Be-Well Information

There is a theory supported by many that your health depends on the chemical pH (acidic and alkaline) balance of your body, and that good food choices can move you toward the alkaline side. Example, “… an informative overview of acidic and alkaline foods, explaining how your body reacts to various foods and how to achieve balance through your diet. Discover the effects of pH balance on skin, hair, weight loss and detoxification. You’ll be amazed by the results!”

This concept is supported by numerous health authors, some of whom are nutritionists or physicians, many of whom are sellers of herbal diet supplements (unregulated) with definite economic motivation.

1. It is true that one can affect parts of the body by adding chemicals to the ingested foods and liquids. For example, NH4Cl (ammonium chloride) and NaHCO3 (sodium bicarbonate) can change the acid concentration in urine.

2. It is also true that the stomach operates with a very high concentration of hydrochloric acid. To significantly reduce acidity in the stomach is to significantly impair digestion. Only under the direction of your physician should you try to modify this balance.

Frankly, “heartburn” is often the result of excessive eating and fatty foods, rather than spices and acid in the stomach, something which Bayer, the makers of Alka-Seltzer, do not publicise. Also, “heartburn” can be a symptom of heart problems. (Alka-Seltzer consists of aspirin, sodium bicarbonate, and citric acid; the last two components are mainly to fizz on exposure to water, to imitate health spa mineral springs of old. Some of the bicarb might counter acid refluxed into the esophagus.)

3. It is not clear that, outside of rather abnormal situations, one’s weight loss, energy level, baldness, sex drive, attractiveness to women, et cetera, can be beneficially influenced by adjusting pH through food selection.

4. It is very clear that diets favoring fruits, vegetables, beans, legumes, and restricting refined sugars, red meats, saturated fats do significantly aid health and longevity, energy level, sense of well being, resistance to numerous diseases, and more. Also, moderate exercise helps in all these areas. Good food choices mean that one need not ever count calories, nor be very hungry.

5. In extreme situations, physicians might inject chemicals directly into the veins to adjust the blood pH. However, this should not be done at home by amateurs.

My personal opinion (and check with your physician) is that worrying about how food selections might affect your body’s pH balance is a waste of time. My own writings, and those of authors I respect, favor the concepts in item #4.

In case you are of a different mind, here is a title on the subject.
Eat Papayas Naked: The Ph Balanced Diet for Super Health And Glowing Beauty, by Susan Lark, M.D. (Paperback – Sep 30, 2005) – Illustrated
The theory might be cracked, but the recipes are said to be delicious.
Dr. Larkin also has a web site, www.drlark.com, which offers recipes and herbal supplements for sale.

I close with a quotation from http://www.onlinecancerinfo.com/docs/diet/pHbalance.htm
“Forget cholesterol counts. Forget calories and fat grams. Forget blood pressure, blood sugar, hormone levels, or any of the other markers of health you’re used to at the doctor’s office. It turns out that the single measurement most important to your health is the pH of your blood and tissues – how acidic or alkaline it is. Different areas of the body have different ideal pH levels, but blood pH is the most telling of all.”

In my opinion, that is asinine. But, I could be wrong. If I am wrong, please send me good research citations.