Acidosis and alkalosis: good to know more

Remember, I mentioned two pH related diseases acidosis and alkalosis in our lesson when I taught buffer solutions and explained why it’s important for our body to maintain a fairly constant pH. Here’s more information about these diseases. This information is just for your general knowledge.

A healthy person has a blood pH close to 7.4.
Acidosis is a state of excess acidity in the blood and occurs when blood pH falls below 7.35 Alkalosis is a state of excess alkalinity when blood pH is over 7.45.
When the blood pH falls below 7.0, it is diagnosed as severe acidosis and in severe alkalosis it may rise above 7.5. Acidosis is more common than alkalosis.

pH in our blood or fluids is controlled by three following mechanisms
1. Blood's protein that's acts as a buffer that limits changes in acidity.
2. Lung, which give off carbon dioxide to prevent accumulation of carbonic acid.
3. Kidneys which manufacture hydrogen carbonate ions and retain acids or bases.

Causes of Acidosis:
1. Kidney failure reduces the efficiency to regulate acidity.
2. Starvation produces excessive acid due to metabolism of large amounts of body fat which produce lactic acid
3. Increased protein intake – eat too much meat
4. Ingestion of large amounts of acidic substances eg pickled fruits
5. Diabetes

Causes of Alkalosis:
1. Severe diarrhea may cause excessive loss of basic fluids
2. Loss of carbonic acid because of fast or rapid breathing.
3. Excessive vomiting causing loss of hydrochloric acid (stomach content)
4. Excessive intake of antacids to relieve acid in the stomach.