The 'pH' Dilemma

Warm Greetings!

I know this topic sounds quite chemical, but it has a crucial link to our bodily fluids. We’ve all been through certain digestive problems like a Heartburn, production of Gas and most commonly Indigestion. And what do we all say in unison? ACIDITY!

Now we clearly have been taught this and our brain automatically presents the word Acidity. So without giving it much thought, we start taking Anti-acids which are really common nowadays. As the name suggests, Anti- acid medication will reduce the acid in the stomach and we feel accomplished thinking acid was the culprit. But little do we know, such an approach is making us extremely deficient nutritionally.

Before I explain the nutrition part, let me give a brief explanation about what pH actually means.

‘p’ stands for Potenz or Concentration.

‘H’ stands for Hydrogen Ion (H⁺)

Therefore pH is the concentration of H⁺ ions in a fluid. It is given by the logarithmic equation,

pH = -log₁₀[H⁺]                       …….. (I)

pH has a scale of 0-14 with 7 as the midpoint for dividing two classes of pH:

So if the pH of any given fluid is between 0-6, it would be considered an ‘Acidic’ fluid. If the pH of any fluid ranges from 8-14, it would be considered an ‘Alkaline’ fluid. A pH of 7 is considered Neutral!

What are Acids and Bases? And why Acid gets to be on the Top? Do Acids have good networks in the pH scale?

All these important questions are answered by equation (I). An acid would have maximum concentration of Hydrogen ions (H⁺) and are capable of donating them.

A Base / Alkali has maximum concentration of Hydroxyl ions (OH^-) which are capable of accepting these donated H⁺ ions.    

SOLUTION	IONS	pH RANGE
ACID	H+	0-6
BASE	OH-	8-14

So when acids and bases are present in equilibrium, the H⁺ ions gets balanced by his brother OH^- ions and we have a Neutral fluid.

H⁺ + OH^- → H₂O
ACID + BASE → WATER

In our body, every fluid in different organs has its own pH thus belonging to either of the three categories. Every food we consume has a pH value which needs to be specific with our organelle pH. Let us consider a few examples,

FLUID	pH RANGE	TYPE
Blood	7.35-7.45	Alkaline
Stomach	1-3	Extremely Acidic
Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) in Brain	7.5	Alkaline
Lemon Juice	2-3	Extremely Acidic
Vinegar	2	Extremely Acidic
Urine, Sweat, Adrenal Glands, Colon (Large Intestine)	0-6	Acidic
Fluid Inside and Outside of Cells, Tears, Bile	8-14	Alkaline
Water	7	Neutral

You might think what’s the big deal with pH? If we consume some acidic foods, we can push in some alkaline foods to neutralize it. No dear, it doesn’t work that way. Look at Equation [I] again,

Do you see the number 10? It is there for a reason, not just to look good. pH values are divided exponentially i.e. A pH value of 5 is 10x times more acidic than 6, but a pH value of 4 is 100x more acidic than 6 and so on.

Let us consider our Blood pH which is Alkaline in nature in a very specific range of 7.35 - 7.45. If the blood pH drops by 1 whole number, a person would go into a diabetic coma. That’s how serious the concept of pH is!

Maintaining a specific pH in a specific body fluid is of utmost importance. If we closely look at our stomach pH, it ranges from 1-3 which is extremely acidic. This strong pH is mainly due to Hydrochloric acid (HCl) that helps in closing the valve in the oesophagus to prevent regurgitation of stomach contents. Apart from this, acids also help digest protein in our stomach, helps to absorb minerals and kill any pathogenic bacteria which cannot survive in such a strong pH.

But the moment we take an Anti-acid, we deplete the stomach acids that worsen the situation. Depletion of stomach acids leads to partial digestion of food.

Thus Chest pain, Heart burn or GERD (Gastroesophageal Reflux disorder), Bloating, Belching, Burping, indigestion are all symptoms of Low stomach acids. You haven’t gained a lot of acid, you have lost it which is causing all these effects.

You do not have acidity, you have Alkalinity! I know this might come as a surprise, but I’ll help you get through it! Don’t worry!

Apart from all the refined carbohydrates that we consume (Which is Alkaline of course), Chronic stress, Vomiting, Diarrhoea, Dehydration, Anti-acids are the chief causes of low stomach acids. This increases the stomach pH towards the alkaline side. This leads to a series of problems like decreased Calcium and Potassium, Twitching, hyperventilation, Arthritis, Allergies, Bone spurs and Calcium deposits in the wrong places.

You can also create an extremely acidic condition but not in the Stomach, in other parts of the body. This can be caused either by Diabetes, Hypoglycemia, Junk foods and low vegetables. This could cause symptoms like coughing, coma, arrthymias, nausea, weakness in muscles and many more.

Thus an alkaline stomach can be corrected by consuming Apple Cider vinegar, Beets rich in Betaine hydrochloride and Lemon juice which could really build that strong pH of 1-3. Green leafy vegetables should be consumed in ample amounts as they are rich in chlorophyll – Blood of Plants. Chlorophyll helps in curing stomach ulcers.

I hope this clears most of your doubts regarding Digestive problems. Stomach acids also lose as part of the ageing process, so we really need to start building up that acid.

Fun - Fact: Stomach acids help in absorption of Proteins, vitamins and minerals, thus aiding in tightening of loose skin.

Fable of Reading Labels!

Warm Greetings!

In this blog, I would primarily focus on ‘Nutrition Labels’ on all the foodstuff that most of the people don’t bother to look. I won’t be blabbering much with the details but try my best to guide you to focus only on specific ingredients.

Before we begin analyzing these secret ingredients, I would like to clear some basic ideology of our macro nutrients.

MACRO NUTRIENTS	CALORIES/GRAM
CARBOHYDRATES	4 C/gm
PROTEINS	4 C/gm
FATS	9 C/gm

Now, let me tell you the purport of the word ‘Essential’ & ‘Non-Essential’. Essential is something that our body needs and it is not able to produce on its whim. Non-Essential is something that our body can produce, no sweat at all! I know I sound like a kindergarten Professor, but there is a harsh fact preceding this basic idea.

We eat food to satisfy our Essential Amino Acids (Building blocks of Proteins), Essential Fatty Acids (Omega-3: Omega-6). Oh wait, aren’t we missing something?

No dear, we don’t have Essential Carbohydrates which means that our body can maintain Blood Sugars even if we don’t consume Carbs. Our body can undergo a process known as Gluconeogenesis. Wait, I’ll break it down for ya!

Gluco – Glucose

Neo – New

Genesis – Synthesis

Thus the word means synthesizing new glucose from a non- carbohydrate source which reflects to Proteins and Fats.

Now let us see the effects of such macro nutrients on the infamous hormone Insulin. Why only Insulin? Because insulin is a dominating hormone which starts storing carbohydrates into fat and cholesterol. So the table below gives you an overall idea of which macros have a direct role in spiking insulin.

MACRO NUTRIENTS	INSULIN SPIKE
CARBOHYDRATES	Definitely as Insulin stores Sugar
PROTEINS	Only when High Protein is consumed, it gets converted to Sugar thus spiking it.
FATS	Negligible

So every time you eat Carbohydrate rich food, you trigger Insulin. Insulin stores sugar into the Liver and Muscles as Glycogen (Stored sugar) and if you keep eating like a Beast, you store it as Fat especially around your Belly. Why only Belly? Because most of the vital organs are situated around the gut and the body stores fat there mainly as a defence mechanism.

So now, we know where to focus on the labels while we are out shopping for food items. Let’s take an example here of a ‘Jam’ product.

Point of Focus [I]: SUGARS

Since it is clear we do not want any Sugars, the number you should be looking for is 0gm. You can also choose food having a Sugar value of 1gm but the reason I am telling you to keep it 0gm is mainly because all these values are referring to a Single serving of the product.

P.S – Total Carbohydrates give you an addition of Sugars, Starches and Fibre. Vegetables have a lot of Sugars but the high fibre content allows slow release of the sugars, thus increasing blood glucose gradually.  

The above photo gives an indication very aptly. The total carbohydrates are 14.3gm but the total sugar content is 14.2gm. Which means maximum part is pure Sugars. Such food stuff raises blood sugar way too quickly thus spiking Insulin which brings the blood glucose low. This makes you feel hungry and you eat again thus continuing the cycle of Fat storage in a never ending fashion.

Point of Focus [II]: SERVING SIZE AND NUMBER OF SERVINGS

The above product has a serving size of 1 tablespoon (tsp) which accounts for 20gm. So all the nutrition details are for 20gm of Jam. Now, the entire product is of 320gm, thus increasing the number of servings to 16. Hence, all the values of the nutrition label gets multiplied by 16 for the entire bottle.

Hence Sugars amount to 14.2g x 16 = 227.2gm. Now it looks bigger, right?

I know you won’t be gulping the entire bottle but trust me, Jams are addictive. Beware!

Point of Focus [III]: FATS

It is fine if you consume Saturated or unsaturated fats because you need Essential Fatty Acids, remember? Avoid Trans fats which include the hydrogenated vegetable oils like Soy, Canola, Sunflower etc. because they are synthetically prepared.

P.S – Fat doesn’t make you Fat, Fat doesn’t make you susceptible to Strokes. It is the Sugar that gets converted to Fat and Cholesterol, not the other way round.

Point of Focus [IV]: INGREDIENTS

Finally, special attention needs to be kept on the Ingredients. Mostly the first ingredient makes up the entire product. In this case, if you look closely, first ingredient is SUGAR! That did not surprise me at all!

Apart from this, artificial sweeteners, preservatives, artificial colors are things that one needs to be away from. Many hidden sugars like MSG (Monosodium glutamate) and High fructose corn syrup (Alternative sugar source) etc. find a major place in foods just to improve the flavor.

Soy, Corn, Canola are 90% Genetically modified (GM). These GM foods are capable of mimicking the female hormone Estrogen, thus identified as Endocrine Disruptors!

So these 4 points need to be vitally checked just to keep your vitality in check!

Fun Fact – Human Body requires only a Teaspoon of Sugar to maintain the Blood glucose levels per day. An average person consume 30 teaspoons of Sugar per day!

Inspired by – Dr. Eric Berg, DC!