pH Balance

Body pH
and the effect on Gender

What does 'body pH' mean?
The pH, which is an abbreviation for ‘power of hydrogen’, is a measuring unit of acidity and alkalinity of a solution. It is numerically equal to 7 for neutral solutions, increasing with increasing alkalinity (14 = maximum alkalinity) and decreasing with increasing acidity (0 = maximum acidity). The urine, blood, saliva, digestive juices and the fluids inside and outside the body’s cells each have an optimum pH level, whereby blood pH is the most telling of all.

At rest, the normal blood pH of a human being is slightly alkaline, with a pH around 7.4 on the pH scale. Anything above that value is considered alkaline; anything below is described as acidic. Both, in their extremes, are life-threatening for the human body; if the pH value drops below 6.8 or increases above 7.8, the cells of the body cannot function properly anymore and the human will die.

Most people who suffer from unbalanced pH are acidic. This condition forces the body to borrow minerals—including calcium, sodium, potassium and magnesium—from vital organs and bones to buffer (neutralize) the acid and safely remove it from the body. Because of this strain, the body can suffer severe and prolonged damage due to high acidity—a condition that may go undetected for years. You cannot remain on acidic diet for long periods of time. Calcium and Magnesium supplemention is necessary.

Different fluids and secretions within the human body have different pH levels. Gastric juices have a pH of 2. Saliva has a pH between 6.5 - 7.5. If your urine drops below 6.5, you are in an acidic state.
The pre-ovulatory cervical mucus plays a key role in fertility. The vaginal vault is normally a hostile environment for sperm. Sperm is only comfortable in alkaline (basic) solutions such as semen (with a normal pH of 7.2-7.8). The vaginal vault has a very low pH (acidic) of about 3-4, and sperm typically will not survive in the vagina for more than 1-2 hours. The cervical mucus has a variable pH that depends on the hormonal environment. The hormonal environment is correlated to the time of the menstrual cycle. Cervical mucus is alkalinic (basic) just prior to the time of ovulation when the cervical glands producing the mucus reacts to the predominance of circulating estrogen to make mucus that is

1. more abundant,
2. clearer,
3. more elastic (stretchy),
4. less cellular,
5. more watery (less thick),
6. higher in pH, and
7. composed of strands that are aligned to allow greater sperm penetration

If the cervical mucus is "friendly" to sperm then the sperm should be able to survive in the mucus for at least 2 days. This preovulatory mucus acts as a kind of reservoir, from which sperm occasionally move to the fallopian tubes where they normally fertilize an egg.

Some doctors, including Dr Shettles, believe the Y sperm (male) prefer alkaline conditions whereas the X sperm (female) favors acidic environments. With this in mind, some doctors are still recommending the douching of the vagina with a solution of bicarbonate of soda for a boy or lemon juice (or diluted vinegar) for a girl 15-30 min before intercourse. The sodium bicarbonate will make the vagina more alkaline therefore favoring the conception of a boy whereas vinegar and lemon juice are both acidic thus favoring girls.

The part of the female reproductive tract that you are attempting to influence is the cervical mucus secreted before, during and after ovulation. This is the gateway into the uterus and the rest of the reproductive tract where the egg awaits and if you follow the pH guidelines for a girl or a boy, you have to get them at the gate!

Research supporting pH level’s effect on gender determination:
1. A more alkaline vaginal pH resulted in more males.
It was also observed that vaginal pH of the ovulated women during full moon was alkaline (pH 8.7 +/- 0.4) while pH was weak acidic in women ovulated 3 days prior to full moon and no moon (pH 6.4 +/- 0.5; 6.2 +/- 0.5). These results indicate that alkaline vaginal fluid medium during full moon favor conception of male babies.

Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16295726

2. This is an article about promiscuous females in the animal kingdom and the fact that the last male they usually mate with is the father of the baby. So, the more seminal fluid present, thus the more alkaline the environment, it makes it easier for the faster, smaller Y sperm to more in a higher pH environment.

This new research, published in the Journal of Theoretical Biology, shows how the last male can gain an advantage by 'parasitizing' his mate's previous partners' seminal fluid. By taking advantage of the more 'sperm friendly' environment created by those who have gone before, he can 'fast-track' his sperm to the front of the race to the egg.

"The presence of seminal fluid makes the female body a more 'sperm-friendly' place," said David Hodgson of the University of Exeter. "When the first male mates with the female, his sperm are released into a fairly hostile environment. But, by the time the last male mates, the presence of extra seminal fluid can assist the journey of his sperm to the egg."

Source: University of Exeter (2006, October 20). Why The Best Things Come To Those Who Wait. ScienceDaily. Retrieved December 6, 2010

3. Shettles Method
Shettles wrote his book in the 1960’s and was one of the first to determine that male sperm prefer an alkaline environment to work with its strengths- lighter and faster and female sperm can handle a more acidic environment due to its strengths- larger and more resilient, but slower moving.

Fact: To neutralize a glass of cola with a pH of 2.5, it would take 32 glasses of alkaline water with a pH of 10. That's how much of an effect acidity can have.

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