|
So you’ve heard that alkaline water is good for health. But hang on! Your stomach is acidic. When you drink alkaline water doesn’t it cancel each other out so you don’t get the benefits? Good question! I’ll explain to you what really happens. How your stomach works Your stomach produces hydrochloric acid (HCL) to help digest food and kill bacteria. The pH of your stomach is maintained at around 4 (if you’re unsure what pH is check my previous post here). When you drink alkaline water or eat alkaline food, the pH level of your stomach goes up so it produces more hydrochloric acid to bring it back down to pH 4. It seems like you’re creating more and more acid. But this isn’t the full picture. What Really Happens When You Drink Alkaline Water When you understand how hydrochloric acid is created, your concerns will begin to disappear. Your stomach doesn’t have a reserve of hydrochloric acid sitting there – it’s secreted as needed. If there was, you’ll have a hole in your stomach! Hydrochloric acid is produced by combining water (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2) and sodium chloride (NaCl). This is where it gets a little technical but stay with me, it’s not as hard as you think. NaCl (sodium chloride) + H2O (water) + CO2 (carbon dioxide) = HCl (hydrochloric acid) + NaHCO3 (sodium bicarbonate) As you can see above, when hydrochloric acid is produced, sodium bicarbonate is also produced as a byproduct. This enters your bloodstream and neutralises solid acidic waste and turns them into liquid form to be expelled. The end result is you actually alkalise your body by drinking alkaline water. When you only look at the stomach function of producing hydrochloric acid, it seems that the benefits are lost there. But when you look at the complete picture you find that there is an overall gain of alkalinity. So the best thing you can do for your body is to drink plenty of alkaline water and eat alkalising foods. Key Takeaways (the healthy kind) 1. The stomach produces hydrochloric acid to help digest food and kill bacteria. 2. When you drink alkaline water, the stomach also produces an alkaline byproduct (sodium bicarbonate) that enters your bloodstream to neutralise acidic waste. 3. The benefits of drinking alkaline water are not lost in your stomach. There is a net gain! For more natural health tips visit our blog at: http://www.alkalife.com.au/blog.
Related Articles -
acid, alkaline, alkaline water, stomach acid, water,
| 
