Re: Ph Balancing

On Fri, 07 Jul 2006 02:42:02 GMT, "Steph" <steph@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

"synchronicity" <psych1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1152204549.507182.198150@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
A good friend of mine developed cancer some years back, when he told me
he was understandably depressed needless to say. I told him lots of
people get cancer,

True...........

it has to do with Acid/Alkaline balances in your
body.

Bollox of the highest order

I agree. Cancer cells intracellular pH is usually acidic, but that has
nothing to do with pH of blood. When cancerous tumor grows,
it becomes very dense and its blood supply and hence oxygen supply
suffers. Therefore cancer cells have to at least partly resort to
anaerobic metabolism, which causes production of lactic acid, which
lowers the pH of cancer cells. Thus the low pH of cancer cells may be
the result of cancer cells crowding one another, and not of mild
chronic metabolic acidosis. Some evidence about this:

ScienceDaily: Attacking Cancer's Sweet Tooth Is Effective Strategy
Against Tumors
<http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/06/060630094933.htm>

"As a tumor grows, cells crowd one another and may be cut off
from oxygen-carrying blood vessels--a distinct disadvantage
since most cells require oxygen to produce the bulk of their
energy-storing adenosine triphosphate (ATP). In the 1920s, Otto
Warburg proposed that some cancer cells evolved the ability to
switch over to an ancient, oxygen-free route, the glycolytic
pathway. What is more, they continue to use this pathway even
when access to oxygen is restored. Though the so-called Warburg
effect has since been confirmed, the role played by glycolysis
in cancer has been largely ignored. Few have attempted to
attack specific points along the glycolytic pathway to gain a
therapeutic effect."

Fantin VR, St-Pierre J, Leder P.
Attenuation of LDH-A expression uncovers a link between glycolysis,
mitochondrial physiology, and tumor maintenance.
Cancer Cell. 2006 Jun;9(6):425-34.
PMID: 16766262 [PubMed - in process]
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=abstractplus&list_uids=16766262>

Bui T, Thompson CB.
Cancer's sweet tooth.
Cancer Cell. 2006 Jun;9(6):419-20.
PMID: 16766260 [PubMed - in process]
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=abstractplus&list_uids=16766260>

Ristow M.
Oxidative metabolism in cancer growth.
Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2006 Jul;9(4):339-45.
PMID: 16778561 [PubMed - in process]
process]<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=abstractplus&list_uids=16778561>

Glycolysis
<http://web.indstate.edu/thcme/mwking/glycolysis.html>

"Oxidation of glucose is known as glycolysis.Glucose is
oxidized to either lactate or pyruvate. Under aerobic
conditions, the dominant product in most tissues is pyruvate
and the pathway is known as aerobic glycolysis. When oxygen is
depleted, as for instance during prolonged vigorous exercise,
the dominant glycolytic product in many tissues is lactate and
the process is known as anaerobic glycolysis."

Walenta S, Schroeder T, Mueller-Klieser W.
Lactate in solid malignant tumors: potential basis of a metabolic
classification in clinical oncology.
Curr Med Chem. 2004 Aug;11(16):2195-204. Review.
PMID: 15279558 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=abstractplus&list_uids=15279558>

"A number of studies have demonstrated that malignant
transformation is associated with an increase in glycolytic flux
and in anaerobic and aerobic cellular lactate excretion. ..

[...]

... In all tumor entities investigated, high molar
concentrations of lactate were correlated with a high incidence
of distant metastasis already in an early stage of the disease.
Low lactate tumors (< median of approx. 8 micromol/g) were
associated with both a longer overall and disease free survival
compared to high lactate lesions (lactate > approx. 8
micromol/g). ..."

Walenta S, Mueller-Klieser WF.
Lactate: mirror and motor of tumor malignancy.
Semin Radiat Oncol. 2004 Jul;14(3):267-74. Review.
PMID: 15254870 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=abstractplus&list_uids=15254870>

On the other hand the following studies suggest that production of
lactic acid is not the only cause of tumor acidity:

De Milito A, Fais S.
Tumor acidity, chemoresistance and proton pump inhibitors.
Future Oncol. 2005 Dec;1(6):779-86.
PMID: 16556057 [PubMed - in process]
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=abstractplus&list_uids=16556057>

"... The extracellular pH of solid tumors is significantly more
acidic than that of normal tissues, thus impairing the uptake
of weakly basic chemotherapeutic drugs and reducing their
effect on tumors. An important determinant of tumor acidity is
the anaerobic metabolism that allows selection of cells able to
survive in an hypoxic-anoxic environment with the generation of
lactate. However, this is not the major mechanism responsible
for the development of an acidic environment within solid
tumors. It appears clear that a complex framework of protein-
protein, protein-lipid and lipid-lipid interactions underlay
the pH homeostasis in mammalian cells. Malignant tumor cells
seem to hijack some of these mechanism to protect themselves
from the acidic environment and to maintain acidity in an
environment unsuitable for normal or more differentiated
cells. ..."

Newell K, Franchi A, Pouyssegur J, Tannock I.
Studies with glycolysis-deficient cells suggest that production of
lactic acid is not the only cause of tumor acidity.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1993 Feb 1;90(3):1127-31.
PMID: 8430084 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
<http://www.pubmedcentral.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=8430084>
<http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/90/3/1127>

"... These results provide evidence that the production of lactic
acid via glycolysis is not the only mechanism responsible for the
development of an acidic environment within solid tumors."

[snip]

At the time I didn't know that there were other things to maintain this
all important acid/alkaline Ph balance. It's something that I
recommended to a young lady yesterday, her son has cancer and she is
just learning about Ph factors.>

Your body maintains it's pH balance very well thankyou.

True. Still, There are two different pHs to be considered:
extracellular (blood and other extracellular fluids) and
intracellular.

The pH of the blood is tightly regulated. The normal pH of the human
arterial blood is 7.40. In the venous blood it is slightly lower
because of the higher concentration of the carbon dioxide.
Intracellular pH values are lower than those of the extracellular
fluid and range from 6.8 to 7.3 depending on the tissue and
its metabolic rate. When arterial pH is below 7.40, the state is
called acidosis and when above it, it is called alkalosis.

Acidosis and alkalosis are both classified as either metabolic or
respiratory, depending on whether it is bicarbonate (HCO3-)
(metabolic) or carbon dioxide (pCO2) (respiratory) that primarily
deviates from the normal range in blood. In metabolic acidosis HCO3-
and thus plasma pH (hydrogen concentration) fall, in alkalosis they
rise. In respiratory alkalosis pCO2 value and thus the carbonic acid
concentration falls and pH rises and vice versa in respiratory
acidosis.

The most common imbalance in the acid-base balance in the
industrialized countries is mild chronic metabolic acidosis caused
by the diet rich in the animal protein. Proteins are metabolized to
organic acids. The typical American diet produces after metabolism
approximately 100 meq of acid every day. This kind of a diet has been
proved to cause aciduria and calciuria as a consequence of acidosis
and thus a loss of total calcium of the body. Cola drinks that contain
phosphoric acid are another acidosis-inducing ingredient of diet,
especially among young people

In addition to the protein-rich diet, mild acute or chronic
metabolic acidosis has been reported in connection with diarrhoea
(loss of bicarbonate), fasting (ketoacids) and heavy exercise.
Strenous exercise, like all states causing tissue hypoxia, elevates
the amount of the lactic acid in the extracellular fluids.

Chronic metabolic acidosis is known to cause muscle protein breakdown.
It may also increase the risk of osteoporosis. Supplements
like potassium bicarbonate (KHCO3) neutralize metabolic acidosis and
may prevent continuing age-related loss of muscle mass and restore
previously accrued deficits. Mineral supplements such as magnesium,
calcium and potassium and most vegetables also help to neutralize mild
acidosis.

But as I mentioned, earlier mild chronic metabolic acidosis probably
has nothing to do with intracellular pH of cancer cells.



--
Matti Narkia
.

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