Does the pH of foods/water matter?

[j-bird]

this started in another thread about distilled water but think i'll get more responses with a thread..

According to a physiology text book I have, the body keeps pH regulated in a tight range(7.35-7.45). It claims that enzymes only function in a small range, and if the pH is below 6.8 or above 7.8, that is not compatible with life. It talks about many ways the body regulates pH.

I remember when i was younger, I ate probably 4 pickles at the movie theater. Then i puked. I think this was because i was becoming acidic, and to lower my acidity (and prevent enzymes in my body from being denatured), my body expelled alot of acid found in my stomach to lower my hydrogen ion concentration.

So on one hand i think the body does keep pH in check (the book talks about how it does this using different ways such as ventilation and renal compensations, etc)

But on the other hand I cant believe that someone who eats an all acidic diet could possibly be healthy.

What do you think? why does the pH or food/water matter if, when pH begins to change, the body quickly compensates to keep it between 7.35-7.45?

 

[hawkmoon]

IMHO eating or drinking particular fluids and foods trying to illicit a particular pH is bunk.

As you noted the body can maintain ideal pH on its own, indeed different areas of the body have different pH levels. Our bodies maintain the acid/alkaline balanced state primarily by exhaling carbon dioxide. If our own pH regulatory mechanisms were to fail we would be dead - rather quickly too I believe.

I think selling devices for manipulating pH in water or promoting diets based on pH values is equivalent to snake-oil. It's right up there with magnetic bracelets.

 

[Liphted]

I remember when i was younger, I ate probably 4 pickles at the movie theater. Then i puked. I think this was because i was becoming acidic, and to lower my acidity (and prevent enzymes in my body from being denatured), my body expelled alot of acid found in my stomach to lower my hydrogen ion concentration.

I don't know where to start, but I'll go with pickles. You ate pickles... 4 of them. Without looking at any of the physiology involved, do you really think the human body will start a preservation mechanism because of consuming 4 pickles? Look at the acidity of your stomach, and compare that to the acidity of your 4 pickles. They are nowhere near on the same level. You didn't puke because you were "becoming acidic" (which is impossible from diet, except your urine pH), you puked because you ate 4 pickles in a row, pickles from a movie theater, and probably on an empty stomach.

So on one hand i think the body does keep pH in check (the book talks about how it does this using different ways such as ventilation and renal compensations, etc)

But on the other hand I cant believe that someone who eats an all acidic diet could possibly be healthy.

Your body is CONSTANTLY keeping your serum pH in check through respiratory and metabolic means. Carbonic acid-bicarbonate buffering, total CO2, base excess, acid buffering, Bohr effect - acid-base balance in the body. These are the things you should be looking at. And you're right, someone who eats an all acidic diet probably isn't the healthiest they could be, simply because they wouldn't be eating a balanced diet. It has nothing to do with the pH value of the food they would be consuming however.

What do you think? why does the pH or food/water matter if, when pH begins to change, the body quickly compensates to keep it between 7.35-7.45?

Well, it doesn't. It's a fad gimmick by people, who I believe for the most part mean well, that know enough of the science to be dangerous. And when I state dangerous I mean in the context of taking valid assumptions and drawing inaccurate and far-fetched conclusions, much like your pickle example.

 

[Osta-president]

I think its important to ask if he ate a bag of pop rocks before the 4 pickles?

 

[Ulamalop]

As you noted the body can maintain ideal pH on its own,

The bicarbonate/carbonic acid buffering system.....comes standard with every human.