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The Importance of Acid/Base Balance for the Human Organism

Acid-base balance is one of the crucial factors of normal body functioning and preservation of the health. Any factor which can lead to significant pH changes of the body’s ecological system (i.e. pollutions), predisposes the internal milieu to be a breeding ground for pathological microbial overgrowth. The human organism was designed to function normally within specific pH values. This is particularly important when looking at the pH of blood which ranges from 7.30–7.45. If, for any reason, the pH of blood becomes too alkaline or too acid, the human organism can be threatened.

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Featured

 Acid Base Disorders

In a healthy individual the pH of the arterial blood is maintained within 7.35 to 7.45. The two major systems responsible for maintaining acid base balance are the respiratory system and the renal system. Loss of this balance has deleterious effects on health and often indicative of some underlying disorders.

 Acid-Base Disorder? Mind the Gaps

A step-wise emergency approach to acid-base disorders – including the “Rule of 15” and the “Delta Gap” formulas – can help uncover processes that are hidden in the labs.

 Acid-Base Tutorial

This Acid Base Tutorial is based on fifty years of teaching – initially in three major medical schools in two countries and latterly online. I am acutely aware of difficulty learning this subject; accordingly, this tutorial is aimed directly at a student’s needs. Four interactive pages cover pH, the Henderson Equation, a Sea-Level Acid-Base Diagram and A High Altitude One. This rich variety of learning tools underlie the site’s status and position.

Previously Featured

Acid Base Balance

A good acid-base balance is vital for the most important metabolic processes. Hyperacidity prevents fat from being broken down and burned off – which means, among other things, that an overly acidic diet slowly but steadily leads to weight gain.

Acid base physiology

The acidity of your precious bodily fluids is a carefully guarded parameter. To allow this parameter to deviate out of a very narrow range would massively impair your capacity to continue living. Basic molecular services would break down. Cellular anarchy would ensue.

Acid Base Sheet

STEP I‐GET LABS Blood Gas (Art or Venous), Lactate, Albumin, Beta-HydroxyButyrate, Chemistry Panel

Acid-Base Balance Made Simple!

The body needs a pH of 7.35-7.45 to maintain homeostasis. 0.5 in either direction away is not conducive to life. So, when we find someone whose acid levels are not conducive with life, we counteract the problem and restore homeostasis. You want to keep the body neither too acidic or too alkaline, you want to balance it. This is all Acid-Base balance means.

Acid-Base Disturbance

The body has three defense mechanisms to maintain normal pH: the buffering system, the respiratory system, the renal system. Among the three systems, the buffering is the fastest means of preventing disturbances in pH. It was likened to a ”sponge” that soaks up excessive hydrogen ions and releases them when there’s a deficient concentration. Several buffering agents bind hydrogen ions reversibly. These include bicarbonate, ammonia, hemoglobin and plasma proteins.

Acid-Base Disturbances: An Emergency Department Approach

Acid-base disturbances are diagnosed from a patient’s chemistry and blood gas results, but there are multiple approaches to determining the underlying causes and initiating treatment. This issue presents a summary of the chemistry and physiology of acid-base disturbances and uses a workbook-style format of 8 real-life cases to illustrate the approaches to diagnosing and managing these disorders. Algorithms for acidemia and alkalemia reinforce the stepwise approach.

Deciphering Acid-Base Disorders

These conditions can be either metabolic or respiratory in etiology, leading to 4 categories of primary acid-base disorders. In response to this primary change, compensatory mechanisms attempt to drive the pH toward normal by keeping the PCO2/HCO3 ratio constant. The degree of compensation is related to the chronicity of the primary disorder, but does not generally restore the pH to normal.

Disorders of Acid-Base Balance: New Perspectives

This review aims to give new and comprehensive perspective on understanding acid-base balance and identifying associated disorders. All metabolic acid-base disorders can be approached in the context of the relative losses or gains of electrolytes or a change in the anion gap in body fluids.

Does Your Water Need More Ions?

The latest health fad is even more ridiculous than most health fads.

Finding pH Balance

The foods you eat, the liquids you drink, your environment, your breathing patterns, and your exercise routine (or lack thereof) all have the potential to increase acidity in the body and negatively affect your blood pH.

Overview of acid-base and electrolyte disorders

There are multiple reasons why disorders of blood chemistry may develop, including respiratory or renal disease, obesity, and medication. Resulting imbalances include acidosis (pH <7.35), alkalosis (pH >7.45), and high or low levels of key electrolyte ions, including sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, chloride, hydrogen phosphate, and hydrogen carbonate (bicarbonate). They may be acute or chronic, may occur with varying degrees of severity, and may not be sufficiently counteracted by the body's regulatory/compensatory mechanisms.

Resources

StatPearls

To maintain homeostasis, the human body employs many physiological adaptations. One of these is maintaining an acid-base balance. In the absence of pathological states, the pH of the human body ranges between 7.35 to 7.45, with the average at 7.40. Why this number? Why not a neutral number of 7.0 instead of a slightly alkaline 7.40? A pH at this level is ideal for many biological processes, one of the most important being the oxygenation of blood. Also, many of the intermediates of biochemical reactions in the body become ionized at a neutral pH, which causes the utilization of these intermediates to be more difficult.