By Blood is a main component of our body. The average blood percentage of blood volume in the human body is approximately 7% of the body weight.
The pH of blood means how acidic the blood is. Blood is slightly basic in normal, with a range of pH 7.35 to 7.45. Our body usually keeps pH of blood close to 7.40.
In this article, We will discuss the normal pH of blood of man and animal, pH of urine, and changes in pH of blood and urine pH which lead to changes in state of the human body.
Can you alkalize your blood?
Yes, we can alkalize our body, for example by controlling our diet as it can affect the blood pH and control it.
Scientists found that the basic food is better than the acidic food, fortunately, it is easy to make your diet alkaline.
You can achieve that by improving your intake of vitamins, and minerals from foods, planning your diet to include healthy food, drinks and snacks, reducing caffeine and sugar, drinking a lot of water and keeping your regular meals that will help you with controlling your blood glucose levels.
You can also achieve that by taking five to eight servings of fruits and vegetables everyday, especially leafy greens and low-sugar fruits such as berries and avocados.
If you like eating animal-based protein over plant-based protein, you can buy lean meat without fat.
If you are able to modify your diet to include about 75 percent alkaline foods, you will keep your blood pH optimum and won’t need to test your pH, you will also notice your improved energy level, and better sleep.
Why to alkalize your blood?
It is useful for physiological and biological systems in the body to maintain alkaline.
- It is better for oxygen delivery to the tissues, Oxygen is transported on the iron-containing hemoglobin molecule. Hemoglobin is loaded-up with oxygen that makes our blood red. When the blood contains an abundance of oxygen, the blood becomes brighter.
So the most important benefit from being adequately alkaline is that the blood does a better function of delivering oxygen to the body’s cells.
- Alkaline blood makes a proper environment for mitochondria, that helps with producing more energy.
Oxygen is essential to maintain energy production in mitochondria, assuming the body’s mitochondria is functioning well, the more oxygen is delivered to it, the more energy produced, and the better you feel.
This is obvious for people following an alkalizing diet, as they feel much more energy due to alkalinity of their blood.
- Loss of excess fat, water and weight, this is clearly explained by increasing mitochondrial function, that leads to more energy and more burning of fats because of the better oxygen supply.
But there are a lot of hormonal influences that affect this process such as thyroid, sex, and adrenal hormones.
And for water loss, If you neutralize or eliminate excess metabolic acid from your cells, the need for retaining extra water decreases, and this is the main reason that people who follow an alkalizing diet can lose weight in a very short time.
- Reduced tendency for inflammation and pain.
When a person has any inflammation due to stress, anxiety, physical trauma, changes in blood glucose levels, lack of sleep, excessive adipose tissue or hormonal imbalance, It causes a state of increasing oxidation.
The problem with inflammation and the high levels of oxidation is the acids resulting from this process.
This can contribute with catchy chronic diseases like cancer, and neurological diseases such as Parkinsons, and shutting down of mitochondrial energy production is the cause of all that,but alkalinity of blood can prevent all these processes.
- Better tissue and organ function lead to an anti-aging effect, and a healthier appearance.
Achieving ideal alkaline status depends firstly on the diet. In general, vegetables and fruits are metabolically alkaline, dairy, meat, and grains are acidic.
But a much greater factor that determines whether a food is metabolically acidic or alkaline is determined by the body’s immune response to this food. Immune responses create inflammation, and as we have just said that inflammation causes low oxygen and metabolic acidity.
What does high pH mean?
High Ph level means that a state of alkalosis with ph level more than 7.45, which is excessive blood alkalinity that means a measure of high blood pH.
It is caused by an overabundance of bicarbonate in the blood or a loss of acid from the blood through the kidney (metabolic alkalosis), or by a low level of carbon dioxide in the blood that results from rapid or deep breathing for hyperventilation (respiratory alkalosis).
Metabolic alkalosis happens in the body when the body loses too much acid or gains too much base, with the absence of compensatory mechanism.
This happens when stomach acid is lost during prolonged vomiting or during suctioning with a stomach tube in certain cases.
This also happens when the body loses excess amounts of fluids and electrolytes ,sodium and potassium, that affect the ability of the kidney to maintain the blood’s acid-base balance.
Respiratory alkalosis happens when the person takes a deep and rapid breath, that causes too much amount of carbon dioxide to be depleted from the blood.
The most common cause of respiratory alkalosis is severe stress and anxiety.
It can also happen in some cases as pain, fever, low levels of oxygen in the blood and Aspirin overdose which also can cause metabolic acidosis.
Alkalosis has some symptoms such as irritability, muscle twitching, tingling in the fingers and toes and around the lips, it also causes cramps.
Doctors can diagnose alkalosis by doing blood pH level tests and urine tests.
For treatment of alkalosis, It’s important to treat the cause first. In case of metabolic alkalosis, doctors make a replacement for water and electrolytes. In case of respiratory alkalosis, doctors give oxygen supply for patient and calm him if the cause was anxiety.
What does low pH means?
Low Ph level means that a pH less than 7.35 and this causes acidosis.
It is caused by overabundance of acid in the blood, or an excessive loss of bicarbonate from the blood, this is called metabolic acidosis. Acidosis also results from improper function of the kidney that leads to excessive formation of carbon dioxide, or due to depressing breath, and this is called respiratory acidosis.
Metabolic acidosis happens in the body when the acid production increases in the blood, and that comes from any substance that can produce acid after its metabolism or breakdown, these substances are methanol, ethanol, ethylene glycol and overdose of Aspirin.
There are many toxins and medications can also cause metabolic acidosis.
Metabolic acidosis can also result from abnormal metabolism in the body, excessive production of acids resulting from shock in case of lactic acidosis, and poorly controlled type I diabetes mellitus.
It also can happen in a body producing normal amounts of acids, but with a kidney doesn’t do its function normally so it will not excrete sufficient acids in urine.
It can occur in the body when suffering from digestive tract problems, in this case bicarbonate will be lost in diarrhea.
Respiratory acidosis happens in the body when the lung isn’t able to expel carbon dioxide efficiently, this case results from some disorders such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease [COPD], heart failure, severe pneumonia and asthma.
It also can result from disorders of the brain or of the nerve or of the muscle of the chest.
It can result when breathing is slowed because of oversedation as a result of Alcohols, opioids, or strong drugs that induce sleeping effects as sedatives, which leads to low levels of oxygen in blood.
It also can be a result of sleep-disordered breathing as sleep apnea which can repeatedly pause breathing long enough to result in temporary respiratory acidosis.
In metabolic acidosis symptoms are not obvious, but patients may suffer from fatigue, nausea and vomiting.
But in respiratory acidosis symptoms are usually headache and drowsiness.
Surely, doctors can diagnose it by doing a ph blood test. They also can treat this condition by removing the causes if present.
In metabolic acidosis, most cases are treated by taking their insulin treatment if high blood sugar is the cause.
But in respiratory acidosis most solutions depend on improving lung function, that can be made through opening the airway and dilating the bronchi by drugs as Albuterol, doctors also can use mechanical ventilation to help patient breath properly.
What is the urine pH level?
Urine is water, salts and waste products of the body from the two kidneys. The compounds excreted by the kidney can affect the pH of the urine.
Normally, pH level of urine is around 6.0 to 7.5, however, pH value in the 4.5 to 8.0 range is not a cause for a significant problem.
Measurement of urine pH can help doctors with diagnosis if a person has symptoms related to urinary tract and kidney.
The PH level of urine can be affected by many factors such as food and drugs taken.
Acidic and basic food affect urine, acidic food include sodas, grains, animal protein food and sugary foods, basic food include nuts, most fruits and vegetables.
Knowing the pH level of urine is very useful in many clinical situations as in toxicological cases. By advertising the ph level of urine, you can hasten the exit of toxin from the body through the urine.
What is the abnormal blood pH for women?
The normal pH of women and men is very slightly different, it normally ranges from 7.35 to 7.45.
This difference is obvious only due to biological sex, we can clarify the difference by talking about vaginal pH of women which is normally acidic with pH range from 3.8 to 4.5.
The pH is considered abnormal when it becomes alkaline, that leads to overgrowth of bacteria.
What is the abnormal blood pH for men?
Surely, the blood pH differs from men to women due to biological sex, The normal average pH level for men is 5.4 – 5.8, that is similar to the recommended skin surface level.
The pH of these regions is considered abnormal if it becomes alkaline, this can occur due to using alkaline soaps which causes dryness and disturbance in the normal pH of the region.
This abnormality can be also due to Showering with water which contains high levels of minerals, that leads to high levels of pH.
Perspiring during doing exercise can lead to irritation and affect the skin’s pH balance on the body and groin.
What is the abnormal blood pH for Babies?
This test is useful in some cases to know if the baby is healthy enough to continue the labor.
The sample is taken from the scalp of the baby with a specific procedure, this blood normal pH range is 7.25 to 7.35, and the borderline pH is 7.20 to 7.25.
pH level of less than 7.20 is considered abnormal and this indicates that the baby has not enough oxygen.
Babies has less fluids in their body so their blood has high concentration of fluids, that makes babies have blood ph less than adults who have large volume of fluids.
What is the fatal blood pH for humans?
PH levels of less than 6.8 or greater than 7.8 is considered fatal, as it is not suitable for life, this is according to medical and physiology texts.
Patients who suffer from metabolic acidosis, 44% of them had lactic acidosis, 37% had strong ion gap (SIG) acidosis and 19% had hyperchloremic acidosis (acidosis not associated with either lactate or SIG).
The mortality rate was 45% in patients with metabolic acidosis but 26% for patients without. Patients who have lactic acidosis had a mortality rate of 56% and the mortality rate was 39% in patients who have SIG acidosis.
Patients with hyperchloremic acidosis had a mortality rate similar to the rate in the non-acidosis group 29%.
Mortality rates have been reported as 45% in patients with an arterial blood pH of 7.55 and 80% when the blood pH was greater than 7.65.
To prevent fatal acidosis like this, you must keep your weight healthy and keep away from stress anxiety, treat any disturbance in the kidney if present, and avoid smoking.
But to prevent fatal alkalosis, patient should be treated as soon as finding the case, doctors also continue to monitor vital signs of the patient to avoid entering in this fatal case.
If the patient is not treated quickly from the acidosis and alkalosis, he will enter that fatal phase.
So, you should keep healthy and eat healthy food, and you must also seek for urgent medical advice if you feel unwell to solve any health problem before aggravation.
What is the normal blood pH level for animals?
Human blood pH is about 7.4, that seems to be a good value for dogs and cats and almost all mammals.
For racehorses it seems to be 7.4, but Silkworm and Bombyx Mori have a pH of 6.45 (larval) and 6.57 (pupal).
Generally, the normal pH for animals is just above 7.
For abnormalities of pH in animal, blood is considered abnormally acidic if it is below 7 and considered abnormally basic if it is higher than range of 7.
what is PH balance chart?
PH balance chart is a measure, we can know how acidic or basic a substance is by using it. Its range takes a numerical value between 0 and 14, This method measures the amount of free hydrogen and hydroxyl ions in water. Pure water has pH=7.
From PH 0 to pH less than 7, it is the acidic range. From pH more than 7 to pH 14, it is the basic range.
In medical science, having the suitable pH in the blood and other body fluids is a must for the body to do its function correctly.
Sorensen is the scientist who invented the pH balance concept, he introduced the scientific term of pH, which stands for “Potential of hydrogen”. It refers to amount of hydrogen present in solution.
Is it important to do a blood pH test?
Yes, It is important to do blood pH tests, because knowing the blood pH of a person can help doctors with finding out if that person suffers from an acid-base disorder.
Blood pH tests can also be useful in monitoring blood pH levels, that helps doctors treat any underlying causes, and care for people with health problems.
Let’s know how this test is done, there are two types of tests that doctors use to know the pH of the person’s blood: arterial blood gas testing and electrolyte testing.
Arterial blood gas tests are done in a hospital. These tests measure the acidity, oxygen, and carbon dioxide levels of the blood. The sample is taken by a skilled doctor from the wrist, and then sent to a laboratory for analysis.
Electrolyte tests can be also useful for doctors. They may do them when a person’s case becomes seriously ill. The test measures the levels of salts and minerals in blood, such as bicarbonate. This sample of blood is occasionally taken from a vein in the arm.
These tests can help doctors determine the underlying causes of appearing symptoms and whether the body systems work well.