Health Education

The Development Of Latent "Acidosis"
And Pleomorphism

by Dennis Myers

Modern science finally is finding microorganisms in the devitalized tissues of all chronic degenerative diseases. Where do these organisms come from? Modern science does not know. The concept of Pleomorphism provides the answer.

As we get older, acids, heavy metals and other toxins accumulate in the body's genetically 'weakest' and most devitalized organs. As the blood supply of such organs is reduced and their immune cells incapacitated because of the acids and toxins, these organs are fortresses in the body where viruses, bacteria, and fungi multiply (pleomorphism) and thrive in an undisturbed way. The function of these organisms, which are pleomorphic, is to consume the accumulating toxic debris. This is rotting pure and simple. This is pleomorphism. The body rots and oxidizes from the inside out; we do not 'catch' Chronic Degenerative Disease.

If we look for the common denominators of all diseases, factors that make any disease worse, then correcting those factors will at least help and perhaps cure, whatever is wrong with you.

Every disease begins, at a cellular level, with cells becoming acid, toxic and polluted. Pleomorphic organisms grow. Similar concepts include the oxidation/reduction potential of the blood that shows how oxidized we are. There is the accumulation of non-biodegradable toxins notably heavy metals, organic solvents... These are issues that must be dealt with, for any therapy to work. Since the internal environment or internal milieu those cells grew up in was the cause of those particular cells becoming acid, toxic or polluted then, correcting this cause, the sick internal milieu, can allow the cells to get better. We do not attack the result (the disease), we attack the causes. This is the best place to start, no matter what is wrong with you. Pleomorphism.

Because allopathic medicine deals with the results and final symptoms of disease, not the causes, it is the most specialized and therefore exclusive form of medicine there is. In today's competitive medical market place, to begin treatment with such a form of medicine places the patient in a severely compromised predicament. Rather, to begin treatment with concepts that apply to all forms of medicine, all diseases, concepts that are not exclusive, so expensive or dangerous, is much more in the patient's interest. Instead of beginning with results, this is about beginning, not with prevention, but with the Treatment of Causes. The treatment of causes can be dealt with best by using all or as many as necessary, of the different forms of medicine and therapies, in a logical and sequential order. One usually begins a journey at the beginning, not the end. Base powder is the beginning.

Acid/Base/Mineral Balance

Acid/Base/Mineral Balance is a good place to start. To achieve such balance one must include such concepts as detoxification, proper nutrition, exercise, stress reduction and so on so it is not one without the other. It is Eclectic, Generic medicine. 'Treatment' requires care of the whole person and takes care of many things, not just one. This is Whole-istic Medicine. This is in the patient's best interest.

Acid/Base/Mineral Balance lays the mineral foundation of the body so to speak, because acid/base balance controls the mineral balance of the body. After the mineral skeleton or foundation of such Wholistic therapy is laid come such remedies as isopathic medicines, Pleomorphism, homeopathics, herbals, acupuncture and orthomolecular nutrition, as well as magnetic and electromagnetic devices and therapies, oxygen healing therapies and similar care.

How acid the intracellular, 'tissue juices' are, is the main dynamic that needs to be determined in any body fluid pH determination. The following explains how to determine the pH of the intracellular compartments and the quantity of the bases they contain. The procedure is quite simple actually, being devised at the beginning of the 1900s. This answers a lot of questions regarding saliva and urine pH determinations. There are no "normal" values for urine and saliva per se - it's a constantly changing dynamic depending on; what you ate the night before for urine and what you have been eating for the past months for saliva, the time of day of course, and above all stress - how well you slept... knowing these things makes sense then, of urine and saliva pH assessments.

Testing The Internal Milieu - Urine And Saliva Testing

This old and simple test of urine and saliva was in use extensively before modern blood tests came into existence. The amount of information it provides is considerable and forms a basis that unites all forms of medicine, makes them all work if you will. If the pH is not right, nothing in the body works as well as it could, including all therapies; vitamins, acupuncture, herbals... and allopathic drugs.

So, the healing process, no matter what is wrong with you, begins with RE-MINERALIZATION. The only way you can replace these minerals is by consuming fruits and vegetables. You can take mineral supplements but these only work temporarily. These type of minerals are basically ground up rocks and cannot be incorporated into the body cells. Plants can digest rocks, people can't. We must eat our fruits and vegetables, an apple a day does keep the doctor away.

This urine/saliva tests shows how many minerals are left in our bodies, i.e. what the MINERAL RESERVES of the body are and what we must do to remineralize it. This lays the foundation for any and all healing therapies.

How We Become Acid

The main reason we become acid is from over-consumption of protein. When protein breaks down in our bodies, it breaks down into the strong acids; sulfuric, nitric and phosphoric acid. These strong acids are like the battery acid in your car. They can burn holes in your clothes, eat metal.

We need protein, obviously, but only about 40 grams a day. "If one eats more than 47 grams of protein a day, - the body will lose more calcium than it can assimilate regardless of the diet or supplementation". There is no way that that person cannot have osteoporosis, for one, if more than this amount of protein is consumed. An athlete in training can use only 80 grams of protein a day.

The average American diet contains 200 grams of protein per day, which is bacon and eggs for breakfast and so on. We all know that the "richer" we become as a civilization and more "advanced", the more meat we eat. Plato knew this in ancient Greece and toward the end of that civilization, I am sure they had all the 'modern' degenerative diseases that plague us today and... "fast foods".

This is a reason postulated for the extinction of the Mayan Indians; their skeletons are demineralized, as if they too had been soaked in excess acid. Maybe toward the end they ate Big-Mac Hamburgers too.

How Acid is Made in the Body

The parietal or cover cells of the stomach split the sodium chloride of the blood and thereby provide the chloride ions for hydrochloric acid production. For each hydrochloric acid molecule the cover cells produce, they produce an equivalent amount of sodium bicarbonate.

NaCl (salt) + CO₂ -> H₂0 + HCl (acid) + NaHCO₃ (baking soda)
(Analytical Phase of the NaCl circulation)

This is what Friedrich Sander calls the analytical phase of the NaCl circulation; salt is analyzed or taken apart.

"When large amounts of HCl enter the stomach (rich protein meal), this acid is withdrawn from the acid-base household. The organism would die of the resulting alkalosis (base flood) if the excess base surplus were not taken up by the alkalophile glands that need these quick bases in order to build up their strong sodium bicarbonate secretions. These glands are the pancreas, Brunner's glands (between pylorus and the junctions of the bile and pancreatic ducts) Lieberkühn's glands and the liver and its bile with its strong acid binding capabilities which it has to produce.

"After a rich protein meal, the urine becomes alkaline. Protein nourishment then reacts acidic in the organism not only by the production of sulfuric and phosphoric acids but also through the formation and excretion of base in the urine. This is a double loss of bases."

In addition, during heavy exercise, the resulting lactic acid if not adsorbed by the collagen fibers (specific acid catchers) of the body, would kill the organism. The total collection of these fibers is the largest organ of the body really and in Europe, it is called the colloid connective tissue organ of SCHADE. This organ is two or three times larger than the liver and surrounds all blood vessels including the slightest capillaries No liquid exchange occurs between the blood and the parenchyma cells, or in reverse, can take place unless it passes through this connective tissue organ. This organ connects, holds everything in our bodies in place. It is composed of ligaments, tendons and the like obviously but as these break down into finer and finer fibers, it becomes literally the scaffolding that holds every single cell in our bodies in place. If too many acids need storing in this organ, which includes the muscles, inflammation and pain develop. Fibromyalgia is an acid disease for sure.

The more acids there are, acids adsorbed to the collagen fibers that have to be neutralized, the less sodium bicarbonate there will be to be taken up by the alkalophile glands. The larger the potential difference between these adsorbed acids and the amount of sodium bicarbonate generated with each meal; the more alkaline, or rich in bases the bile etc. will be.

The space enclosed by these finer and finer fibers, is called PISCHINGER'S SPACE, from the German scientist that described it. Essentially, this is the extracellular space that contains the fluids that bathe and feed each and every cell while carrying away the wastes from those same cells.

"Through a geloid change of the connective tissue that is created by an acidic metabolic situation, the nourishment of the cells is diminished. Through a left shifting of the acid-base household (the body becoming more acid) these connective tissue cells begin to degenerate and loose their eucolloidity (the beginning of liver cirrhosis?) This is the beginning of Illnesses whose Etiology is Unknown".

The acid-binding power of the blood and the tissue juices depend less on its pH value, but more upon the size of its alkali-reserve. If this reserve is full of stored acids, there is not much 'reserve'.

The Iso-Structure of the Blood

The blood only transports substances, here acids and bases. It does not 'store' them so its pH does not change. This iso-structure of the blood maintains the pH of the blood by pushing off the acids into the connective tissues. Also, the blood gives to the urine the same amount of acid that it receives from the tissues and liver so it retains its iso-form. Thus, a base deficiency is always related to the deterioration of the deposit ability of these connective tissues. As long as this ISO-structure of the blood is maintained, the urine, although it originates from the blood, remains a faithful reflected image of the acid-base regulation, not of the blood, but of the tissues. The urine therefore is an excretion product of the tissues not the blood which is solely a transporter.

Therefore, the urine physiologically is to be considered as the excretion of the tissues and not one of the blood so the urine alone and not the blood should be tested for the analytical determination of tissue or latent "acidosis". The analytical determination as described below produces the AQ (acid quotient) and NAQ (nitrogen acid quotient) curves described.

Latent "Acidosis"

A latent "acidosis" is the condition that exits when there are not enough bases in the alkalophile glands because they have been used up in the process of neutralizing the acids adsorbed to the collagen fibers. If conditions do not improve, this latent "acidosis" can advance to become what is called a compensated acidosis. This means the blood pH has not started to change yet, other things have changed in the blood but not the pH. Decompensated acidosis is where the alkaline reserves of the blood are used up too so the pH of the blood itself is altered.

Therefore, in the latent acidotic condition we are talking about, we are not "acidotic" (quotes are used because modern medicine considers acidosis to be only of the compensated or uncompensated type) - rather we are base deficient. This is why 80 or 90-year-old folks are shrunk up, little people. They have no mineral stores left. When all the minerals are gone, so are we, our battery runs down.

It is just like a battery, the charge coming from the splitting of NaCl or salt. This takes a lot of energy! The cells of our body do carry a charge that can be measured as the oxidation/reduction potential of the blood. As we become more oxidized (so the need for antioxidants), this energy potential decreases. The decrease in mineral stores and the oxidized condition of the body both occur because of hyper-proteinization, too much protein.

Acids That Come From Outside the Body

The latent "acidosis" described above comes into being through the development of exogenous (the problem comes from the outside of the body) base undernourishment, not eating enough fruits and vegetables and consuming too much acid protein. This of course produces the relative base deficiency that we call "latent "acidosis"".

Acids That Come From Inside the Body

The second way this latent "acidosis" can develop or be aggravated is through the pathological formation of acids in the organism. These are called endogenous acids (come from inside the body).

This frequently happens because of intestinal fermentation in the intestine; too many of the wrong kinds of bacteria are there. These dysbiotic bacteria ferment sugar for one and produce... vinegar, and alcohol.

This can also happen if there is a malfunctioning organ in the body; heart, liver - whatever a diseased organ or an organ injured in an accident or one inherited that way. Anything that does not work right produces toxic, acid byproducts - oxidants. These acid by products then can be the end result of the base under nourishment or malfunctioning organs with the symptoms described above or they can be the forerunners of and cause of further degeneration of organs.

"With the above scenario come the diseases that call forth, through anomalies of their own metabolism, the more serious acid producing conditions such as diabetes, uremia or kidney failure, hepatic failure, heart failure and other such illnesses. In these conditions, the acidosis is only latent in its beginning state."

As the illness progresses, the endogenous (from in the body) production of toxic, metabolic acids increases and the condition quickly becomes worse, attacking not only the alkali-reserve of the body (from the liver, pancreas, salivary glands etc.), but also the alkali-reserve of the blood itself.

Hospital Acid/Base Medicine

As the blood itself begins to be effected, the compensated metabolic acidosis of regular medicine begins to develop. This is when the blood pH itself begins to be stressed. Compensated means the blood pH really does not change, yet. When it begins to change, it is no longer compensated, it has become decompensated and then you are in the hospital for sure.

Remember that the blood is not supposed to change. Before this happens, the body compensates by an increased breathing rate, necessary to blow off more carbonic acid which helps keep the pH normal at 7.4. Arterial blood gasses are done and will reveal a lower PCO₂ concentration (how much carbon dioxide in the blood) in the blood because of the increased breathing rate. This increased breathing rate happens in diabetic ketoacidosis for example.

In addition, the plasma bicarbonate level [HCO₃-] that is measured as part of the blood gasses is decreased. Because of the relative base deficiency mentioned above, the stomach can no longer produce the required amount of stomach acid so the corresponding bicarbonate that should come from the reverse synthesis of the hydrochloric acid, just is not there. In addition, since the sodium and other base minerals (potassium, magnesium, calcium etc.) are decreased, bicarbonate is actually lost out the kidneys because there are not enough bases like sodium to connect with the bicarbonate so the kidneys can reabsorb them. This idea is from the work of M.T. Morter, Jr., M.A., D.C. and will be covered more later.

This is the compensated metabolic acidosis of hospital medicine then; low PCO₂ concentration and decreased bicarbonate level [HCO₃-] with little effect on blood pH, yet. When the breathing rate can no longer get faster and when the kidneys can no longer excrete the required acid loads, the blood pH itself does start to change. It can fall form 7.4 down to 7.2. This is decompensated metabolic acidosis and is a most serious condition. At blood pH of 6.95, the heart relaxes with coma and death.

Basic Urinary Physiology

The metabolism of a normal adult diet results in the generation of 50 to 100 meq of H⁺ per day, which must be excreted if the urine acid-base balance is to be maintained. This process involves two basic steps;
(1) the reabsorption of the filtered HCO₃^- and,
(2) excretion of the 50 to 100 meq of H⁺ produced each day by the formation of titratable acidity and NH₄⁺.

Both of these steps involve H⁺ secretion from the cells of the kidney into the urine.

First, the filtered HCO₃^- must be reabsorbed, since urinary HCO₃^- loss will increase the net acid load and lower the plasma HCO₃^- concentration. It is essential to appreciate that loss of filtered HCO₃^- in the urine is equivalent to the addition of H⁺ to the body, since both are derived from the dissociation of H₂CO₃. As a result, virtually all of the filtered HCO₃^- must be reabsorbed before the dietary H⁺ load can be excreted. The quantitative importance of this process should not be underestimated. A normal subject must reabsorb approximately 4300 meq of HCO₃^- each day.

The secreted H⁺ ions are generated within the kidney cells from the dissociation of H₂O. This process also results in the equimolar production of OH^- ions. The OH^- ions bind to the active zinc-containing site of intracellular carbonic anhydrase; they then combine with CO₂ to form HCO₃^-ions, which are released back into the kidney cells and returned to the systemic circulation.

The net effect is that the secretion of each H⁺ ion is associated with the generation of one HCO₃^- ion in the plasma, a new HCO₃^- ion is returned to the circulation for every H⁺ ion that is secreted. If the secreted H⁺ combines with filtered HCO₃^-, the result is HCO₃^- reabsorption. This maintains the plasma HCO₃^- concentration by preventing HCO₃^- loss in the urine.

H₂CO₃ is buffered primarily by the intracellular buffers and the connective tissue organ. In humans given an acid load, buffering by plasma HCO₃^- occurs almost immediately, whereas approximately 15 minutes is required for H⁺ to diffuse into the interstitial space to be buffered by interstitial HCO₃^-. H⁺ entry into the cells occurs more slowly, as buffering by cell buffers is not complete until 2 to 4 hours heave elapsed.

Second, the dietary acid load is excreted by the secretion of H⁺ ions from the kidney cells into the urine. These H⁺ ions can do one of two things. The H⁺ ions can combine with the urinary buffers (particularly HPO₄^2-) in a process called titratable acidity.
H⁺ + HPO₄^2- -> H₂PO₄^- (phosphate buffer system)

Several weak acids are filtered at the glomerulus and may act as buffers in the urine. Their ability to do so is proportional to the quantity of the buffer present and to its pKa. The latter is important, since maximum buffering occurs at + or - 1.0 pH unit from the pKa. Because of its favorable pKa of 6.8 and its relatively high rate of urinary excretion, HPO₄^2- is the major urinary buffer, with lesser contributions from other weak acids, such as creatinine (pKa = 4.97) and uric acid (pKa = 5.75). The pKa of this system (where there are equal quantities on both sides of the buffer system) lies, by definition between, these two extremes of pH of the system.

This process is referred to as titratable acidity, since it is measured by the amount of NaOH that must be added to a 24-hour urine collection to titrate the urine pH back to the same pH as that in the plasma (approximately 7.40 in normal subjects). Under normal conditions, these weak acids buffer 10 to 40 meq/day of H⁺.

Or the H⁺ ions can combine with ammonia (NH₃) to form ammonium:
NH₃ + H⁺ = NH₄⁺

The kidney cells split the glutamine to form ammonia. This ammonia is trapped and concentrated in the kidney as ammonium (NH₄⁺) which is then excreted. The ability to excrete H⁺ ions as ammonium adds an important degree of flexibility to renal acid-base regulation, because the rate of NH₄⁺ production and excretion can be varied according to physiologic needs. This ability to replenish the quantity of buffer is not present with titratable acidity; once HPO₄^2- has been converted to H₂PO₄^-, further buffering by this system cannot occur.

In humans given an acid load, NH₄⁺ excretion begins to increase within 2 hours, but doesn't reach its maximum level for 5 to 6 days. NH₄⁺ excretion can increase from its normal value of 30 to 40 meq/day to over 300 meq/day with severe metabolic acidosis. In general, 10 to 40 meq of H⁺ is excreted each day as titratable acidity and 30 to 60 meq as NH₄⁺. These processes are essential for the maintenance of acid-base balance because the rate of excretion of free H⁺ ions is extremely low. At a minimum urine pH of 4.50 for example, the free H⁺ concentration is less than .05 meq/L.

In response to an acid load: 36% of the H⁺ goes intracellular in exchange for the release of Na+ into the blood stream; 15% of the acid goes intracellular in exchange for K⁺ (this can go quite high in diabetic ketoacidosis); 6% of the H⁺ goes directly into the cell to be buffered by intracellular processes and; 43% is buffered extracellularly as HCO₃^- combining with H⁺ to form carbonic acid (H₂CO₃) which breaks down to CO₂ to be released by the lungs.

Net Acid Excretion

Since the urinary concentration of free H⁺ is negligible, the net quantity of H⁺ excreted in the urine is equal to the amount of H⁺ excreted as titratable acidity and NH₄⁺ minus and H⁺ added to the body because of urinary HCO₃^- loss:

Net acid excretion = titratable acidity + NH₄⁺ - urinary HCO₃^-

Base Flood and Base Tide

During the day there has to exist a period where the filling and emptying of the acid and base depots alternate. Sir William Roberts said more than 100 years ago that the tide of the acid base rhythm in the body consists of an emptying and a filling. He said that within the human organism alternate "acid floods" (base tides) and "alkali floods" (acid tides).

Using the same terms, Friedrich Sander (circa 1930) described again this daily rhythm of the acid-base household. The ebb and flow he too called the Base Tide and Base Flood.

Base Tide

The stored acids are mobilized from the connective tissues and PISCHINGER's SPACE while we sleep. These acids reach their maximum concentration in this fluid, and thereby the urine, at 2:00 A.M. - so, the urine is the most acid at this time. This is the Base Tide or its opposite, the Acid Flood. The urine during the night, 1 AM to 7 AM, is our strong acid urine.

The acid content of the urine directly reflects the acid content of the fluid in PISCHINGER's SPACE, the extracellular fluid compartment of the body. By the time you get up though, in the morning, all the acids consumed and generated the day before should be gone. The urine should no longer be acid at this time (the second voided urine, as the urine you wake with is from the night before and should be discarded upon arising). The urine pH is checked the second time you empty your bladder in the morning as that reflects the condition of PISCHINGER's SPACE after the stored acids have supposedly been cleared during the night.

For this reason, the second voided specimen after you get up, should be back to about neutral, close to pH 7.00 (pH 6.8). As this is hardly ever the case (it is usually acid), more and more acids accumulate every day. Chronic, degenerative disease develops as the direct result. Each day we add to the acids not disposed of the day before. As this happens of course, the body becomes acid/oxidized/polluted and the pathogenic, pleomorphic, putrefactive organisms start coming out of our blood and causing such things as heart attacks, arthritis and all the chronic degenerative diseases.

Acid Flood

The Acid Flood after meals begins as soon as the acid chime pours into the duodenum from the stomach where it is neutralized by the bases of the bile and pancreas. Both of these organs need strong sodium bicarbonate containing secretions of large amounts to do this so that now the kidneys have to save bases, which makes the urine acid. This causes the Base Flood to end as the AQ curve rises to its positive, acids values.

HCl + NaHCO₃ = NaCl + CO₂ + H₂O = NaCl + H₂CO₃ (Synthetic phase of the NaCl circulation)

Salt is re-synthesized as the acid chime enters the duodenum. Before it was analyzed or taken apart in the stomach as the hydrochloric acid (HCl) and sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO₃) were made. The body takes this strong acid (HCl) and makes from it a weak acid [CO₂ combines with water and makes carbonic acid, (H₂CO₃) and the acid salt (sodium chloride)].

Base Flood

As the day progresses, PISCHINGER'S Space or the extracellular fluid, becomes most alkaline at around 2:00 PM, the Base Flood. The Base Floods occur from about 11 A.M. to midnight with the high point towards 2 P.M. At this time, after lunch and breakfast have been metabolized actually, the cover cells of the stomach are generating the most bicarbonate. If your urine is not alkaline at 2:00 PM, you are definitely in an acid condition.

If the digestion time in the stomach is assumed to be four hours and if we put the three main meals of the day at 7:30 A.M., 12:30 P.M. and 6:30 P.M. then the following schematic picture describes the Base Floods that occur over 24 hours.

Again, after a rich protein meal, the urine becomes alkaline which is called the Base Flood. This, because the cover cells that produce the hydrochloric acid also produce the bicarbonate that enters the blood. This bicarbonate neutralizes adsorbed acids from the connective tissues on the way to the alkaline glands whose secretions enter the duodenum. Our bodies are supposed to be a bit on the alkaline side of the neutral pH of water, which again is pH 7.00. Blood has to maintain a constant pH of 7.4. But, as we are acid generating organisms living in an acid world, consuming acid foods, this becomes one of the body's most important homeostatic (balancing act) jobs.

Theory of the AQ - NAQ Method

The measurement of "Latent" Acidosis through the Acidity Quotient (AQ) and Nitrogen Acid Quotient (NAQ) Curves of the Urine.

The urine then is to be seen physiologically as a direct excretion product of these tissues and not of the blood, which only transports. For as long as the blood remains unchanged during this transport, tissues acids all end up in the urine eventually. These tissue juice acids are acids that are not immediately buffered by the blood so they are passed to the connective tissues and stored until they can be mobilized and excreted through the kidneys. The blood remains unchanged.

At the turn of the last century, Friedrich F. Sander set out to find an analytic method, which would prove this tissue acidosis not only qualitatively but also quantitatively. At the beginning, a "latent" acidosis does not make itself noticeable by changes in the blood as it is solely designated by the storage of acid valences in the tissues.

It is almost impossible to prove a general tissue acidosis of the organism through local pH measurements. pH measurements of these tissues are practically of no value in determining the total acidity of the organism because one has to measure each place in the organism; a different part of the body, inside and outside of cells - an almost impossible procedure with a living human being.

With the following curves the acid burden of the tissues is determined, not as is reflected by its pH but by the size of their alkali reserves.

Production of the Nitrogen Acid Quotient (NAQ) and Acid Quotient (AQ) Curves

A single urine test does in general tell us nothing about the Acid Base Household of the organism because the urine of a healthy person changes daily between maximum acidity and maximum basidity.

For a screening test though, one can use a single urine test done two to three hours after the main, midday meal because - in healthy persons the maximum basidity occurs at this time i.e., the AQ curve shows a negative value if it ever is going to.

Otherwise, the AQ and NAQ curves consist of eight readings done from 6 AM in the morning with the last test done at 8 PM. Tests are done every two hours and the results are graphed as below. The acid, neutral line is the horizontal line in the middle of the graph; positive numbers above the line are acid, numbers below the line are basic.

AQ Curve

The "non-alive" curve, straight line, above is as described high in the acid area (positive AQ Number), it shows no fluctuations towards the basic side (negative AQ Numbers) as there are no bases left to excrete.

The "normal AQ Curve" however shows a great deal of "aliveness". The response of the AQ curve to a meal is obvious. When large amounts of HCl enter the stomach (after a rich protein meal), this acid is withdrawn from the acid-base household. This makes itself known through a base reaction in the urine (Base Flood) as the sodium bicarbonate that is produced after a meal can be lost to the system through the kidneys.

Also, protein nourishment reacts basic in the organism by the production of sulfuric, nitric and phosphoric acids which, although not excreted right away, end up taking a basic mineral with them when they are eliminated through the kidneys as their respective salts. The H⁺ ions that are adsorbed to the connective tissues combine with the HCO₃^- from the meal. This is converted to carbonic acid (H₂CO₃) which is converted to carbon dioxide (CO₂) and breathed out.

What remains are the sulfate, phosphate and nitrate radicals that enter into buffer systems in the blood as they are transported to the liver and kidneys for final excretion as urinary or bile salts.

Kidney Contributions of Ammonia and Bicarbonate

If during the pH measurement of the urine one does not account for the contribution of the kidneys in the form of ammonia and bicarbonate, then found values cannot reflect the pH of the tissue juices. As long as the amount of bases in the urine are unknown then the pH of the urine can contain these variables (ammonia and bicarbonate) which are the contributions of the kidney and not the tissue juices. The Net Acid Secretion then is the value that we are looking for as this is what represents the alkaline reserve of the tissues, the quantitatively determined size of the alkali reserves or buffer systems. Again;

Net acid excretion = titratable acidity + NH₄⁺ - urinary HCO₃^-

By titrating out these basic valences and putting into relationship the values for the titrated basic and acidic valences in the form of the quotient, which is a single numerical value and as the numerator and denominator of this quotient contain implicitly the concentrations of the urine, the influence of the specific gravity of the sample is removed. The quotient of course is the Acidity Quotient (AQ) that we have been talking about where:

AQ = A/A + B

For denominator the sum of both titration numbers (A + B where B is the total quantity of bases excreted) is used and then this is multiplied by 100. Then, acid urines receive values of the AQ Number from 0 to +100% and basic urines the AQ numbers lie between 0 and -100%.

As we are searching not only for the pH (qualitative value) of the tissue juices but the amount of their acids and bases, the size of the alkali reserves or buffer systems is quantitatively determined also.

The free acids formed after a high protein meal (sulfuric, phosphoric and nitric acids) first stick to the collagen fibers to remove them from the blood and protect it's pH. The hydrogen ions from these acids (H₂SO₄ = 2H⁺ + SO₄^2- for example), are next neutralized by the next Base Flood, the sodium bicarbonate produced after a meal. The H⁺ combines with the HCO₃^-, converts to carbonic acid (H₂CO₃) which converts to carbon dioxide (CO₂) which is breathed out.

What remains are the sulfate, phosphate and nitrate radicals that enter into buffer systems in the blood as they are transported to the liver and kidneys for final excretion. If HR represents any acid with R as its acid radical (SO₄^2-, PO₄^- or NO₃^-) then:

HR + NaHCO₃ = H₂O + NaR + CO₂

The acid salt then or this acid radical plus a base; sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium or here, NaR, is transported to the kidney where it is excreted or it is transported to the liver and excreted as a bile salt. Either way, a basic mineral (sodium, potassium, calcium, et al) is removed from the system.

As stated above, the phosphate buffer system of the blood is the main buffer system that handles these basic salts so the titration of this buffer system provides the numbers necessary for the production of the AQ curve.

Determination of the A Number

Several weak acids are filtered at the glomerulus and may act as buffers in the urine. Their ability to do so is proportional to the quantity of the buffer present and to its pKa. The latter is important, since maximum buffering occurs at + or - 1.0 pH unit from the pKa. Because of its favorable pKa of 6.8 and its relatively high rate of urinary excretion, HPO₄^2- is the major urinary buffer, with lesser contributions from other weak acids, such as creatinine (pKa = 4.97) and uric acid (pKa = 5.75). Under normal conditions, these weak acids buffer 10 to 40 meq/day of H⁺.

H⁺ + HPO₄^2- = H₂PO₄^- (Phosphate buffer system)

In contrast to the ammonium system, which can increase greatly in response to an acid load, there is generally only limited ability to enhance titratable acidity, since phosphate excretion remains relatively constant.

As the phosphate buffer system of the blood is the main buffer system that handles these basic salts, the titration of this buffer system provides the numbers necessary for the production of the AQ curve.

The determination of titratable acidity (not on a 24-hour urine here but on a single sample) by the use of phenolphthalein out-titrates the phosphate buffer system up to Na₂HPO₄ (pH of 9.3 where phenolphthalein turns red). This gives the total amount of acid phosphates or A Number.

NaOH + H₂PO₄^- = H₂O + NaHPO₄= = Na₂HPO₄ pH 4.3 pH 9.3

At pH 9.3 all of the above buffer system would be in the form of [HPO₄^2-] and at pH 4.3 all of it would be in the form of H₂PO₄. The pKa of this system (where there are equal quantities on both sides of the buffer system) lies, by definition between, these two extremes of pH. The pKa of this phosphate buffer system is 6.8.

Determination of the B Number:

Again, to eliminate the two errors (specific gravity and kidney contribution) the basic valences are titrated as well as the titratable acidity. The B# represents the titration of the acid phosphates HPO₄^2- back to the pH of 4.3.

HPO₄^2- + 2H⁺ -> H₂PO₄^- pH 9.3 pH 4.3

This represents the bases of the urine as these bases are the acid phosphates HPO₄^2-, which combine with H⁺ to be excreted as NaH₂PO₄.

The Nitrogen Acid Quotient (NAQ) Curve

The above accounts for the contribution of the kidneys in the form of bicarbonate. The N Number accounts for the contribution of the kidneys in the form of ammonia. Normally the ammonia of cellular deamination (amino groups are removed which is protein break down) is carried to liver and converted to urea. Almost all cells of the body can convert ammonia into neutral urea for excretion into the urine.

The kidney cells however have the ability, in the presence of excess protein, to create and excrete ammonia directly into the urine. It is this ammonia that is produced as a result of excess protein - not the ammonia produced by the other cells of the body - that makes the urine alkaline.

Determination of the N Number

The N Number represents the free acids (sulfuric, nitric and phosphoric acids) that are bound to the connective tissues. These acids are freed up by ammonia generated in the kidneys which neutralizes the acids and excretes them as ammonium salts.

2NH₃ + H₂SO₄ = 2NH₄SO₄

The A# shows the free carbonic acid that has been driven out and the N# shows the tied acids so the total amount of acids in the urine will be defined through the sum A + N. So;

NAQ = A + N / B X 100%

The ammonium salts existing in the urine as anions, were developed in the tissues as free acids and therefore are to be credited to the free acids of the urine. This ammonia represents and equivalent amount of free acids that were formed (freed from connective tissue) in the tissues. The N-Numbers, from which the NAQ Curve is made, are the ammonium bound free acids. During the times of day when the urine is acid these numbers are high, when the urine is basic no ammonia is produced. Basic urines are practically free of ammonia.

The broader is the hatched surface of the Ammonia Band, the more free acids (sulfuric, nitric and phosphoric acids) that are bound to the connective tissues. The hatched area represents the amount of these acids whereas the height to the AQ curve represents the amount of urinary HCO₃^-. These two values are subtracted out leaving us with a total and dynamic representation of Net Acid Excretion, the state of health of the "alkaline reserve of the tissues" of the body, the pH of the tissue juices.

Liver Rhythm

"After a meal in a relatively short time, the tissues are flooded with so much sodium bicarbonate that neutralizes and frees large amounts of adsorbed acids which are converted into neutral salts and therefore become blood obligated. These large amounts of neutral salts cannot be taken care of by the kidneys as fast as they develop or uremia would develop, if the liver did not take up these neutral salts. Free acids are only able to be stored by the collagen fibers, the liver stores the neutral acid salts. The day urine then develops from the liver which slowly disperses its stored acid salts. The kidneys divide these neutral salts into sodium bicarbonate and into free or tied to ammonia acids."

The acid night urine originates from the tissue depot. This acid night urine develops through slow diffusion of the connective tissue adsorbed acids into the blood, which then transports it to the kidneys as neutral salts corresponding to the blood pH value of 7.30 - 7.36. Ammonia (NH₃) and bicarbonate (NaHCO₃) circulate around, free up and then trap the free acids that are adherent to the collagen fibers. Then, whatever is left over of the NH₃ and bicarbonate, this goes to the liver and pancreas, to the alkaline glands whose secretions enter the duodenum.

Because of the coincidence of the rhythms of the liver and the acid-base household, basic urines are rich in nitrogenous products and urobilin so they have the lightest specific weights and are rich in water. This urine period lies between 8 AM and 7 PM, which is reversed during the night (10 AM to 6 AM), when the strong acid urine known as the "morning urine" will be formed.

If the acid ridding of the tissues does not occur between meals or while sleeping, a gradual enrichment of the metabolic products, especially of the acids in the tissues, has to take place. Uric acid is almost completely insoluble so finally, the stored acid will predominantly exist as the latter. The stored, more easily soluble acids will therefore be gradually replaced by the equivalent amounts of uric acid.

"From 8 AM to 7 PM the liver cells store in growing amounts, stored bile and dissimilation products such as urea and urobilinogen and the free acids that have been freed from the collagen fibers and converted to their respective acid salts. This Secretion Phase corresponds to analytical phase of NaCl circulation. The maximum of the secretarial liver phase is at 2 PM, which is the same time as the maximum of the daily Base Floods. From predominantly 10 PM to 6 AM the liver cells store assimilative products such as glycogen, amino acids and protein (mainly albumin) and fat from the lymph system in growing amounts while the amounts of bile and acids correspondingly fall. This Assimilative Liver Phase corresponds to Base Tide or synthetic phase of the NaCl circulation.

At night then, during the base tide and during the assimilation phase of the liver the urine develops the maximum of the acid flood in the urine.

Liver and Kidney (AQ) Curves Superimposed

It is completely apparent then, that the liver rhythm and the acid-base rhythm in the organism manifest a physiological parallel, and in such a way, that on the one hand, the base floods and the secretoric liver phase fall together (this happens predominantly during the hours of the day about from 8 AM to 7 PM and that, on the other hand, a base tide develops at the time of the assimilatoric liver phase (this predominantly happens during the night, about at 10 PM to 6 AM.)

The maxima of the base floods of the urine and at the same time of the organism, almost completely fall together with the sinus curve of the liver rhythm in its secretory phase.

The 24 hour liver rhythm

Swedish researcher, E. Forsgren (Forsgren, E.: Liver Rhythm. Stockholm: Publ. I. Marcus, Boktryckerie Aktiebolag, 1935.)

"The upper spikes of the AQ Curve, are the acid maxima of the AQ Curve of the urine, which obviously does not fall together with the sinus curve, and only exists in the urine and not in the organism. For, only in the urine do exist the acid floods and therefore the base tides in the organism."

All fluids in the body should be alkaline except stomach acid. The human body is an acid producing organism by function, yet it is an alkaline organism by design.

"if overcoming an alkalinity were it as simple as the correction of an acidity, there would be no problem at all. In correcting an acidity we need only to have patients eat alkalizing foods, the various fruits, or eat the neutralizing foods, the leafy vegetables. But with an alkalinity it is different. People become too alkaline - strange as it may appear - by eating acidizing foods. Therefore giving patients more of such foods would only worsen their conditions."

Most patients with a bladder infection have an alkaline urine but not all people with an alkaline urine have bladder infections. Use distilled apple cider vinegar, cranberry juice, Cal-Amo and Phosfood (Standard Process) inorganic substances so they are not used by body but instead acidify the urine.

The above neutralize NH₃ so you feel better.

Summary

A buffer system works best at plus or minus 1 pH unit from the pKa of that system.

Hydrogen ions (H⁺) generated by the body from food, exercise, stress... are first picked up by the connective tissues where they are converted to carbonic acid and then CO₂ and H₂O.

The carbonic anhydrase in the kidney cells and all cells makes HCO₃^- that goes into the circulation with Na⁺ while at the same time; it secretes an H⁺ in the urine to combine with CO₂, which can, under acid conditions be reabsorbed as sodium bicarbonate.

Next, the titratable acidity is formed, which is primarily due to buffering of kidney secreted H⁺ by filtered HPO₄^2-.

For every H⁺ ion that is secreted, a HCO₃^- ion returned to the body.

Filtered [HPO₄^2-] + secreted [H⁺] = [H₂PO₄^-] which is excreted in the urine.

The above are not serious drains on the alkali of the body. It is the acid residues, sulfate, phosphate and nitrate ions that are freed from the connective tissues at night and transported to the kidneys and liver for excretion that cause the acidity of the organism to go up.

Acid residues that go to the kidneys to be excreted as acid salts, must take minerals with them. No bicarbonate is added back to the system.

This creates a relative base deficiency. If there is not enough basic mineral, ammonium is then created from ammonia made by the kidneys which can couple with the nitrate (NO₃^-) of protein for example and be eliminated as ammonium nitrate (NH₄NO₃).

The net effect is that the nitric acid (HNO₃) from protein is excreted first as sodium nitrate (NaNO₃) if there is enough sodium and then ammonium nitrate (NH₄NO₃). For each ammonium generated, one bicarbonate is returned to the system.

Then, if the system becomes more acid; shown in the work of M.T. Morter, free ammonia and bicarbonate are also lost which produces the alkaline urines seen in extreme latent "acidosis".

The basic minerals necessary for bicarbonate reabsorption are not available and, in the presence of excess protein, the kidney cells themselves metabolize the protein and excrete its nitrogen as ammonia (NH3).

Of all the above, the excretion of protein generated acid residues is the only process that does not add bicarbonate back to the system. This creates the 'double loss of bases' as shown by Friedrich F. Sander, which is the physiological forerunner of Chronic Degenerative Disease. His procedures are being adapted to quantify free ammonia and bicarbonate in the urine of acidotic patients.

In the long run, the only way to replace these lost bases is by eating more fruits and vegetables. An "apple a day", does keep the doctor away.