ACID STRESS

Acid Stress

Almost every biological process in the human body depends on the acid-base balance of extracellular fluids (1). “Modern Western nutrition” produces a chronic subliminal metabolic acidosis (2). With increasing age the kidney function deteriorates. Therefore, the seriousness of this diet-related acidosis increases further (3,4).

Iridology (“cotton wool” acid ring) and darkfield image (fibrin) indicate acid stress of tissues. Images © Dr. Hilbert Seeger

Today’s typically Western diet leads to an overproduction of non-carbonate acids. This is due not only to the high content of animal protein in this diet, but also to a high proportion of cereal products and a relatively low proportion of hydrogen carbonate-producing plant dietary components (5,6,7,8). Although the diet of our forefathers also contained high levels of meat, it did lead to the production of hydrogen carbonate by metabolism because it was also very rich in fruits and vegetables (8,9). Accordingly, the natural evolution of mankind was to excrete large amounts of hydrogen carbonate and potassium, rather than the large amounts of acids produced by today’s Western diet.

The human kidney is not able to completely cope with the acid load that is frequently encountered nowadays (4,5,7,10). However, the resulting unexcreted acid does not titrate the plasma hydrogen carbonate until the concentration continues to decrease. In fact, this concentration remains in the lower normal range. The reason for this is that the undissolved hydrogen ions not only interact with sodium and potassium of the bone substance, but are neutralized by their basic salts (6,11,12). Although this prevents the development of a clearly visible acidosis, this acid titration of calcium-containing carbonates and hydroxyapatites leads to a mobilization of the calcium in the bones and thus dissolves the basic bone substance over time (6,11,12,13,14).       This type of buffering of food-induced acidity can be considered a biological compromise (15,16), but leads to osteoporosis.
With this western diet, which today is over-acidifying at the expense of bone decalcification, plasma hydrogen carbonate concentration and arterial pH are only minimally reduced and not below normal values (16). Nevertheless, this is a subliminal metabolic acidosis.

In plain English this means that you do not necessarily have to be treated in an intensive care unit for metabolic acidosis to suffer from it.
Admittedly, the symptoms of such a subliminal acidosis are not so obvious at first. Therefore I call this condition “acid stress”. My clinical experience shows that such a state, without exception, ends in illness.

DFM image © Dr. Hilbert Seeger	Original Nancy Zimmermann; modified H. Seeger

The blood plasma is the extracellular space (“Pischinger Space”) of the blood.
From there one can draw conclusions about the
extracellular events of the tissues.

Dark field microscopy is an excellent instrument to assess the homeostasis of the blood and the tissue. The acid-base balance of the blood plasma (=extracellular space of the blood) is kept constant at a pH between 7.38 and 7.42.
Strong fibrin formation in the darkfield preparation can occur if too much time passes between injection and transfer to the slide. If this is excluded, it indicates a high fibrinogen content of the blood. Fibrinogen is converted into fibrin during blood clotting by the enzyme thrombin and calcium. This is therefore also an indirect sign of hyperacidity in the tissues, as alkaline calcium is exchanged for acid.
Referenzen:
1) S. A. Lanham-New – 4th Nat. Edu. Conf., Uni Sussex, Derby 2005
2) Frassetto et al – Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 1998 ; 68 :576-83
3) Frassetto et al – J. Gerontology 1996; 51A:B91-9
4) Frassetto et al – Am. J. Physiology 1996 ; 271 :1114-22
5) – 16) Dietary Reference Intakes for Water, Potassium, Sodium, Chloride, and Sulfate (2004)
Food and Nutrition Board, INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES,USA
5) Kurtz et al 1983
6) Lemann et al 1966
7) Lennon et al 1966
8) Sebastian et al 2002
9) Eaton et al 1999
10) Sebastian et al 1994
11) Bushinsky 1998
12) Lemann et al 2003
13) Barzel 1995
14) Bushinsky and Frick 2000
15) Alpen 1995
16) Morris RC et al 2001

Author:

Dr. Hilbert Seeger, MD PhD Australia