Greetings! We have entered into a new segment, How Acids and Alkalies Affect the Heath! Today we shall learn, how the pH of our blood can be a life or death issue. “For the life of the flesh is in the blood” Leviticus 17:11
A Balanced Ration
In the preceding pages brief information has been given concerning the use the body makes of protein, fat, carbohydrate and mineral salts. A balanced ration has been partly explained and its foundations have been laid.
We must continue our study of the body and its processes to discover what other food elements are needed to cause the organs of the body to function normally. In this way we shall ultimately learn what is required to make a complete ration.
In the study of the body the chemists finds that all of its contents fall into one or the other of two classes-acid or alkaline. Alkaline is also termed base-forming.
The Blood Plasma
The analysis of the blood fluid shows it contains the following: Analysis of Mineral Salts of Blood Serum by Cavazzani, calculated on 100 parts of fluid:
The chemist says that the first two and the last two minerals are alkaline, and that the chlorine (a gas) is acid-forming. Inasmuch as the alkaline substances slightly exceed the acid, the fluid or blood plasma is said to be slightly alkaline.
The Red Blood Corpuscles
A similar examination of the red blood corpuscles reveals their mineral content to be as follows: Analysis of Mineral Salts of Red Corpuscles by C. Schmidt, calculated on 100 parts of the moist corpuscles:
The chemist says these minerals are all alkaline. Therefore, the blood as a whole must be alkaline. This is normal, and in the body, normal means healthy. This slightly alkaline condition of the blood must be maintained; if it varies from normal, disease must result.
A descent of one degree on this scale means the alkalinity has diminished tenfold, and an ascent of one degree means the acidity has decreased ten-fold. Alkalinity or acidity can be raised to the seventh power, and the other will be correspondingly reduced.
The “H” means the hydrogen ion which is the name the chemist gives to the particular element which constitutes “acid,” The “p” means the potency, power, or amount in which the acid is present. The reverse end of the scale measures the potency of the alkalies present.
The scale is 14 degrees from end to end. Seven in the middle is neutral–it is neither acid nor alkaline.
Note with care that normal blood is a very little above neutral–at 7.35. That slight elevation above neutral is called “slightly alkaline.” On the right side of the scale you see 7.22 which is called the “dead line.” In other words if the alkalinity of the blood lowers from 7.35 a condition known as “acidosis” exists and grows more severe as the alkalinity lowers toward 7.22. Between 7.35 and 7.22 many diseases develop, as will soon be explained.
Look again at the right side of the scale and you will see 7.80 forming the upper side of the “life range.” This means that if the alkalinity of the blood rises above 7.80 death occurs from “alkalosis.” In a state of health, the blood is always between these two points. This provides a “life range” of only about .6 of a degree of variation. The right alkaline balance of the blood is maintained by (a) foods, (b) the kidneys, pores and lungs which eliminate acids, and (c) an arrangement called the “buffer system” which works automatically within certain limits.
The important factor is the food intake. To raise the alkalinity of the blood above normal with food is difficult and rare and therefore this presents very little practical danger. It can be raised by taking soda. It might be raised by excluding all acid-forming foods and using only those of an alkaline balance, but this cannot occur while one lives on average foods and certainly cannot happen while living on a balanced ration. The constant danger is that the alkalinity of the blood will lower toward the acid line–death.
The nicety to which the Creator has arranged the body processes to maintain this alkaline balance is revealed by the chemist in this statement:
‘Very considerable amounts of acid are constantly being produced in the body during the processes of normal metabolism. These acids, like all others, owe their activity to the hydrogen ions liberated in solution, and the hydrogen ion is capable of bringing about marked physiologic changes, or even death. Fortunately, the body processes are very effective mechanisms for rendering the hydrogen ions ineffective. So efficient are the mechanisms that under all ordinary conditions of life the chemical reaction, that is, the hydrogen ion concentration of the blood and the fluids bathing the body cells, remain practically constant.’
‘Some idea of the delicacy of the regulation may be obtained from a consideration of the fact that a reaction of the blood as acid as distilled water, on the one hand, or as alkaline as ordinary tap water, on the other, is incompatible with life.’
‘The degree of acidity or alkalinity within the various cells of the body differs slightly from that of the blood, but the blood reflects the reaction throughout the body.’
Truly we are fearfully and wonderfully made! Establishing and maintaining balance, physically and spiritually requires cooperation. As it pertains to our blood, God has and is doing His part. He has set in motion mechanisms and organs that help to maintain the right alkaline balance of the blood. Nevertheless, we have a part as well in eating the right foods and coming into harmony with law. In the physical realm, acidosis is one extreme and alkalosis is another. Unfortunately, “There is in human nature a tendency to run to extremes and from one extreme to another entirely opposite.” {TT 169} How can we be guarded from this tendency? “Faith in God’s word, prayerfully studied and practically applied, will be our shield from satan’s power and will bring us off conquerors through the blood of Christ.” {1T 302} Through the blood of Christ, we can both study and apply God’s principles! Praise the Lord!
Join us next week, as we shall look into why the body must be alkaline!