To answer the question is alkaline water is good or bad for you, which is a very important question for which most people don’t have the answer because the answer is not readily available in the public domain without time consuming research, we need to explain how pH is determined and what it means so you can understand how the pH level is used to classify water as acidic, neutral or alkaline.
The acidity, neutrality and alkalinity of any solution is determined by the pH level of hydrogen ions in the solution on a scale of 0.0 to 14. The term pH means potential hydrogen, i.e., how many hydrogen ions are in a water-based solution. When you test how acidic or alkaline a solution is, you are actually testing for how many hydrogen ions are in the solution. This is often refer to as the pH level, which ranges from 0.0 to 14.
A pH of 7.0 is the median.
A pH of 7.0 is considered neutral, meaning it’s neither acidic nor alkaline.
When people talk about pH level of the body, they are usually talking about the pH level of blood plasma, which is 7.4. There is no one pH level for the entire body. Every body part, fluid, organ, cell, bone, tissue and muscle, etc. has its own unique pH balance which might be acidic or alkaline, depending on the role and function that that body part plays in the body.
There is no overall pH level that the body should achieve on a whole. This is because the pH levels vary widely throughout every organ, body fluid and parts of the body. Most of the time when people are talking about the body’s pH level, they are talking about the blood’s pH level at 7.4 and not the pH level of the stomach, bone, muscle, tissue or organ, which all maintain different pH levels.
For example, pH level in the human stomach is about 1.5 to 3.5 pH, which is extremely acidic, similar in strength to that of acid in a car battery. Hence, there are parts of the human body that is extremely acidic. It would be wise not to disturb or intentionally manipulate the natural state of acid in the stomach. The acid in human stomach is strong enough to burn a hole through cloth. In the animal kingdom, hyena, vultures and sharks have the lowest stomach pH level ranging from 1.2 to 1.3 to break down bacteria and promote digestion.
The lower limit of human stomach pH is not too far from that of vultures and hyenas at 1.5 pH. This level of strong acidity is needed for digestion in order to destroy harmful bacteria that can develop in our stomach or food. Why then would you want to raise the stomach pH level beyond its natural lower limit of 1.5 pH to 3.5 pH by flooding the stomach with water that has a high pH of 10.0 or greater without first seeking medical advice on the effects that it might have on your stomach and health?
Hence, consuming a lot of alkaline water is not always good for you. It can lead to indigestion, stomach complications and other health problems. It is strongly recommended that you seek medical advice before consuming a lot of alkaline water on a daily basis.
Every body fluid, bone, tissue and muscle has a reading on the pH scale. For example, the pH for blood is 7.35 to 7.40. Why would you want to increase or decrease the pH level of your blood out of its normal range of 7.35 to 7.40? If your blood pH level increases to 8.0, alkalosis can occur resulting in coma and death. Likewise, if your blood pH decreases to 7.22 or lower, acidosis can occur having similar dramatic effects. Most alkaline water consumers are unaware of the effect that over consumption can have on their digestive system!
The good news is that you don’t have to worry about the pH level of your blood because the body will automatically adjust your blood pH level back to its normal position of 7.35 to 7.40, regardless of what we eat or drink.
The average cola beverage on the market (Coke, Pepsi, RC, etc.) has a pH level of about 2.6. This is a very low pH level (which can dissolve iron rust), but well within the normal range of the pH in the human stomach, which ranges from 1.5 pH to 3.5 pH. Cola beverages were originally used to aid digestion long before they became popular as a beverage that is consumed at any time of day.
All alkaline water sold on the market has a pH level of 8.0 or higher. Most have a pH of 10 or higher. Which do you think would be more compatible with the stomach’s normal function of maintaining a pH level of 1.5 pH to 3.5 pH? A beverage that has a pH of 2.6 or alkaline water with a pH of 10.0 or greater? The answer may be water at a soothing neutral pH level of about 7.4 that does not drastically swing the stomach’s pH level to the high or low end of the pH spectrum.
The fact is that whether you drink an acidic beverage with a low pH level of 2.6 or a popular alkaline water brand with a high pH level of 10.0 or greater, your stomach will automatically seek to go back to its natural pH level of 1.5 to 3.5. Hence, the pH level doesn’t matter much because the stomach is self-regulating, unless you are over indulging by drinking too much alkaline water from bottled alkaline water or alkaline water made from an ionizing machine!
Whatever pH level beverage you drink your stomach will work to produce the proper self-regulating effect. For example, if you drink alkaline water with a pH level of 8.0 or greater, the stomach will produce acid to bring the stomach pH level back to 1.5 pH to 3.5 pH. In this regard, alkaline water is “acid forming or producing” because it induces the stomach to produce acid to bring the stomach back to its self-regulating pH position of 1.5 to 3.5. Acid producing foods include meats, sugars, starches and carbohydrates, as well as any water or beverage with a pH of 8.0 or higher. If you add alkaline water to that mixture, you have end up increasing the acidity in your stomach even further.
The exception is alkaline water that comes from natural sources such as volcanic streams and hot springs. Thermal springs often produce water that is alkaline by nature, regular cold water springs don’t. Alkaline water that comes from nature often has a healing effect on the body. Alkaline water from natural springs or produced from ionizing machines should not be over-consumed as it could lead to health problems.
This is news for many alkaline water consumers because they are under the false impression that by drinking alkaline water on a daily basis they are raising the overall pH level of their body, but this is not the case as explained above. These consumers are actually over working their stomachs to produce acid to balance out the effect of the alkaline water they are consuming in order to bring the stomach back to its normal pH level of 1.5 to 3.5 pH. Over time, this could lead to health problems.
In this regard, the term “alkaline water” is a misnomer and an oxymoron because the term does not properly explain what is going on. The effect of consuming a lot of bottled alkaline water or alkaline water produced by an ionizer has the opposite effect than what the name implies. This is grossly misleading because alkaline water does the opposite of what people think it does. Why? Because alkaline water is “acid-producing and acid-inducing” in the stomach because drinking large qualities of alkaline water produced by an ionizing machine induces the stomach to produce acid to neutralize the alkaline water in the stomach to bring back the stomach to its natural pH level of 1.5 to 3.5. Why would anyone want to do that? What health benefits would they expect to gain from drinking alkaline water on a continuous basis?
On the other hand, if you drink beverages or eat foods such as vegetables and fruits or drink green-juices, they will induce the stomach to produce alkalinity to aid in the digestion of these natural foods and vegetables.
Hence foods and beverages can be classified as being either acid-inducing (acid producing) or alkaline-inducing (alkaline producing) depending on the effect that the food or beverage has on the stomach in term’s of raising or lowering the stomach pH balance, but this in no way affects the pH level of other body tissues and organs which are all self-regulating and vary in pH level from one body part to another. This is a very important point to understand. Most natural health advisors and practitioners get it wrong!
In other words, you cannot raise or lower the body’s natural pH level on an overall basis no matter what you do. The body and all its parts and organs are self-regulating and will always seek equilibrium no matter what you eat or drink.
For example, pancreatic juice in the body has a pH level of 7.8 to 8.0, which is alkaline. Blood plasma has a pH of 7.4, which is slightly alkaline. The stomach as we noted before has a pH of 1.5 to 3.5, which is extremely acidic – the strength of acid in a car battery. Intra-cellular fluid in the liver has a pH of 6.9, which is slightly acidic, while intra-cellular fluids of the muscles has an acidic pH level of 6.1. The pH of our saliva ranges from 6.35 to 6.85, which is more acidic, and so on.
Drinking alkaline or acidic water on a periodic or sporadic basis will have not have a major effect on the body’s pH levels because they are all self-regulating. However, drinking acidic beverages (colas) or alkaline water (bottled or from an ionizer) that is at the extreme range of the pH scale, 2.6 pH 0r 10 pH, on a persistent and continuous basis, can significantly affect your stomach health over time.
In summary, the pH level of our body, bones, tissues, muscles and fluids are unique and different, ranging from extremely acidic to highly alkaline and are all self-regulating!
We do not want to change or disturb the delicate pH balance found throughout all the organs and tissues in the human body. Even if we attempted to do so by consuming a lot of alkaline water that has a pH of 10.0 or greater, the stomach would automatically go back on its natural pH balance of 1.5 to 3.5. As noted before, over indulgence of acidic or alkaline water can lead to health problems.
The safe pH level of water is 7.4, which is the same as blood plasma. The neutral pH level of water is 7.0 pH. The neutral pH level of water at 7.0 varies depending on the source of the water. Most tap water has a pH of 6.9 to 7.4, which is acceptable.
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Edward A. Shields, CPA, MBA
Senior Builder
Water Magi
MULTIPURE PROMO CODE: 430649
(646) 960-6830
info@watermagi.com
www.watermagi.com
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