Audarya Fellowship - View Single Post

bhaktajan · 11-18-2008, 02:06 PM

pH is a measure of the acidity or alkalinity of a solution. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:" /><o:p></o:p>
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Pure water is said to be neutral. The pH for pure water at 25 °C is close to 7.0. Solutions with a pH less than 7 are said to be acidic and solutions with a pH greater than 7 are said to be basic or alkaline. pH measurements are important for medicine, biology, chemistry, food science, environmental science, oceanography and many other applications.<o:p></o:p>
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Body fluids:<o:p></o:p>
The pH of different body fluids, including urine, saliva, and blood, varies with function and other factors. They are mostly tightly regulated systems to keep the acid-base homeostasis. A notable acidic substance in the body is plaque. Plaque's pH is low and will dissolve teeth if not removed. The pH of blood is known to be slightly basic, at a value of 7.4. pH is vital in maintaining the functioning of cells. For example, enzymes are heavily affected by changes in pH, and have an optimum pH at which they operate. Outside a small range they can denature and cease to catalyse vital reactions.<o:p></o:p>
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In chemistry, an alkali is a basic, ionic salt of an alkali metal or alkaline earth metal element.<o:p></o:p>
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Alkaline diet<o:p></o:p>
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia<o:p></o:p>
The Alkaline diet (also known as the alkaline acid diet and the acid alkaline diet) is a controversial dietary protocol based on the consumption of mainly fresh low sugar fruit, vegetables, roots and tubers, nuts, and legumes and avoiding grains, dairy, meat and excess salt, in order to balance the acidity and alkalinity (the "pH balance") of one's body.[1] In recent years it has been the subject of several popular diet books.[2][3]<o:p></o:p>
Blood alkalinity (pH) is not significantly affected by diet,[4][5] except in extreme pathological cases (e.g., diabetic ketoacidosis). <o:p></o:p>
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**Without any research supporting the claims made by these diets, many qualified dietitians, nutritionists and other health care professionals have not recommended these diets to their patients.[6]<o:p></o:p>
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A similar theory, called the Dr. Hay diet, was developed by the American physician William Howard Hay in the 1920s. A later theory, called nutripathy, was developed by another American, Gary A. Martin, in the 1970s.[7] Others who have promulgated alkaline-acid diets include Edgar Cayce, D. C. Jarvis, Robert Young, Herman Aihara,[8] Fred Shadian, and Victor A. Marcial-Vega.[citation needed]<o:p></o:p>
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**Bhaktajan's Footnote:<o:p></o:p>
See Gary Null's Views on the medical Establishment :<o:p></o:p>
Gary Null has attacked many facets of mainstream medicine. <o:p></o:p>
He argues that physicians are not actively conspiring, <o:p></o:p>
but are just trained and conditioned to accept the premises of their profession. <o:p></o:p>
Null believes that physicians have an economic interest in sickness maintenance, not prevention. <o:p></o:p>
Null co-authored a series of articles on cancer research, new therapies, and political influence for Penthouse, <o:p></o:p>
beginning with one entitled "The Great Cancer Fraud".[10][11] <o:p></o:p>
He accused the "medical community of suppressing alternative cancer treatments to protect <o:p></o:p>
the medical establishment's solid-gold cancer train." <o:p></o:p>
Time wrote: "From a young reporter this is to be expected. <o:p></o:p>
But two decades later, Null, 54, is still warning of a variety of medical bogeymen out to gull a trusting public."[9]<o:p></o:p>
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Acids are used as additives to drinks and foods, as they alter their taste and serve as preservatives. <o:p></o:p>
Phosphoric acid, for example, is a component of cola drinks.<o:p></o:p>
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Processed food use<o:p></o:p>
Food-grade phosphoric acid is used to acidify foods and beverages such as various colas, but not without controversy regarding its health effects. It provides a tangy or sour taste and, being a mass-produced chemical, is available cheaply and in large quantities. The low cost and bulk availability is unlike more expensive natural seasonings that give comparable flavors, such as citric acid which is obtainable from lemons and limes. (However most citric acid in the food industry is not extracted from citrus fruit, but fermented by Aspergillus niger mold from scrap molasses, waste starch hydrolysates and phosphoric acid.) It is labeled as E number E338.<o:p></o:p>
Biological effects on bone calcium and kidney health<o:p></o:p>
Phosphoric acid, used in many soft drinks (primarily cola), has been linked to lower bone density in epidemiological studies. For example, a study[2] using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry rather than a questionnaire about breakage, provides reasonable evidence to support the theory that drinking cola results in lower bone density. This study was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. A total of 1672 women and 1148 men were studied between 1996 and 2001. Dietary information was collected using a food frequency questionnaire that had specific questions about the number of servings of cola and other carbonated beverages and that also made a differentiation between regular, caffeine-free, and diet drinks. The paper cites significant statistical evidence to show that women who consume cola daily have lower bone density. Total phosphorus intake was not significantly higher in daily cola consumers than in nonconsumers; however, the calcium-to-phosphorus ratios were lower. The study also suggests that further research is needed to confirm the findings.<o:p></o:p>
On the other hand, a study funded by Pepsi suggests that low intake of phosphorus leads to lower bone density. The study does not examine the effect of phosphoric acid, which binds with magnesium and calcium in the digestive tract to form salts that are not absorbed, but, rather, it studies general phosphorus intake.[3]<o:p></o:p>
However, a well-controlled clinical study by Heaney and Rafferty using calcium-balance methods found no impact of carbonated soft drinks containing phosphoric acid on calcium excretion.[4] The study compared the impact of water, milk, and various soft drinks (two with caffeine and two without; two with phosphoric acid and two with citric acid) on the calcium balance of 20- to 40-year-old women who customarily consumed ~3 or more cups (680 ml) of a carbonated soft drink per day. They found that, relative to water, only milk and the two caffeine-containing soft drinks increased urinary calcium, and that the calcium loss associated with the caffeinated soft drink consumption was about equal to that previously found for caffeine alone. Phosphoric acid without caffeine had no impact on urine calcium, nor did it augment the urinary calcium loss related to caffeine. Because studies have shown that the effect of caffeine is compensated for by reduced calcium losses later in the day,[5] Heaney and Rafferty concluded that the net effect of carbonated beverages – including those with caffeine and phosphoric acid - is negligible, and that the skeletal effects of carbonated soft drink consumption are likely due primarily to milk displacement.<o:p></o:p>
Other chemicals such as caffeine (also a significant component of popular common cola drinks) were also suspected as possible contributors to low bone density, due to the known effect of caffeine on calciuria. One other study, comprised of 30 women over the course of a week, suggests that phosphoric acid in colas has no such effect, and postulates that caffeine has only a temporary effect, which is later reversed. The authors of this study conclude that the skeletal effects of carbonated beverage consumption are likely due primarily to milk displacement.[4] (Another possible confounding factor may be an association between high soft drink consumption and sedentary lifestyle.)<o:p></o:p>
Cola consumption has also been linked to chronic kidney disease and kidney stones through medical research.[6] This study differentiated between the effects of cola (generally contains phosphoric acid), non-cola carbonated beverages (substitute citric acid) and coffee (control for caffeine), and found that drinking 2 or more colas per day more than doubled the incidence of kidney disease.<o:p></o:p>
Medical use<o:p></o:p>
Phosphoric acid is used in dentistry and orthodontics as an etching solution, to clean and roughen the surfaces of teeth where dental appliances or fillings will be placed. Phosphoric acid is also an ingredient in over-the-counter anti-nausea medications that also contain high levels of sugar (glucose and fructose). It should not be used by diabetics without consultation with a doctor. This acid is also used in teeth whiteners to eliminate any plaque that may be on your teeth.<o:p></o:p>
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Acidosis is an increased acidity (i.e. an increased hydrogen ion concentration). If not further qualified, it refers to acidity of the blood plasma.<o:p></o:p>
Acidosis is said to occur when arterial pH falls below 7.35, while its counterpart (alkalosis) occurs at a pH over 7.45. Arterial blood gas analysis and other tests are required to separate the main causes.<o:p></o:p>
The term acidemia describes the state of low blood pH, while acidosis is used to describe the processes leading to these states. Nevertheless, physicians sometimes use the terms interchangeably. The distinction may be relevant where a patient has factors causing both acidosis and alkalosis, where the relative severity of both determines whether the result is a high or a low pH.<o:p></o:p>
The rate of cellular metabolic activity affects and, at the same time, is affected by the pH of the body fluids. In mammals, the normal pH of arterial blood lies between 7.35 and 7.50 depending on the species (e.g. healthy human-arterial blood pH varies between 7.35 and 7.45). Blood pH values compatible with life in mammals are limited to a pH range between 6.8 and 7.8. Changes in the pH of arterial blood (and therefore the extracellular fluid) outside this range result in irreversible cell damage (<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com

ffice:smarttags" /><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Needham</st1:City></st1:place>, 2004).<o:p></o:p>