Acidic blood pH levels, which cause toxic acid wastes (acidosis), is a mostly unknown but dangerously destructive circumstance because it leads to so many deadly diseases such as heart disease and cancer, as well as serious health problems such as low energy, unwanted weight gain, poor athletic performance and accelerated aging.

When you have an acidic pH, your body is being silently torn apart day by day and becomes increasingly vulnerable to degenerative diseases of all types. However, when you maintain an alkaline pH on a daily basis, your body can rebuild, repair, rejuvenate and remain young!

Your Body pH affects EVERYTHINGAre you aware that in many cases Cancer has been stopped in its tracks by people who have shifting their blood to an alkaline pH state? The magnitude of this understanding is of incredible importance to someone who is fighting virtually any disease, overcoming an illness, or someone desiring to simply feel better and remain as young as possible. What it means is this... Your Body pH affects EVERYTHING!

Even mild acidity in your body can over time cause such problems as :

Cardiovascular damage, including the constriction of blood vessels, clogged arteries, weakened veins, and the reduction of oxygen
All forms of Cancer
Unwanted weight/fat gain, obesity, insulin disorders, and diabetes
Liver, Bladder and Kidney conditions, including kidney and gallstones
Weakened Immune system, increased stress, higher blood pressure
Neurological Diseases: MS, ALS, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's
Acceleration of free radical damage, possibly contributing to cancerous mutations
Premature aging, frequent headaches, sinusitis, constipation, hemorrhoids
Osteoporosis, weak, brittle bones, hip fractures, bone spurs and calcium deposits
Osteoarthritis, joint pain, aching muscles and lactic acid buildup
Hormonal imbalances, Prostate problems and adult acne
Low energy and chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, acid indigestion and flatulence
Understanding pH
It is very important to understand that we are not talking about stomach acid, saliva pH, or the pH of your urine. We are talking about the pH of the body's fluids, tissues and blood, which is an entirely different matter.

pH stands for "potential of Hydrogen", which is a measure of the acidity or alkalinity of a solution, such as a mixture of liquids. It is measured on a scale of 0 to 14 -- the lower the pH the more acidic the solution, and the higher the pH the more alkaline the solution. When a solution is neither acid nor alkaline it has a pH of 7 (exactly in the middle), which is neutral. Your body's pH is best when between 7.36 and 7.44, which of course, is slightly alkaline.

Your Body Must Be Slightly Alkaline
We live and die at the cellular level. All of the cells (trillions of them) that make up the human body are slightly alkaline, and must maintain that slight alkalinity in order to function and remain healthy and alive. The body can suffer severe and prolonged damage due to high acidity -- a condition that may go undetected for years, yet ultimately become deadly.

According to recent medical studies, pH imbalances can be correlated to almost all health conditions, including heart disease, arthritis and cancer. Virtually all leading biochemists and medical physiologists have recognized that your pH (acid-alkaline balance) is the most important aspect of a balanced, healthy and youthful body.

http://health.howstuffworks.com/blood4.htm

Plasma
Plasma is a clear, yellowish fluid (the color of straw). Plasma can sometimes appear milky after a very fatty meal or when people have a high level of lipids in their blood. Plasma is 90-percent water. The other 10 percent dissolved in plasma is essential for life. These dissolved substances are circulated throughout the body and diffuse into tissues and cells where they are needed. They diffuse from areas of high concentration to areas of lower concentration. The greater the difference in concentration, the greater the amount of material that diffuses. Waste materials flow in the opposite direction, from where they are created in the cells into the bloodstream, where they are removed either in the kidneys or lungs.
Hydrostatic pressure (blood pressure) pushes fluid out of blood vessels. Balancing this is something called oncotic pressure (caused by proteins dissolved in blood), which tends to keep fluid inside the blood vessels.

Proteins make up a large part of the 10 percent of material dissolved in plasma and are responsible for oncotic pressure. Protein molecules are much larger than water molecules and tend to stay in blood vessels. They have more difficulty fitting through the pores in capillaries, and therefore have a higher concentration in blood vessels. Proteins tend to attract water to keep their relative concentration in blood vessels more in line with fluid outside the blood vessels. This is one of the ways the body maintains a constant volume of blood.

Plasma contains 6.5 to 8.0 grams of protein per deciliter of blood. The main proteins in plasma are albumin (60 percent), globulins (alpha-1, alpha-2, beta, and gamma globulins (immunoglobulins)), and clotting proteins (especially fibrinogen). These proteins function to maintain oncotic pressure (especially albumin) and transport substances such as lipids, hormones, medications, vitamins, and other nutrients. These proteins are also part of the immune system (immunoglobulins), help blood to clot (clotting factors), maintain pH balance, and are enzymes involved in chemical reactions throughout the body.

Electrolytes are another large category of substances dissolved in plasma. They include:

Sodium (Na+)
Potassium (K+)
Chloride (Cl-)
Bicarbonate (HCO3-)
Calcium (Ca+2)
Magnesium (Mg+2)
These chemicals are absolutely essential in many bodily functions including fluid balance, nerve conduction, muscle contraction (including the heart), blood clotting and pH balance.

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Disruptions in the acid-base balance of the body fluids are almost always the RESULT rather than the CAUSE of disease. Acidosis and alkalosis are SYMPTOMS of one or more underlying abnormal physiological processes.

An excellent example is the ketoacidosis of diabetes. This results from the inability of cells of the body to take in glucose because of insulin insufficiency. The body begins to metabolize fats in an effort to overcome the glugose deficit. By-products of heavy fat metabolism are beta-hydroxy butyric acid and acetoacetic acid, called "ketone bodies". These cause a drop in extracellular fluid (e.g. plasma and lymphatic fluid) pH well below 7.0 that can be life-threatening and requires immediate treatment.

The body has numerous systems which normally work together without our conscious effort to maintain the normal, slightly alkaline pH (7.4) in extracellular body fluids such as blood plasma and lymphatic fluid. Among these are the lungs, which can get rid of excess carbon dioxide, and the kidneys, which can excrete numerous ions, including bicarbonate, sodium, potassium, calcium, phosphate, etc, to help regulate pH balance.

Here is a link to a tutorial on the subject by a doctor at Tulane University: http://www.acid-base.com/