Can alkaline powder improve your health?

Disclaimer: Please note that this article is research based and some of the views and findings do not conform with the CSN Diet.

Smoking isn’t cool anymore and the popularity of virgin cocktails is rising. Today’s society is all about healthy choices.

We are almost bombarded with info on health and wellness. Living in an era of quick fixes, we don’t only want to be healthy, we want to be healthy now.

Proponents of alkaline powder claim that it provides plenty of health benefits. What does science say?

Does alkaline powder have any real benefits

Understanding pH levels in the body

The pH scale is used to measure how acidic or alkaline something is, and this includes the human body. A balanced pH helps your body to perform the necessary biological functions that keep you alive.

Your pH balance can affect your entire body. The pH scale ranges from zero to 14. A pH below seven is acidic and a pH higher than seven is considered alkaline or basic.

A normal blood pH ranges between 7.35 and 7.45, which is slightly alkaline.

Interestingly, stomach acid has a pH of around 1.5 to 3.5, making it acidic. Hence the stomach acid we have all heard of, which helps to digest food and destroy germs.

Healthy bodies are adequate at regulating pH via the pulmonary and renal systems. These systems regulate pH balance when it needs to increase or decrease.

Your pulmonary system, which is your airways, lungs and blood vessels can lower pH and become more acidic by releasing carbon dioxide when you exhale. 

Breathing in oxygen, which is alkaline, helps increase your body pH.

Your renal system, including your kidneys and bladder helps regulate pH by excreting acid when you urinate, thus increasing pH. 

If your body needs to decrease pH, your kidneys can absorb alkaline chemicals, adjusting your pH in just a few days.

What is alkaline powder?

Alkaline powder is a multi-mineral dietary supplement for balancing pH levels in the body. 

While healthy bodies can maintain the correct pH levels, certain factors and health conditions can cause pH imbalances in the body, which in turn affects how the body functions.

Such conditions can cause either acidosis or alkalosis.

Acidosis refers to an inability to remove acid from your airways, blood or other body fluids. A few types of acidosis exists:  

  • Lactic acidosis. This is a type of metabolic acidosis which occurs when too much lactic acid builds up in your blood. 
  • Diabetic acidosis occurs when too many ketone acids build up in your blood.
  • Renal tubular acidosis. This happens when your kidneys let too much acid back into your blood.
  • Hyperchloremic acidosis is when the levels of alkaline sodium bicarbonate in your blood drops too low.
  • Respiratory acidosis occurs when your lungs don’t expel enough carbon dioxide.

Acidosis is caused by a large number of factors, depending on the type of acidosis. 

A few examples of acidosis causes include:

  • Certain medications
  • Low blood sugar
  • Dehydration
  • Cancer
  • High altitude
  • Sleep apnea
  • Fever
  • Pneumonia

If you are suffering from acidosis you may experience symptoms such as fatigue, nausea, vomiting, and confusion.

Alkalosis is the opposite of acidosis, referring to a body that is too alkaline to function in a healthy manner. We distinguish between two types of alkalosis:

  • Metabolic alkalosis – when there is too much bicarbonate in your blood.
  • Respiratory alkalosis – when there is not enough carbon dioxide in your body.

Alkalosis is caused by among others fever, lung disease, high altitude and liver diseases. Symptoms include headaches, shortness of breath, muscle spasms, confusion, and fatigue.

Risk factors for pH imbalanceWhile anyone can develop a pH imbalance, these factors increase your chances of suffering from this affliction: 
type 1 diabeteskidney conditionsliver conditionsrespiratory and lung conditionsobesityepilepsyalcohol abuse
Source: www.healthline.com/health/ph-imbalance#risk-factors

Key takeaways thus far: 

-> The body is well-equipped to maintain healthy pH levels by itself.

-> Certain underlying conditions can cause problems in maintaining pH levels, leading to acidosis or alkalosis.

This leads us to the following question: is alkaline powder a cure for acidosis? If not, what is it good for, seeing that the body can regulate its own pH levels?

Benefits of alkaline powder

Alkaline powder is marketed as an easy way to boost the alkalinity of your body. 

And when you do a Google search on the benefits of alkaline powder, the results are purely marketing, much of which does not seem to be supported by studies.

Multiforce Alkaline Powder by A Vogel claims to have the following benefits:

  • Supports the body’s pH regulating systems
  • Helps to neutralise stomach acid
  • Treats acid reflux, heartburn, indigestion, gas and bloating
  • Has a bowel cleansing effect
  • Helps prevent the formation of kidney stones
  • Helps build bones and helps prevent bone loss
  • Reduces blood pressure and helps with cardiac issues
  • Has antioxidant properties

Basium alkaline mineral powder boasts the following benefits:

  • Supports healthy digestion
  • Stronger bones and teeth
  • May prevent cancer
  • May protect against developing infections

This product even claims to help you maintain a healthy weight. 

The reason for this is twofold: an acidic climate in the body results in weight gain when the body can no longer process acids effectively and begins to store them as fat tissue.

Alkaline powder is also said to increase energy levels, which aids you in getting more exercise. When acid levels are too high, sluggishness and fatigue can reduce your motivation to diet and exercise.

Some sources warn that there are risks to taking an alkaline dietary supplement, as it can disrupt the body’s natural pH balance. 

This is because, as mentioned before, healthy bodies can maintain a balanced pH without outside help. 

Alkaline supplements can cause a healthy body to become too alkaline, leading to symptoms such as nausea, muscle weakness and confusion.

This implies that taking alkaline powder if your pH levels are in fact balanced makes no sense, and can make you ill.

But how will you know if your body is too acidic? You might experience some of the earlier-mentioned symptoms. It is also possible to purchase test strips which measure the pH in your urine and saliva.

What does science say?

It’s not impossible that alkaline powder comes with benefits, but very few of its claims have been studied and proven. In one instance the claims have been proven false – cancer prevention.

Some brands of alkaline powder claim to play a role in cancer prevention.
There is, however, no real link between acidity and cancer.

Research has suggested that there is a link between dietary acid and cancer. 


This is not the same thing as the pH levels in your blood, and despite studies we are not 100% sure that a lot of acid in your diet causes cancer.

In fact, cancer cells have been successfully grown experimentally in an alkaline environment.

Tumours grow faster in acidic environments, but tumours create this acidity themselves. It is not the acidic environment that creates cancer cells, but cancer cells that create an acidic environment.

Conclusion

Alkaline powder is not the solution for a lifestyle in which you consume plenty of acidic food. While diet can affect the pH of your urine, it doesn’t have much of an effect on your blood pH.

If you are healthy your body is already efficiently regulating your pH levels. If you suspect it needs some health, best to discuss with your GP whether an alkaline supplement is the best option for you.

Picture of Karien

Karien

Hi, my name is Karien Nel and today I’m 37kg lighter than the day I started my weight loss journey with CSN Diet.

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