Secrets of pH Balancing
Have you ever wondered if the diseases in our society have a common cause? Many doctors, herbalists, and nutritionists believe that the explanation may come down to two small words: Acid / Alkaline. High acidity can become a dangerous condition that weakens all major body systems. It makes your internal environment conducive to disease. A pH-balanced environment, on the other hand, allows proper metabolic functioning and gives your body resistance to disease. A healthy body maintains alkaline reserves that are used to meet emergency demands. An acid-alkaline (or acid-base) ratio called the pH, which is a balance between positively charged ions (acid-forming) and negatively charged ions (alkaline-forming.) The body continually strives to balance pH. When this balance is compromised many problems can occur. It is important to understand that we are not talking about stomach acid or the pH of the stomach. We are talking about the pH of the body's fluids and tissues, which is an entirely different matter. Most people who suffer from unbalanced pH are acidic. This condition forces the body to borrow minerals -- including calcium, sodium, potassium and magnesium -- from vital organs and bones to buffer (neutralize) the acid and safely remove it from the body. Because of this strain, the body can suffer severe and prolonged damage due to high acidity -- a condition that may go undetected for years. Even mild acidosis can cause such problems as:
- Cardiovascular damage, including the constriction of blood vessels and the reduction of oxygen.
- Weight gain, obesity and diabetes.
- Bladder and kidney conditions, including kidney stones.
- Immune deficiency.
- Acceleration of free radical damage, possibly contributing to cancerous mutations.
- Premature aging.
- Weak, brittle bones, hip fractures and bone spurs.
- Joint pain, aching muscles and lactic acid buildup.
- Low energy and chronic fatigue
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Minerals Buffer Acids - A recent study conducted at the University of California-San Francisco on 9,704 postmenopausal women showed that those who have higher acidity levels (also called chronic acidosis) from a diet rich in animal foods are at greater risk for lower bone density levels than those who have "normal" pH levels. The researchers who carried out this study hypothesized that many of the hip fractures prevalent among older women correlated to higher acidity from a diet rich in animal foods and low in vegetables. The body apparently borrows calcium from the bones in order to balance pH, and this calcium borrowing may result in a decrease in bone density. -American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Jan. 2001, Vol. 73, No.1, pp. 118-122.
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