 Barked: Sun Sep 16, '12 1:37pm PST |
 | |  | | Oh it's this controversial thing. alkaline water has minerals added to make it high pH There is another way of doing it with ionization.
your tap water might already be alkaline. It's just if the pH is above 7, which can be tested with a fish store water strip. pH 7 water is ONLY water that is distilled and free of all impurities, minerals, or additives. Every place on earth might have slightly different water pH depending on source water. For example, where we live the water comes from wells dug in the sandstone near a river, and it comes up pH 8.3--this is alkaline due to trace minerals.
Here's the deal: your body will neutralize acid and alkaline things in the GI tract. Once alkaline water hits your stomach there is no conclusive evidence that it does anything special or different from regular water.
we eat a high pH diet to manage acid reflux. the problem with high pH is that you are at higher risk for kidney and bladder stones. The advantage supposedly is that it reduces free radicals in the body, which reduces the risk of cancer. And it's easier on the teeth.
The deal is that pepsin in the stomach is activated by acid. Pepsin is the stuff that breaks down protein. It can't distinguish between a steak dinner and a living esophagus, so when you reflux, the pepsin attacks your tissues, which eventually causes scar tissue, polyps, and cancer. Keeping a high pH diet keeps the pepsin less active but it's a super strict set of foods. The problem is that life itself is acidic, so the higher the pH you are targeting, the less foods that are available to you.
I don't think dogs can easily do it considering it is all low fat and high in veggies, and minimal fruit. I suppose if you fed dogs nothing but fish and fowl, red apples, root veggies, watermelon, musk melons, pears, bananas and avacado you might be able to get away with it. It would be lower protein than lots of raw feeders would be comfortable with. I suppose including bones would help, that's something that human food doesn't include. dogs are similar only because we are mammals, and they are mammals that have lived close to us for millenia, but as carnivores they are better able to tolerate acid than we are. for humans, a high pH diet includes all things that are higher than pH of 6, with occasional foods being pH5.
The best thing, of course, is minimal processing, which we already have with the raw diet. Processing decreases pH. FDA insists that canned goods be acidic (pH4 or less) for food safety. Kibble is intensely acidic, and that is avoided with raw. Meat becomes more acidic when it's cooked, also avoided with raw. I think if you are rigid about no cooked food, no processed food, your dog is already getting a good version of an alkaline-ish diet for his species, and your dad shouldn't give it another thought.Edited by author Sun Sep 16, '12 1:53pm PST
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