Aging, as I define it, is the accumulation of acidic wastes within our body. Our body must maintain slightly alkaline pH level to survive. Our blood pH value is 7.4 at the artery and the cellular fluid pH value is 7.2 to 7.3. In spite of the fact that our cells produce acidic wastes constantly, the body fluids maintain this alkaline pH. Our body is an amazing surviving machine.

Our body tries very hard to dispose of acidic wastes. Most of these wastes come out of our body through urine and perspiration. That's why urine is acid in general (the pH value fluctuates between 4.6 to 8 depending upon what the body is dumping) and the skin surface is acidic. The acidic skin surface kills most of the germs and viruses that it comes in contact with, including the AIDS viruses.

In order to reduce acidity of the blood, our lungs remove carbon dioxide (CO2) and exhaust it through breathing. Carbonic acid H2CO3 becomes water H2O when CO2 is removed. This is perhaps the fastest way to reduce blood acidity. The pH value of blood in the veins fluctuates widely depending upon the waste products dumped into them. That's why we only talk about the artery blood pH value, which is fairly constant.

With all these efforts to dispose of acidic wastes, we still make more wastes than our body can get rid of. In the meantime, the body must maintain alkalinity in the body fluids to survive. The secret is to convert some of the liquid acid into solid acid. If substance is not dissolved into water, it does not influence the pH value of the water. Some examples of these solidified acidic wastes are: cholesterol, fatty acid, uric acid, kidney stones, urates, phosphates, etc. Cholesterol is incompletely burnt carbohydrate. Cows don't eat cholesterol-rich food yet they are full of cholesterol because they don't exercise and don't burn carbohydrates completely.

Acid coagulates blood! This is the fundamental problem that comes from the accumulation of acidic wastes. Buildup of acid clogs up capillaries and prevents smooth blood circulation. Body organs create all kinds of problems when blood circulation is cut off. It is amazing how the various body organs recover once blood circulation is restored, unless permanent damage is done. Even if the circulation is not completely cut off, when the amount of blood supplied is reduced, the organs function poorly and aging symptoms appear. Buildups of too much cholesterol and plaques in the artery can cause stroke, as we know very well.

Most of the degenerative diseases are caused by too much acidic wastes somewhere in our body that slows down blood circulation. Depending upon where our body accumulates the acid, disease symptoms are different. However, the causes are the same: too much acid. Modern medicine is concerned with the treatment of symptoms rather than the elimination of the causes of diseases. In the treatment of social ills, we seem to do the same thing. We address the symptoms of crimes caused by firearms by building more jail cells rather than outlawing gun sales and teaching morals in public schools to prevent youngsters from committing crimes.

The primary place where we accumulate solid acidic wastes in our body may depend on the individual's genetic makeup. This may explain why some of the degenerative diseases are hereditary. Diabetes itself is not hereditary. What is hereditary is the accumulation of solid acidic wastes around the pancreas. If we do not allow wastes to accumulate around the pancreas, there will not be diabetes in that family even if family members reach the age of 50 or 60.

Cancer cells are acidic while healthy cells are alkaline. Cancer is clearly the result of acidic wastes accumulation. Cancer and acidic environment will be discussed in other articles on Science and Health Series. Uric acid crystals in the joints cause gout. Uric acid comes from nitrogen in proteins. In Korea, gout is referred to as "the rich man's disease". Only rich men could afford to eat meat in the old days.

When phosphoric acid or sulfuric acid is created by the oxidation of nutrients that contain phosphor and sulfur, the strength of the acid is too strong for the body to take. To overcome this problem, our body removes calcium from our skeleton to make phosphate or sulfate which is a much weaker acid. Urates and phosphate in kidney stones are the combination of acid and calcium. This is how osteoporosis develops. Simply taking calcium pills does not help much because calcium does not dissolve well. Vitamin D helps dissolve calcium.

Dr. Sebastian has successfully treated osteoporosis by administering potassium bicarbonate (KHCO3) to his patients1). Our lungs remove CO2 from potassium bicarbonate and potassium hydroxide (KOH) remains. Potassium hydroxide is a strong alkaline, which kicks out ionized calcium from urates, phosphates and sulfates to restore calcium to the skeleton.

We take vitamins, mineral supplements and trace minerals with the hope of improving our health. However, if the body acid/alkaline balance is not maintained well, the body cannot absorb these things well and we wind up throwing them out. The solution to combat adult diseases caused by aging is to drink alkaline water. It is too simple for modern medicine to understand.

1) Drs. Sebastian et al " Improved Mineral Balance and Skeletal Metabolism in Postmenopausal Women Treated with Potassium Bicarbonate", New England Journal of Medicine June 23, 1994.

Optimum Health, Optimum Vitality - at any age!