Most Americans eat the type of foods that leave an acidic residue within the body (see pH color table on back page). This occurs when food is metabolized by the body, leaving chemical and metallic residues which yield either acid or alkaline potentials of pH. These residues most strongly influence the body's cellular pH levels. When the diet is imbalanced with a continual excess of these acidic residues, body pH is directly impacted, causing body fluids to lie constantly within the acidic range. Just like acid rain upon a forest, an imbalanced pH slowly compromises cellular integrity and can lead to numerous health problems.

What Is "pH"?

The body is largely made up of water, a medium which is biologically useful in allow­ing nutrients, oxygen and biochemicals to be transported from place to place. This water-based medium can have either acid or alkaline properties which are measured by a graduated scale called pH (for "potential hydrogen"). The lower the pH number, the greater the acidity, and the higher the pH number, the greater the alkalinity.

Why Should I Be Concerned About My pH Levels?

Since most of the body is water-based (making up 50-60% of our total body weight), the pH level has profound effects on all body chemistry, health and disease. An imbalanced pH describes the pH level of the body when it becomes too acidic or too alkaline for long peri­ods of time. Extended pH imbalances of any kind are not well tolerated by the body. Indeed, the management of "pH" is so important that the body has developed strict accounting procedures to monitor acid-alkaline balances in every cell. Fundamentally, all regulatory mechanisms (including breath­ing, circulation, digestion, hormonal production, etc.) serve the purpose of balancing pH by removing caustic metabolized acid residues from body tissues without damaging living cells. If the pH deviates too far to the acid side or too far to the alkaline side, cells become poisoned by their own toxic waste and die.

Is An Imbalanced Body pH Really That Dangerous?

Yes, it is. Nothing does well in an overly acidic or alkaline pH medium. Just as acid rain can destroy a forest and alkaline wastes can pollute a lake, an imbalanced pH continuously corrodes all body tissue, slowly eating into the 60,000 miles of our veins and arteries like corrosives eating into marble.

Can An Imbalanced pH Cause Serious Problems?

Yes, especially as a person grows older! Although it may generally go unnoticed and undetected for years, an imbalanced pH can lead to the progression of most, if not all, degenerative diseases including Cardiovascular Disease (the #1 killer in the U.S.), Cancer (the #2 Killer in the U.S.), and Diabetes, as well as the never ending frustration of excessive systemic weight gain.

What May Be Causing My pH to Become Imbalanced?

Most diets cause an unhealthy acid pH. In fact, diet appears to be the major influence in maintaining appropriate pH levels throughout the body. Research demonstrates that when food is metabolized and broken down, it leaves certain chemical and metallic residues, a noncombustible "ash" which, when combined with our body fluids, yields either acid or alkali potentials of ph. Certain foods are "acid-|forming" in nature, whereas others are known to be "alkali-forming."

Acidosis is thus thought to be an important precursor to Diabetes Mellitus, and before the advent of synthetic insulin, diabetes was treated historically by buffering the system with base or alkaline causing powders. With increased pressure to continually produce insulin, beta cells lose phase with one another (cellular communication is thwarted and the Immune System begins to over-respond) and stress within the cells increases, making it difficult for them to per­form adequately, and further, survive. In a very real sense, they simply burn out!

And, to add to the problem of weight gain, although we commonly diet to lose weight, fasting and dieting are known acid-producing conditions that trigger our body's predeter­mined genetic response to starvation, wherein insulin floods the body so calories can be converted and stored as fat to prepare for the pending "famine." So, unless you bal­ance your pH level, your best attempts at dieting will be thwarted by your body's own metabolic response to the acid produced by a lower caloric intake.

Acidosis decreases the oxygen affinity of hemoglobin in the blood. All biochemical functions are severely compromised if oxygen supplies are decreased to living tissue. An acid pH decreases the amount of oxygen that can be delivered to cells, making normally healthy cells become unhealthy, deteriorate and eventually die.

The cardiovascular system may be thought of as one large working "system of tubular muscles" designed to carry blood and nutrients to every living tissue in the body and is directly affected by blood plasma pH. The heart is the muscular pump at the center of everything, driving blood through the arteries, veins and capillary beds and helping to regulate the pressure and flow of circulation.

All living tissue is sensitive to its chemical environment and the muscle cells of the cardiovascular system are no different. When blood plasma habitually becomes more acid, it acts as a chemical irritant which slowly attacks and eats away at the smooth muscle tissue of the inner walls of arteries and veins, as well as the heart itself. Like acid eating into marble, a con­tinually acid pH erodes and eats into cell wall membranes of the heart, arteries and veins, weakening the structural com­position of the heart, arterial and venous walls, causing lesions of plaque and microscopic tearing throughout its framework, and creating irregularities of blood pressure.

Life-essential functions, like electrolyte Potassium (K+)  and Sodium (Na+) channels, are inactivated by acidosis. This has far reaching effects cardiovascularly since without extended sufficient electrolyte management, the heart's ability to contract and pump efficiently and rhythmically is compromised. Inhibition of electrolyte activity also affects the way we feel and behave, and is intimately involved in the energy levels we experience.

An acid pH inhibits efficient cellular and body metabolism by causing chemical ionic disturbances that interfere with cellular communications and functions, such as the ability of each cell's Sodium-Potassium Pump to work efficiently.

Each cell has its own Sodium-Potassium Pump which regulates the amounts of sodium and potassium the cell stores, while using up to 25% of daily total caloric input to run. In an acidic environment, less sodium will be present, slowing down the processing and induction of nutrition going into cells. This may cause a bevy of problems not the least of which is the fact that the Sodium-Potassium Pump slows down, burning less fat for energy, and thus, the inability for the body to access its stored energy reserves, leaving us feeling lethargic.

As research has shown, simply reducing the amount of cho­lesterol in the diet isn't enough. The amount of cholesterol ingested daily has not been found to be a major factor in cholesterol plaque formation. Rather, it is because of the fact that an acid pH allows the binding of cholesterol with heavy metals and other cellular debris that pH status appears to be more directly involved.

An acid-induced malfunction of the body's Sodium-Potassium Pump causes an increase in sodium and calcium buildup within the plasma, making it more available to electro statically bond with LDL-Cholesterol (the "Bad" Cholesterol) and line the vascular network at an accelerat­ed rate. Specifically, an acid pH initiates electrostatic poten­tial, damaging arterial walls, causing cholesterol oxidation and the bonding of plaque with heavy metals.

While there may be an increase in calcium build-up due to an acid-induced malfunctioning of the Sodium-Potassium Pump, that free calcium, being in an acidic environment, will most likely bond with LDL-Cholesterol and therefore be unavailable for use by the body. With free calcium popula­tions and channels disrupted, calcium may become inordi­nately leached from bone mass and teeth (as the only other available source), causing Osteoporosis, and Tooth Loss.

Which Foods Are "Acid Forming" And Which Are "Alkaline Forming"?

Most high protein foods (such as meat, fish, poultry and eggs), nearly all carbohydrates (including grains, breads and pastas) and fats are "acid-forming." And most fruits and vegetables are "alkaline-forming." Although citrus fruits, such as oranges and grapefruit, contain organic acids and may have an acid taste, they are not acid-forming when metabolized, leaving no acidic residue. Similarly, Free Form Amino Acids are not acid-forming, but instead offer unique buffering capabilities to the body to help offset acidic wastes.

How Can I Find Out My Body pH?

By testing your pH with Vaxa's pH test strips, you can determine quickly and easily, in the privacy of your own home, what your pH is. Vaxa's pH-Test Strips determine your urinary pH, which is generally a good indicator of how acid or alkaline your total body pH is. When urinary pH is continuously between 6.5 in the A.M. and 7.5 by evening, you're functioning in a healthy range; when continuously above this range you're too alkaline, and when continuously below it, you're too acid.

Why is urine used instead of saliva in testing pH+ levels?

Urine is an end metabolite of digestion and reflects the foods eaten over the past 48 hours.  The urine pH test strip closely mirrors the blood, and produces reliable results.  Conversely, saliva testing does not result in consistent pH values.  This is primarily due to the salivary enzymes and microorganisms present in the mouth and oral mucous.

Will the pH Test Strip be Accurate on My First Reading?

Not necessarily. For a more accurate reading, test your urinary pH 5 to 6 times within 24 hours. If you've had an ongoing acidic pH, your body may overcompensate and flood itself with buffer­ing alkalizers in an attempt to rebalance pH. But because your pH is truly acidic, it will drop again swiftly into the acid range, again causing the flood of alkalizers and taxing your body's pH balancing systems. If you test your pH during one of these alkalizing periods, you may incorrectly assume your pH is alkaline.

How Do I Rebalance My pH?

Watching your diet and eating a proper balance of alkaline and acid-forming foods can help. But an easier way is to take Vaxa's buffer-pH+ daily to help balance your system while continuing to eat the foods you enjoy!

How Can Vaxa's Buffer-pH+ Help?

Vaxa's Buffer-pH+ is a homeopathic medicinal formulated to help the body naturally and safely balance an overly acid or overly alkaline system. The alkalizing complexes and phytomedicinals within Vaxa's Buffer-pH+ help buffer and remove overly acid and alkaline residues from the body, aiding the body's ability to cleanse and repair tissues more quickly.

If You're Eating Acid-Forming Foods, You Need the Alkalizing Support of Buffer-pH+

Dietary habits appear to be the major influence of maintaining appropriate pH levels throughout the body. When food is metab­olized and broken down, it leaves certain chemical and metallic residues which yield either acid or base potentials of pH for the body. Certain foods are acid-forming in nature, whereas others are known to be base forming.

Although there are exceptions, most of the mineral elements found in fruits and vegetables, including potassium, calcium, sodium and magnesium, are base (or alkaline) in solution and leave an alkaline residue when metabolized by the body. On the other hand, chlorine, sulfur and phosphorus are acid forming ele­ments abundant in high-protein foods, which are generally metabolized to yield acidic residues.

Extremely high-protein (body builders beware) and/or high in fat diets that produce a predominantly acid mineral residue when metabolized may tax the body's ability to remain in acid-base balance if consumed over long periods of time. But ironically, strict vegetarians must be just as wary as meat-eaters because a pH often over-extended into the alkaline range is Just as caustic, taxing the body's abilities to maintain a proper acid-base balance, just as an overly acid system does.

The Bottom Line: Short of completely changing your diet, your best health care strategy is to take Vaxa's Buffer-pH+.  It's the one way to ensure a buffered system and avoid the acidic environment that so many degenerative diseases thrive in.