Body pH and Your Health

What is Body pH?

It is the measurement of acidity or basicity of bodily fluids which in conjunction with other medical data, can determine your health or indicate the cause of an illness.

It`s measured on a scale of 14 with 7 as neutral. To illustrate, a normal blood pH is between 7.35 and 7.45, slightly base or alkaline. If it drops to 7.2 or increases to 7.6 your in trouble.

Your body has a marvellous buffeting system, the lungs and kidneys, to return any imbalance to normal. If saliva pH is below 6.5, it could be that your body has too much acid. If it`s over 6.8 it may be too base (alkaline). Urine pH varies between 4.5 to 8 depending on your acid/base state, but it functions best acidic, helping to control bacteria.

Your skin`s pores secrete sweat and oil with a pH around 5.5 which is slightly acidic.

The buffeting system is there to regulate all these balances and imbalances, helping to keep your body healthy.

Body pH and the Cardiovascular System

Does our body pH have a bearing on the health of or blood vessels? The answer to that question is yes.

How important is Blood pH? The most import area your body pH is the cardiovascular system because if the normal blood pH of 7.45 is increased or decreased by just a fraction of a point, the results can be sickness or even death.

If blood has a correct alkaline environment, the oxygen supply which the blood carries to every organ of your body will be magnified a thousand times over.

If cell membranes of the arteries and veins, as well as the heart, become eroded because of constant blood acidity, it can lead to weak and damaged smooth muscle cells, with lesions and tears occurring throughout the system. Damaged artery walls lead to atherosclerosis, thickening of artery walls, and blood clots that can lead to stroke.

The correct blood pH balance is also related to the correct ion balance. Acid blood causes too many ions to become positively charged, and affects the contracting and relaxing of smooth muscle, which can cause persistent high blood pressure.

Diet Changes Body pH Balance

Your diet is the main cause of changes in the pH of your body. This is very natural. The residue left behind after the metabolic processes of fat, carbohydrate, and protein digestion is acid "ash".

The more you eat of these foods the more acidic your body pH becomes. Most fruits and vegetables will give your body the minerals it requires to act as a buffer, returning it to an alkaline or base state. A July 2009 News report said that at Washington, D.C.’s Bancroft Elementary School during the celebration of the White House garden harvest, Michelle Obama, the First Lady, discussed with students who had helped plant that garden, that there was a need to get more fresh and nutritious foods into the Department of Agriculture’s nutrition programs for children. She further made this comment - “For the first time in the history of our nation, a nation that is one of the wealthiest on the planet, medical experts have warned that our younger generation may be on track to have a shorter life span than their parents as a direct result of the obesity epidemic.” That statement is music to the ears of nutritionists, and no doubt, will boost fresh fruit and veg sales, but these foods lack enough minerals to create a strong enough buffer, so supplementing is essential.

Green health drinks are becoming increasingly popular because they give us the needed daily allowance of fruit and veg.

Supplementing with a good ionic mineral solution makes sense too, bringing you optimum health benefits.

How to and Why Test Body pH

Body pH testing is not new. Many health conscious people take this basic step to maintain their health, but how can this be carried out effectively?

It can be a fiddly task! Some testing kits use a litmus strip which can become soggy when trying to test urine pH for example. They can also prove confusing when the colours "bleed", and the reading becomes obscure. So getting a good test kit is essential for accurate readings no matter which body fluid you test.

Use an easy-to-read chart with clear colour coding, double being the best for accuracy.

Your source of water can make a enormous difference to your body pH too, because one source can have a large quantity of hydrogen ions and a small quantity of hydroxide ions, making the water acidic, and another source can have the opposite.

You see the difference of 1 point on the pH scale, can make a ten fold difference in the acidity of water, and so too, your body. That`s why testing makes sense.

Make pH testing easier with a sturdy plastic strip to stop sagging and choose a brand that eliminates bleeding of colours that are so common with litmus paper.

In conclusion: Your body pH affects the health of your entire system, so learning how you can support it in eliminating those acids and toxins that contribute to the body`s acidity is well worth the effort.