At pH Focused, our main focal point is teaching you how to assist the body in preventing the development of disease that is instigated by and promotes low grade chronic metabolic acidosis (LGCMA) or “latent acidosis.” Compared with the rarer occurrences of clinical respiratory or metabolic acidosis, which is characterized by a more severe shift in blood pH, latent acidosis is subtle and far more common. Unfortunately, mainstream medicine has not yet adopted these well interpreted scientific theories. It may not take your life, at least not right away. Like a snake in the grass, or a thief in the night, it sneaks up on you and gradually ROBS you of your health!
Latent acidosis reflects a slight gradual shift in the blood pH in the acid direction at the low end of the normal range as the buffering capacity of the blood is handicapped. The term “latent” refers to a chronic condition which is without sharp sudden symptoms and can be determined by the pH test results of kidney net acid excretion through urine and then through saliva combined. Its overwhelming incidence in today’s society is currently achieving EPIDEMIC proportions! As we age, the kidneys ability to eliminate acids, as well as blood alkalizing bicarbonate decreases, gradually lowering blood oxygen levels. Age, in conjunction with diets high in toxic table salt (sodium chloride), sweets, meats, and commercial dairy, and low in alkaline forming fruits, vegetables and greens exacerbate this very common condition, as do elevated toxin exposure and chronic stress.
“Refined” table salt alone, which is used in processed foods, most restaurants, and found on most people’s kitchen tables, is very toxic and acidic to the body. Not only does it contain imbalanced levels of sodium chloride (as it’s heated up to 1200 degrees), it also contains synthetic chemicals like ferrocyanide, talc, silica aluminate, fluoride, high amounts of potassium iodide, and toxic anti-caking agents which increase its acidic effects exponentially, especially in high amounts. Himalayan or Celtic salts are much wiser choices – just make sure to supplement with a whole food source of iodine, like kelp.
According to Sayer Ji, founder of GreenMedInfo.com:
We previously demonstrated that typical American net acid-producing diets predict a low-grade metabolic acidosis of severity proportional to the diet net acid load as indexed by the steady-state renal net acid excretion rate (NAE). We now investigate whether a sodium (Na) chloride (Cl) containing diet likewise associates with a low-grade metabolic acidosis of severity proportional to the sodium chloride content of the diet as indexed by the steady-state Na and Cl excretion rates. These data provide the first evidence that, in healthy humans, the diet loads of NaCl and net acid independently predict systemic acid-base status, with increasing degrees of low-grade hyperchloremic metabolic acidosis as the loads increase. Assuming a causal relationship, over their respective ranges of variation, NaCl (table salt) has approximately 50-100% of the acidosis-producing effect of the diet net acid load.
It’s not the blood pH that should be of most concern, per say, as the blood does remain in a tight range (unless under more extreme clinical circumstances). Tissue pH is a whole different animal, and it leaves mal-researched skeptics in the dark about the undeniable validity of the pH phenomenon. When the acid/alkaline balance scale tilts towards the acidic side continuously from poor diet and lifestyle, tissue fluids become acidic, directly affecting cellular metabolism and function. Dr. Theodore Baroody, D.C. N.D, Ph.D. Nutrition, C.N.C. and the author of Alkalize or Die, stated, “It is these tissue residues that determine sickness or health!”
Depending on diet and lifestyle practices, acids can accumulate fairly rapidly, as the kidneys can only excavate excess acidic waste every 24-48 hours. When these acids are not eliminated in a timely manner, they are reabsorbed from the colon through the liver back into the blood. As these metabolic acids reach levels that are too high for the blood’s sensitivity to handle, and buffering capacity is compromised, liquid and solid acidic waste gets deposited in cellular interstitial fluids and soft tissues (collagen breakdown), joints (arthritis), organs (kidney stones, gallstones), arterial walls (heart disease), and muscles (fibromyalgia) etc.
When the acid burden is too much for the kidneys and other buffers to handle and acid waste is continuously being stored, it is a sure sign that the body is depleted of minerals. Any minerals, especially the alkaline ones that may be absorbed from your diet, are quickly utilized for the body’s primary needs like various organ systems leaving very few to combat the excessive acidity. The body is forced to pull much needed minerals like calcium from your skeleton and glutamine and magnesium from your muscle tissue, to buffer the acids. This makes your bones weaker (osteoporosis), diminishes muscle tissue, and forms calcium deposits in all the wrong places.
This is the main reason why people start to lose all their bone muscle and shrink when they get old. Their pH is totally out of whack. Besides consuming acid producing foods that require buffering, older people don’t produce enough stomach acid, or make enough bicarbonate, so they can’t absorb and assimilate minerals and nutrients in general. They have been living off their muscle tissue and skeleton for so many years just to survive!
Dr Susan Brown, PhD, CCN, medical anthropologist, and NYS Certified Nutritionist, and author of The Acid Alkaline Food Guide states:
An underlying metabolic acidity is a common denominator among — and a likely contributing factor to — all degenerative and autoimmune diseases. An acid condition has several adverse effects on cell metabolism, including impaired energy production, fluid accumulation and edema, and a likely increase in free radical production. Interesting enough, kidney specialists working with acid-base balance now recognize that most Americans, as they age, live in chronic, low-grade metabolic acidosis. This condition contributes to a series of health problems, including loss of bone mineral, loss of muscle mass, a reduction in growth hormone, and the development of kidney stones.
Latent acidosis, like its partner in crime, chronic inflammation, is a MAJOR underlying cause of just about every condition and disease you can think of, most of which are preventable! By increasing people’s awareness of this very dangerous, insidious, gradually degenerating condition, we hope to reverse the statistically trending current path of sickness and inevitable premature death, towards one of balance and increased vibrant health!