Like a Burnin' Ring of Fire

I had a friend ask me a few weeks ago what I would do about heartburn. I don't really get heartburn (yet) so I didn't have a good answer for her. But I added it to my "to learn" list. I have been really fascinated by what I have learned about acid and alkaline foods. This is probably going to be a long one, but its good stuff that I didn't know until I started this mini research project.

An Overview of Acids and Alkalines
Acids, defined by Webster are "proton donors that yield hydronium ions in water solution, or electron-pair acceptors that combine with electron-pair donors or bases." Or simply put, acids release hydrogens. Which means that alkalines, or bases, remove hydrogens. Ph is a measurement of hydrogens in a solution on a scale from 1 to 14, with 7 being neutral. A pH below 7 is acidic and a pH above 7 is alkaline. Acids are things that taste particularily sour, while akalkines are bitter.

That said, all foods are either acids or alkalines. When a food enters your stomach it either creates hydrogens or removes hydrogens. To digest the foods, your stomach secretes hydrochloric acid. Your pancreas then secretes bicarbonate which neutralizes the stomach acid so that pancreatic enzymes can work properly. Anything that upsets the acid alkaline balance can have an impact on the digestive system. An acid alkaline balance doesn't just affect digestion, however. Many other body parts hop on board to try to keep your system in a good balance. These functions include respiration, excretion, digestion, and cellular metabolism. Your lungs aid in regulating the acid alkaline balance by eliminating carbon dioxide from the blood. Your kidney also responds to the ph of the blood. If your blood is too acidic, the kidney excretes extra hydrogens into the urine and retains extra sodium. Phosphorus in the form of phosphate is needed for this exchange. The body obtains this phosphorus from your bones if it is not available elsewhere.

These processes also have an effect on many aspects of your health. Not just preventing heartburn, but controlling free radicals which cause aging and many types of sicknesses and even cancer. Free radicals are extremely reactive and are often associated with cell damage, mutations, and even malignancies. A free radical is any kind of atom that has split (has an unpaired electron) and become unstable. Extra hydrogen atoms caused by unbalanced diet high in acidic foods, can split and become unstable if they are not removed by alkaline foods. This is where the famous antioxidants come in. Antioxidants repair split atoms by giving them an electron, making them whole again.

A lot of the research I have done on this subject has been on preventative and cancer treatment websites. These treatments are high alkaline diets that are thought to help in cancer treatments; my guess is by repairing damaged cells and not causing other cells to damage. I think they also might be aiming to change their blood pH, which may or may not be possible. But if your blood is too acidic you can become very, very, very sick (like cancers and whatnot).

I want to stress that your body's pH is completely different from your blood pH. Some resources I have found state that any diet aiming to change your blood pH is a bunch of baloney and you should laugh at them. This may be true, but I think when homeopathic doctors and natural nutritionists suggest you can affect your pH balance positivily or negatively by what you eat, they are talking about the pH of cells and bodily fluids. You can have a healthy bodliy pH range between 6.5 and 7.5, while the blood changes very, very little. A blood pH of 7.35 is healthy, but if it dips down to 7.2, you die. You can measure your body pH with urine and saliva tests; which I stress, is different from blood pH. BUT.. we're talking about heartburn here, not cancer!

Acid/Alkaline and Heartburn
Acidic foods are acidic by the process in the body, not by taste. Remember, acidic foods are ones that release hydrogens. In the stomach, acidic foods are ones that cause the stomach to spasm and twitch which creates more stomach acid and more stomach gas. The harder your stomach has to work to digest something, the more acid it will create. When this acid and gas comes back up through the lower esophageal sphincter (LES), either by pushing on the LES, or if the LES is already relaxed and open, then you get heartburn.

Heartburn during Pregnancy
Many women experience heartburn for the first time during pregnancy because of the ever-so-important hormone, progesterone. Progesterone tends to relax many, many parts of your body (good for childbirth, not so great for stomach acid). Progesterone tends to relax the LES causing it to open, which allows stomach acid to pass up in the esophagus without much effort. Another reason women get heartburn late in their pregnancy is because your growing uterus presses on the intestines causing the acids to push up. So we already have our bodies working against us in preventing heartburn, so we need to be particularly attentive to acid and alkaline foods. Eating less acid foods will create less acid that can be pushed back up. Can you completely prevent heartburn in pregnancy? I don't know. If you get heartburn you can try to eat more alkaline foods and reduce your acidic foods, and if you still get it, just keep reducing those acidic foods to see if it helps.

Acid/Alkaline Foods
So we know that a diet rich in acidic foods causes heartburn, and potentially worse ailments, so its time to look at a list of acid and alkaline foods. Personally, I was shocked to learn exactly which is which. It may surprise you.
Here's a great, to the point, list of acid and alkaline foods I found.
What I found particularly surprising is that fruits that we think of as very acidic like lemons, oranges, and grapefruit are actually alkaline, with lemons listed as "extremely alkalizing". I did some research on this and found that yes, these fruits are alkaline in the stomach, but citric acid does cause the LES to relax, so that is something to watch. Whole grains are also acidic. But almost all vegetables (except potatoes) and fruits (except cranberries) are alkaline. I love the fact that chili peppers are alkaline! People think that spicy foods are giving them heartburn, when in fact it is probably what the spice is on! Fried hot wings, chili dogs, chili with all its red meat. It is red meat and processed foods creating the acid reflux, not the actual chilies! Instant and highly processed foods such as hot dogs, potato chips, white flour, white sugar, and cows milk (pasteurized), as well as red meats like beef and pork are all highly acidic. Milk - one of the foods that we generally consider to be very basic actually produces stomach acid because of its pasteurization process. More stomach acid needs to be produced in order to digest these highly processed products.

I should also point out that in that list, it states at the bottom that an alkaline diet depletes your body of potassium and they recommend taking a potassium supplement. Like all good balance, you need a BALANCE. This would include both acid and alkaline foods in your diet and striving to maintain a good Ph. I think eating nothing but alkaline foods would be like eating no fat. Fat, even though the word itself even sounds dirty, is essential to proper nutrition, and so are acids. So please don't take the supplement, just eat good food.

There are a couple of natural remedies that I know of for heartburn (besides eating alkaline foods). One is papaya enzyme. My midwife suggested it to me for gas and it works wonders for preventing gas and heartburn. Another natural remedy is chewing on fennel seeds. I haven't tried the fennel seeds, so I can not vouch for taste or effectiveness, but if you have some lying around, give it a shot! Otherwise, if and when I do feel the burn, I think I'll grab a soothing pear or some watermelon!


http://drbenkim.com/ph-body-blood-foods-acid-alkaline.htm
http://www.exrx.net/Nutrition/Antioxidants/Introduction.html#anchor3347790
http://www.disabled-world.com/artman/publish/alkaline-diet.shtml
http://www.freeradicalscience.com/
http://www.alternativecancer.us/acid_alk.doc
http://www.livestrong.com/article/15727-alkaline-foods-heartburn/