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Health & Wellness

2012-06-08 15:04:28

Drink to your health

Q: I have been told that the more acidic the body becomes, the more prone it is to disease including cancer. If drinking ionized water can lower the body’s acidity level, can it help fight cancer?

A: I need to begin my answer by saying that I am not a doctor, and I am not qualified to give medical advice. If you have cancer, you need to make your health decisions based on the advice of medical professionals with whom you are comfortable. If you are a person who likes to research these things, you already know there are a number of theories, treatments and protocols various well-meaning people advocate for treating cancer. Some may help and some may not, but that is not for me to judge. I cannot tell you that drinking ionized water will help prevent, reduce or cure cancer. All I can say is that I believe maintaining proper pH balance in your body is important for good health, and drinking high pH alkaline water from a water ionizer is an effective tool for achieving that goal. I will share some information I have gathered from my on-line research regarding your body’s acidity and how some people think that may or may not affect your body’s ability to fight cancer. I offer it only as interesting information and certainly not as medical advice. You need to form your own opinions. What many people don’t know is that many of the foods they regularly consume have a negative effect on their body’s pH balance. The human body is naturally alkaline. When a person consumes a diet of overly acidic foods and beverages, their body’s pH is thrown out of balance. In fact, studies show that when a body’s pH is too acidic, the person is at an elevated risk of suffering from heart disease, arthritis, cancer and other diseases. Laboratory studies have shown that in the test tube, cancer cells and tumors thrive and grow in a more acidic environment. When the level of acid is lowered, tumors grow much more slowly. If this occurs in a test tube, it stands to reason that cancer cells in the body would also be negatively affected by an overall alkaline environment. It would also make sense that the opposite would also be true. If the body’s pH is overly acidic, the growth of cancer cells and tumors would be encouraged. On the pH scale which ranges from 0 (highly acidic) to 14 (highly alkaline), the human body should be at a pH of about 7.4 naturally. Some studies have shown that at pH 8.5, cancer cells can no longer survive. Therefore, some people argue that maintaining a diet of highly alkaline foods and beverages can potentially decrease one’s risk of cancer and maybe even help fight the disease. Another piece of interesting information I found is that cancer cells do not grow well in the presence of oxygen. When oxygen levels are low, cancer cells have more of an opportunity to thrive and multiply. When body tissues have a highly alkaline pH, they are able to hold much more oxygen as compared to tissues with a highly acidic pH. Also, when cells have a higher alkaline pH, it is much easier for them to discard cellular waste and toxins. Therefore, if the tissues and cells of the body are too acidic, they are much more susceptible to damage and unhealthy conditions. Conversely, if you maintain your body in a proper alkaline state, it is logical that you will be helping to protect the health of your cells and potentially discouraging the development and growth of cancerous cells. According to experts, maintaining a diet that promotes an alkaline pH in the body helps protect your overall health and can help protect against all sorts of diseases including cancer. When a person eats this kind of diet, their body’s pH will lean more toward the alkaline side of the scale. Many people become confused regarding alkaline and acid diets because they think that it refers to the actual pH level of the food itself. This is not the case, as some foods which are highly acidic in their natural form, such as lemons and limes, actually have an alkaline effect on the body. An alkaline diet usually involves eating minimal amounts of meats, dairy products, white flour and white sugar because these foods have a very acidic reaction on the body’s pH level. Instead the diet usually focuses heavily on fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts such as almonds, and soy products, because they leave an alkaline ash within the body. A good way to support a healthy acidic-alkaline balance within the body is to consume a diet that is composed of 50% to 80% alkaline foods. For proper nutrition, it is still necessary to consume some acidic foods. They should just be limited to less than half of one’s diet. Therefore, one’s diet should consist mostly of alkaline foods including: •Dried fruit such as raisins, apricots, dates and bananas •Potatoes and leafy green vegetables •Salad greens such as lettuce, spinach, and both red and green cabbage •Vegetables like beets, peppers, garlic, squash, zucchini and cucumbers •Natural fats such as nuts and black olives When it comes to beverages, one should avoid highly acidic drinks such soft drinks, coffee, alcohol, and water that has been purified through a reverse osmosis process. This includes almost all bottled water. Instead, one should drink fresh vegetable juices, herbal teas, and high pH alkaline ionized water. Eating a proper diet as described here simply makes good sense. Over time, it will help stop your body’s slide into an unhealthy acidic state and stabilize your body’s pH. However, it is not the fastest way to get your pH to a healthy alkaline level. For that, nothing beats the power of drinking sufficient quantities of high pH alkaline water from a home water ionizer. How much is a sufficient quantity? Experts say we should take ½ our body weight and drink that many ounces every day. For example, a 200 lb. person should drink about 100 ounces, or about 3 quarts every day. If they are fighting a health challenge, they should be drinking more. While I cannot tell you the effect drinking the high pH alkaline water would have on preventing or helping to fight cancer, I can tell you this. I firmly believe that having a home water ionizer, along with eating a proper diet, is the single most effective investment most families can make for maintaining good health and fighting disease.