Using Whole Body Alkaline Nutrition to Combat Inflammation i have been labeled the Alkalinity Advocate by a number of colleagues around the country who have either read an article of mine or attended one of my lectures. i'm quite sure the label is justified since i do have and express an unbridled passion for recommending whole body alkaline nutrition as an umbrella approach for reducing inflammation, quenching free radicals. and improving HEALTH. But my passion for alkalizing the body is not just mine. The idea is steeped in medical research and science and actually goes back to the term "biological terrain." The concept of biological terrain is credited to the noted 19th century physiologist Claude Bernard. Professor Bernard believed that it is the environment of the cell that determines function and integrity. Dr. Bernard was aware of the work of Pasture, but did not feel that bacteria or "bugs" were responsible for poor health, but rather that the environment the bugs lived in witliin the body created the opportunity for them to grow and thus disease to flourish. In 1962. Professor Louis Claude Vincent of France, renamed and redefined the three primary factors for assessing the biological terrain. They are pH (acid and alkaline balance). rH2 (oxidativc stress), and r (mineral concentration). While there arc complicated medical devices and tests that can measure these three factors together, it's important to remember that measuring one. acid-alkaline balance using pH. can provide a significant amount of valid nutritional information for the treating chiropractor. Why is it Important to Measure Acid -Alkaline Balance and Recommend Alkaline Nutrition? While the field of medicine typically examines, isolates, or treats one particular part or system of the body by evaluating acid - alkaline balance, and recommending whole body alkaline nutrition, as part of your regular nutritional routine you may be able to help the entire internal biochemical environment. Most People Over 40 Are Acidic Today, many patients have a diet and lifestyle that is extremely acidic. The foods they cat on a regular basis - such as pasteurized dairy products, meats, trans fats, cooked oils, baked goods, refined sugars, coffee and carbonated drinks- are all acid-forming. Stress, pharmaceutical dnigs. alcohol, and stimulants arc additional factors that lead to an acid buildup in their bodies. Research conducted at the University of San Francisco Department of Medicine by Drs. Lynda Frassctto and Anthony Sebastian, and published in the prestigious Journal of Gerontology, clearly demonstrates that as we get older, our bodies accumulate acid wastes. These scientists reported a significant increase in blood acidity and a correspondingly significant loss of alkaline reserves with increasing age from 20 to 90 years, indicative of a progressively worsening low-lcvcl metabolic acidosis. The research clearly shows that the alkaline reserves of humans remain fairly constant until the age of 40. at which point they begin to decrease severely. Coincidcntally. the researchers noted that adult degenerative diseases such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, osteoporosis, high blood pressure and others start to appear at the age of 40 and gradually worsen with age. The researchers attribute the accumulation of acid and the reduction of the alkaline state as we age to eating the Standard American Diet and conclude that the role of age-related metabolic acidosis as a cause of adult degenerative disease warrants consideration (1). What Is Whole Body Alkaline Nutrition? Whole Body Alkaline Nutrition is a term I coined to identify a model of offering nutrition that provides patients with broad-based nutritional support. Its basically as I said before: an umbrella approach to nutrition that will benefit all patients regardless of their presenting complaints. I developed the idea to combat the grow ing complexity in the nutritional supplement field. Over the past 60 years, nutrition has become extremely complicated in response to the grow ing pharmaceutical market. For instance, in 1950 there were about 5.000 prescription dnigs on the market. Today that number has risen to over 50.000. evolving into a much more complicated field. Similarly, in 1950 it was generally agreed that to be health} from a nutritional perspective a person needed only to consume 40 essential micronutricnts on a daily basis. These nutrients could typically be derived from eating a healthy diet that contained lots of fniits and vegetables and taking " 1 or 2" high-quality nutritional supplements. Today, new combinations of supplements appear every month to the point where the 40 micronutricnts have grown to 800 to 1.000 different supplements, creating a complex arena that confuses doctors and consumers alike. Benefits of Whole Body Alkaline Nutrition Whole Body Alkaline Nutrition provides a plethora of major benefits to both the patient and the healthcare provider. I"ll start with the more important of the two. the patient. Let's face it: every patient who enters your practice is suffering from some form of acute and/or chronic inflammation, regardless of their main complaint. The goal of Whole Body Alkaline Nutrition is to provide every patient with broad-based nutritional support that focuses on helping his or her body maintain homcostasis (or "balance"), as well as support a health} inflammatory response, in the midst of any type of health challenge. Whole Body Alkaline Nutrition used in conjunction with your regular chiropractic treatments should speed up the rate of healing and shorten recovery times. Whole Body Alkaline Nutrition supplements that best support homcostasis and a healthy inflammatory response arc those that alkalize the body and help it stay pH balanced. In addition. Whole Body Alkaline Nutrition should help to reduce overall systemic inflammation and target the five major types of free radicals. Common indicators of inflammation such as adiponcctin concentrations. C-rcactivc protein, crythrocytc sedimentation rate, and fibrino-gen should demonstrate noticeable reductions in their values with appropriate alkaline nutrition use. Whole Body Alkaline Nutrition should also help promote healthy weight management and protect the patient against micronutricnt deficiency. This broad approach to nutrition should also help to facilitate proper muscle function and assist in the repair of connective tissue. Whole Body Alkaline Nutrition is an "insidc-outsidc" approach to reducing inflammation. By that I mean that the recommended alkaline nutrition products will help to reduce the inflammation from the inside while your chiropractic adjustments help to provide a reduction of inflammation from the outside. Dr. Donald L. Hayes, DC is a clinician, educator and author in the field of alkalizing nutrition and has delivered post graduate nutritional seminars to thousands of doctors and staff. He is the co-author with AT Times & Wall Street Journal's Best Selling Author Michael E. Gerber of, The E-Afylh Xulritionisl - Why Most Healthcare Practices Don t Work and What to Do about It, as well as the popular patient read book. Alkalize Sow. Dr. Hayes is owner and president ofCireensFirst. the chiropractic profession s number one alkalizing whole food fruit and vegetable nutritional supplement. He can be reached at 866-410-1818 or at www.greensfirst.com. Research & References: 1) J Gerontology A Biol Sci Med Sci. Jan. 1996. 51(l):B91-9).
