both Acid-Alkaline (pH) balance, as well as Chi (Yin-Yang) balance, in the body.

Here are some excellent books on the topic of Acidity and Alkalinity, and how pH affects health. Some of them give some very practical information.