Health Gazelle: PH Balance

PH Balance

Below is an edited version of an e-mail I wrote on the connection between PH balance and infection. I wrote a couple of articles for another CF website. One of them gives the "history" of my AHA! moment concerning PH balance and CF: My Nutrition Story

Some personal observations and some research which fits my personal observations:

A) I had 10 weeks of chronic sinus infection turn into pneumonia within 24 hours of consuming a highly acid drink suggested to me as a "home remedy" to make me feel better. I was bed ridden for 3 to 4 months after that. It seems pretty blatantly obvious that there is a cause and effect connection.

B) Quinine is a powerful alkaloid. It is also used as a drug by modern medicine. It is found in the bark of the Cinchona tree. Natural quinine remains an effective treatment of Malaria (a parasitic infection, and parasites are notoriously hard to treat), even against strains of malaria which have developed resistence to synthetic forms of quinine used to treat it. I have used diet tonic water as part of my daily treatments for about 5 years now. Tonic water contains quinine. We sell it in liquor stores so people can make "a gin and tonic". Well, why is called "tonic water"? Because it began as a medical treatment: Reference At one time, you could buy quinine over the counter at the pharmacy but you can't buy quinine anymore that way. Nonetheless, you can still buy it in the form of tonic water at the liquor store or grocery store. About 3 liters (or roughly 100 ounces) per day is roughly the equivalent of a "medicinal dose" prescribed to treat malaria. I use tonic water every day in topical concoctions of tonic water and hydrogen peroxide to treat my ears. When I skip the tonic water, my stomach and general tissues rapidly become very acid (undoubtedly due to my genetic disorder) and when that happens my condition rapidly deteriorates and I get quite ill -- within a day or two.

C) Fairly "new" research indicates that CF patients not only purge salt but also purge bicarbonate. ( Reference "This tells us that bicarbonate secretion is very important for the proper functioning of tissues affected in CF," said Dr. Shmuel Muallem, professor of physiology at UT Southwestern. "We know that these tissues secrete very alkaline fluids that contain high concentrations of bicarbonate." Tissues that secrete such fluids include the vas deferens, pancreas, lungs and intestine. The acidity of those fluids in CF contributes to the precipitation of the mucins, or secretions, that coat the surface of tissues affected in CF and plug the ductal systems of these tissues. This acidity also helps bind harmful bacteria to these precipitated mucins. )

Bicarbonate is an alkaline substance and you can use it to reduce your body's acidity by mixing it in water and drinking it (but it is not recommended that you do so very often). I have done that as an emergency measure when my tissues become too acid. When my body is more acid, I have a LOT more lung inflammation. Lung inflammation promotes lung infections and I already have a small hole in my left lung -- ie "early stage emphesema". My understanding is that the biggest consumer of lung transplants in the world today are CF patients, some of whom have as little as 20% lung capacity because repeated lung infections have eaten away their lungs and caused advanced emphesema. ( Reference "The Most Active Pediatric Lung Transplant Program in the World St. Louis Children's Hospital has performed more than 300 lung and heart-lung transplants since 1990, making it the most active pediatric lung transplant program in the world. Pediatric lung transplants are most commonly performed for cystic fibrosis and pulmonary vascular disease." Reference "Lung transplants, however, are hard to come by. Approximately 1,000 are performed each year in the United States, and only 150 of them, or 15 percent, are performed on CF patients." )

So, since I still have about 99% of the functioning of my lungs and I have no desire to ever have a lung transplant, I pay very close attention to the subtle things which have either a positive or negative impact on my lungs and on my general suspectibility to infection. The acidity of my bodily tissues is something I monitor by observation very closely. I have come to believe that the fact that CF patients purge bicarbonate is most likely the main reason I and my son are so prone to being too acid and that fact (the excess acidity) is one of the primary causes of our "compromised immune system" -- that if you can correct the ph balance, you close this particular gateway to chronic infection for CF patients. This idea is supported by the fact that my doctor prescribed digestive enzymes which contain bicarbonate to neutralize the excess acidity of our stomachs. These enzymes work much better for us than other prescription enzymes and are a major reason why my son's body is no longer chronically too acid. Since he began taking these pills several times a day, he rarely gets viral infections.

D) I know from my pulmonologist that drugs like Zythromax and Biaxin are "recommended antibiotics" for CF patients because their powerful anti-inflammatory properties are considered to be at least as important as their antibiotic properties. Research shows that very high levels of anti-inflammatories like Advil reduce the incidence of infection in CF patients. ( Reference "A report in the May 1995 issue of Medical Sciences Bulletin detailed a new medical application for ibuprofen. Research has revealed that high doses of ibuprofen slow lung disease in patients with cystic fibrosis." ) Many things you read will claim that CF patients have lung inflammation *because* they are infected. My doctor and other sources say that the inflammation itself promotes the infection in part by creating anaerobic pockets where the germs can thrive. My personal experience fits the theory that the inflammation promotes lung infection rather than the other way around. I know people with other chronic conditions, such as Rheumatoid Arthritis, who, like me, also avoid taking anti-inflammatory drugs in high doses by keeping their body less acid. So lots of people are aware of the impact that the ph balance has on their health and how to manipulate it via diet and other avenues. (For example: "Gout remedies focus mainly on dietary management, but also include exercise, herbs, and homeopathic methods. Gout is an inflammation of the joints caused by high levels of uric acid in the blood." Reference I found LOTS of websites that speak to the connection between acidity and inflammation in the body. I don't know how credible most of them are but my father has gout and his doctor-ordered treatment primarily emphasizes that he not eat foods which promote Uric acid in the body. So I know the above statements are factually correct.)

I have gathered together the following links in response to routine requests for more info on the topic of diet and ph balance. Please realize that the information on the various websites with alkaline/acid food charts is not consistent. For example, some foods are listed as "alkaline" on one site and "acid" on another. But a fair amount of it does fit with what I understand to be true. When I have the time to do so, I hope to write more about specific foods I use and find helpful.

Alkaline/Acid Food Charts: 1, 2, 3 , 4 , 5.

The PH Scale: 1, 2, 3 , 4 , 5.

Update 4 September 2006:

In an ongoing effort to better understand how to control inflammation without drugs, I recently read the book The Inflammation-Free Diet Plan . The first few chapters do have some basic info which fits with things I know to be true but much of the book is a long listing of specific foods and an indicator as to whether they are inflammatory or anti-inflammatory. Much of what they claim about specific foods does not fit with what I know to be true about those foods. Two that stand out in my mind: the book claims that diet coke is "neutral". I know from experience that diet coke is inflammatory due to the fact that it is acidic. The book also claims that coconut oil is very bad stuff. I began using coconut oil on the recommendation of a woman who spoke highly of its healing properties. It has helped me to get off of digestive enzymes completely and I have not found it to be inflammatory.

The book uses a number of factors to determine if a food is inflammatory or not. The factors they use are useful factors. However, ph balance is notably absent from their list of factors. My personal experience and that of my son, as well as other research, indicates that ph balance is a very important factor in reducing inflammation in the body. Some points the book makes do fit with what I understand to be true. For example it indicates that the balance between omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids strongly impacts how inflammatory a food is. This specific example also fits with my relatively recent interest in the powerful effect that "good fats" and "bad fats" have on the body. But my opinion is that the book overlooks a critical factor -- ph balance -- and, thus, the conclusions it makes about specific foods is very often erroneous and the data they put forth is, on the whole, useless.

Update 21 June 2009:

Blog entry: CF and alkaline diet This individual states they used lemon to alkalinize their system and have seen dramatic improvement.

Email Michele

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