Stomach Acid and Alkaline Water: Expert Insights and Common Questions
Stomach Acid and Alkaline Water
Commonly asked questions regarding stomach acid: Do we need to be worried if we drink alkaline water all the time? Is it going to raise the alkalinity of our stomach? Will the stomach's acidity be neutralised? .......
What do the experts say?
Dr Ben Johnson M.D., D.O., N.M.D. (Author of book 'Healing Waters', Featured in the documentary movie 'The Secret'):
"I have performed hundreds of gastroscopes. The stomach is normally empty. When you drink water without food the water moves through the stomach in a fairly rapid fashion into the small intestine where it is absorbed, not really affecting the mucous lining of the stomach nor the pH of that mucous. After years of research into the effects from drinking alkaline water, I am yet to see any causal relationship between alkaline water and parasite or digestion issues.
Dr. Robert Young (Author of book 'The pH Miracle'):
There is a plethora of Asian research that shows the opposite of the stomach being compromised. - The best thing you can do to support the stomach is to drink electron rich alkaline water with a pH of at least 9.5 or better. You will be preventing serious stomach disorders and preparing the food and drink for its ideal pH in the small intestine at 8.4 for biological transformation into stems cells in the crypts of the small intestine."
My best advise is to drink at least 1 liter of 9.5 pH alkaline electron rich water for every 50 pounds of weight. You will be hydrating, alkalizing and energizing your body. There is nothing more important than drinking alkaline electron rich water."
Dr Sang Whang (Author of book 'Reverse Aging'):
"Among the people who question the validity of alkaline water, the biggest question is, "What happens to the alkaline water once it reaches the stomach, which is highly acidic'" People who have some knowledge of the human body, including medical doctors, ask this question. Let me answer that question once and for all to erase any doubts about the health benefits of alkaline water.
In order to digest food and kill the kinds of bacteria and viruses that come with the food, the inside of our stomach is acidic. The stomach pH value is maintained at around 4. When we eat food and drink water, especially alkaline water, the pH value inside the stomach goes up. When this happens, there is a feedback mechanism in our stomach to detect this and commands the stomach wall to secrete more hydrochloric acid into the stomach to bring the pH value back to 4. So the stomach becomes acidic again. When we drink more alkaline water, more hydrochloric acid is secreted to maintain the stomach pH value. It seems like a losing battle.
However, when you understand how the stomach wall makes hydrochloric acid, your concerns will disappear. A pathologist friend of mine gave me the following explanation. There is no hydrochloric acid pouch in our body. If there were, it would burn a hole in our body. The cells in our stomach wall must produce it on an instantly-as-needed basis. The ingredients in the stomach cell that make hydrochloric acid (HCl) are carbon dioxide (CO2), water (H2O), and sodium chloride (NaCl) or potassium chloride (KCl).
NaCl + H2O + CO2 = HCl + NaHCO3, or
KCl + H2O + CO2 = HCl + KHCO3
As we can see, the byproduct of making hydrochloric acid is sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) or potassium bicarbonate (KHCO3), which goes into blood stream. These bicarbonates are the alkaline buffers that neutralize excess acids in the blood; they dissolve solid acid wastes into liquid form. As they neutralize the solid acidic wastes, extra carbon dioxide is released, which is discharged through the lungs. As our body gets old, these alkaline buffers get low; this phenomenon is called acidosis. This is a natural occurrence as our body accumulates more acidic waste products. There is, therefore, a relationship between the aging process and the accumulation of acids.
By looking at the pH value of the stomach alone, it seems that alkaline water never reaches the body. But when you look at the whole body, there is a net gain of alkalinity as we drink alkaline water. Our body cells are slightly alkaline. In order for them to produce acid, they must also produce alkaline, and vice versa; just as a water ionizer cannot produce alkaline water without producing acid water, since tap water is almost neutral.
When the stomach pH value gets higher than 4, the stomach knows what to do to lower it. However, if the pH value goes below 4, for any reason, the stomach doesn't know what to do. That's why we take Alka-Seltzer, which is alkaline, to relieve acidic stomach gas pain. In this case, hydrochloric acid is not produced by the stomach wall, therefore, no alkaline buffer is being added to the blood stream."
"Digestion and Alkaline Water - by Ian Hamilton
Let’s look more closely at digestion. When Sang Whang lectured here in Byron Bay, one eager listener discussed Sang’s theories on stomach acid and later commented that Sang Whang had a ‘diamond tip brain’. Sang’s theorys, once termed ‘left of centre’ are now being accepted by more and more researchers.
Sang suggests that the reason we lose acidity in our stomachs as we age is because we lose the ability to deliver acid from our bloodstream on demand. With narrowing arteries, accumulated plaque, and higher blood pressure (thicker blood), the normal request from ‘command central’ for acid from the blood buffer is given, but the ‘goods’ can’t be delivered because the transport system has degraded. Our acidified circulation system has lost its ability to acidify!
It makes sense. The idea of a ‘bag of acid’ in the stomach is just so wrong. We ‘issue’ acid to the stomach based on needs ascertained by our nervous system. We call for exactly what the stomach needs, based on what the nerves in the mouth have observed is ‘coming down the tube’. In this way, our stomach acid to food ratio is always optimised and we don’t have the ongoing problem of having to create more bicarbonate of soda to protect our stomach walls from the acid. Sang says that by alkalising (in his case with alkaline water), we have the capacity to reduce blood pressure, clean up the blood, balance our alkaline and acid buffers (for all the acid sent to the stomach there must be a proportionate bicarbonate of soda ratio) and ensure easy delivery of the acid and the base to the stomach in the exact volume and proportion demanded."