What Can the pH of Our Saliva Tell Us About Health?
A look at the research — by a nutritionist
Saliva pH is easily left out of the discussion when it comes to general health. This could be due to the excellent job the body does to keep our blood pH between 7.35 and 7.45. The body uses the lungs, kidneys, and chemical buffer systems to help us maintain this acid-base balance. If the blood is too acidic or too alkaline, health problems occur.
Since pH is so tightly controlled at the blood level, should we even care about saliva pH?
I think so, and I’d like to share some interesting tidbits about saliva pH. The hyperlinks go to supporting studies.
Before I continue, however, I’d like to make the following disclaimer:
I am a nutritionist and not a doctor. I’m not preventing, diagnosing, treating, curing, or managing any disease or condition. Your health is between you and your doctor.
Measuring pH is a way to help us know how acidic or basic (alkaline) fluids are. It’s the concentration of hydrogen ions in fluid. It measures the power or potential of hydrogen.
The pH scale ranges from 0 to 14, with 7 being neutral.
