Botanical Nutrition

Heady little topic for a scientific mini-review, eh? To me, ever since discovering macrobiotics in my teenage years (thank you to the Kushis for rescuing from Standard American junk food diet!) acid-alkaline balance has been a key point of consideration.

Yet, there are still some non-believers, incredibly. As crucial a mechanism as acid-base balance and regulation is for the cells of our body, some otherwise learned people seem to rebuke this theory out of hand, which is strange to me to say the least. To be sure, I myself will be diving in more on this in the coming days as it is as important as ever.

So when researcher George Jacques Casimir et al publish a study called “The Acid-Base Balance and Gender in Inflammation: A Mini-Review” you’d think they might really get some people thinking? Check out the abstract here at pub med for yourself.

The paper asks some interesting questions, and gives back some interesting data as well.

“Although pH influences multiple immunological functions, gender differences in acid-base balance have been poorly investigated. In this review, we provide an update on gender differences in human susceptibility to inflammatory diseases. We additionally discuss the potential impact of acid-base balance on the gender bias of the inflammatory response in view of our recent observation that girls present higher neutrophilic inflammation and lower pH with a trend toward better prognosis in severe sepsis. We also highlight the potent role played by endothelial cells in gender differences of inflammation through activation of proton-sensing G protein-coupled receptors.”