Test Strips for Urine pH

 

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In Prescription for Nutritional Healing, the authors, James and Phyllis Balch, recommend a self test to see if your body is too acidic or too alkaline. They recommend that people buy litmus paper to test urine or saliva to see if it is within the proper range. I bought urine testing paper and initially my urine was unusually alkaline, probably from the semi-vegetarian diet I had been on.

I followed the instructions in their book to eat a more acidic diet (more meat, cheese and grains and less fruit and vegetables) and it did seem to help some of my health problems, especially with eliminating the chronic bladder infections I used to get. Author Adelle Davis wrote in her book Let's Get Well that acidic urine would help with bladder and kidney infections because the acid environment would retard bacterial growth. For me it did seem to help quite a bit. My doctors used to put me on antibiotics all of the time for the infections, but I think that just killed off all of the helpful bacteria in my body and caused me to develop hematuria (blood in the urine) from a vitamin K deficiency brought on by the antibiotics. I also had problems with yeast infections and the more acidic urine also seemed to help with that.

"Urine pH is an indicator of dietary acid-base load, fruit and vegetables and meat intakes: results from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)-Norfolk population study." Click on the link to see an abstract for an article that appeared in the British Journal of Nutrition

Normal urine pH of may range from 4.6 to 8. Urine is usually more acidic in the morning. Many holistic doctors recommend that urine testing be done first thing in the morning before any foods are consumed. During the day the pH may be heavily influenced by the acid or alkaline forming potential of the foods people consume.

It is important to note that there is a difference between the pH values of food before and after they are eaten. Citrus fruits, such as lemons and grapefruits are highly acidic, but turn alkaline when they are metabolized by the body. Excessive consumption of citrus fruits will cause the urine to become more alkaline.