Is Alkaline Food & Water Beneficial?
I got another email recently on a hoary old topic that keeps raising questions over and over: alkaline food and alkaline water. Is it good for you to eat “alkaline” food and take pH adjusted alkaline water?
NO! It’s B*S*. I’ve been saying so for years.
What is TRUE is that the body goes acid during a food allergy reaction. It’s a result, not a cause of anything.
We used to give alkaline salts, just to clear the symptoms quickly (one single dose). A mixture of sodium bicarbonate and potassium bicarbonate (2:1) could work magic when someone had a migraine, say, after doing a food challenge test. The details of how, when and why to do this are given in my best-selling book, Diet Wise.
What appears to keep this hoax afloat is that certain of the so-called “acid” foods are really just common allergy and intolerance foods. For example, milk is listed as an “acid” food. It’s not at all (see pH scale below) but it is a food very likely to make you ill.
So avoiding “acid” foods seems to benefit the individual… Bingo! Case proved.
Oh no it’s not. Food allergies are very common and is the only thing that is proven.
The Science of Body pH
A crucial point is that the dummies who promote alkaline stuff know that all food passes through a very, very acid stomach pH 1.5 to 3.5. That’s enough hydrochloric acid to burn holes in the carpet! Our body makes this intense acid because it needs it, to mix with the food for proper healthy digestion! Duh!
Indigestion, by the way, is caused by not enough acid, not too much, as the pharmaceutical ads imply. This nonsense has sold billions of bottles of Alka-Seltzer and TUMS but it’s just another example of medical ignorance accepted as scientific truth.
When food is swallowed, if you test saliva using William Philpott’s litmus strip technique, the body first goes alkaline: the digestive enzyme in the mouth needs an alkaline environment.
Then food passes to the stomach and the body immediately turns acid, due to stomach secretions, as explained. Then it turns back to alkaline, as food reaches the small intestine.
As for taking alkaline water, it just stresses your kidneys which have to remove the extra alkalinity as quickly as possible–the body can only exist with a blood pH at around 7.3, which is very mildly alkaline (very mild).
So swigging “pH water” at around 9.0 or 10.0 (Kangen) is not just a bad idea; it’s dangerous and over time will harm your kidneys.
Moreover, you risk letting in pathogens. The skin and vagina, for example, have to be acidic or these become a breeding ground for bad bugs. The unsubstantiated idiotic claim that alkalinity kills pathogens is the exact opposite of the truth: it promotes them.
Acidic conditions, which nature herself wisely creates in various parts of our bodies, are what restrains the growth of pathogens.
See, the crass ignorance abounding in so-called holistic nutrition is just bad! It’s everywhere!
Blood Flow and The Viagra Factor
Another crucial need of acid in the body is the vital signaler molecule nitric oxide.
It opens our blood vessels, lowers blood pressure, enables penile erections and increases cerebral blood flow.
Nitric oxide is a great acid to have plenty of, guys! That’s what Viagra does: builds up extra nitric oxide.
Take too much alkaline water and alkaline food and you could lose that romantic boner!
Just another example of how wholesale blundering and confounding nature by interfering with her processes, when not understanding them, is very stupid.
To listen to the fake science of MLMs like Kangen water is just plain folly. The body will fight you on these adjustments because it’s the opposite of nature’s wisdom.
So anyone who claims that certain foods or supplements can make your stomach or blood acidic does not understand the body or nutrition.
Taking an entire bottle of antacids or a case of alkaline water could not change the body’s pH for more than a few minutes.
Alkalinity and High pH Are Not The Same!
Let’s put this stupid nonsense to bed for the last time. HIGH pH AND ALKALINITY ARE NOT THE SAME (this is my friend Robert Slovak talking):
Medical doctors, alternative doctors, nutritionists, etc. all need to grasp this as fully as possible and not be part of the craziness:
The pH of beverages and food has nothing whatsoever to do with alkalizing the body!! I wonder how many more years is it going to take for health professionals to grasp this subject?
The basis of this continuous misconception is the myth that alkaline pH has the ability to neutralize metabolic acid and build alkaline reserves, therefore restoring balance to the pH of our body fluids and tissues.
It does not mean that at all…
What neutralizes acid is alkalinity (bicarbonate, carbonate, hydroxide), not pH! This capability is the very definition of alkalinity – read on…
Alkalinity provides the buffering capacity that neutralizes acid whether it is in a test tube or in the body.
Alkalinity is actual substance (“stuff”) while pH is just a measurement of the degree of the dissociation of hydrogen and hydroxyl ions. It takes substance or “stuff” to neutralize acid.
So when you add a few drops of sodium and potassium hydroxide to pure water, its pH will jump to 10, 11 or more. You might think this is going to neutralize the acids in your body – but it won’t. Why? Because it lacks sufficient buffering capacity that we call alkalinity. The drops might add only 20 mg of alkalinity, which is meaningless in supporting physiological pH balance.
You would be much better off delivering real alkalinity in the form of baking soda that surprisingly has a much lower pH of 8.4 in solution. Just 1/2 tsp. of baking soda will deliver about 1500 mg of acid neutralizing alkalinity or “alkaline-ness”.
Are you starting to get this new look at things?
If you really want alkalinity, you would be better advised to drink 1/2 liter of fresh green juice with spinach, kale, cucumber, celery, parsley, etc. This would deliver about 2000 mg of alkalinity in the form of a variety of alkalizing mineral compounds.
But here is the surprise… The pH of all fresh green juices, which deliver the most beneficial alkalinity, are (drum roll)… Acid! In fact pH 5.8 to 6.8!
This tells us loud and clear that pH and the acid-buffering capacity we call alkalinity are completely dissociated! In other words, an acid beverage with the right minerals (like good foods) can be very alkalizing!
Remember, lemons (acid pH) and apple cider vinegar (acid pH) and European carbonated water, all acid, are great for alkalizing the body. (Note: This explanation is a little oversimplified but you should get the point)
My advice: forget about the pH of anything you drink or eat.It is irrelevant to human physiology. It’s a ridiculous fad based on a HUGE misconception.
The testimonials? Junk science. They don’t mean anything.
But of course it’s big business and megabucks for the phony MLMs that peddle it.
Eat well, find and eliminate your bandit foods (allergies, intolerance) and go join my Diet Wise Academy. You’ll know exactly what to eat for full, vibrant health!
Ouch! Did I step on some toes this week?
I hope so!