Although the most commonly sought condition is the opposite one, namely urinary alkalinization, in some cases acidifying the urine can prove to be a useful behavior for maintaining health.
Urine and pH
Urine is the product of renal excretion, through which metabolic or catabolic products dissolved in the blood stream (harmful waste, especially urea, ketone bodies, creatinine, etc.) are expelled from the body.
Checking the urinary pH means evaluating and measuring the kidney's ability to acidify the urine; the latter, together with the exhaled breath (pulmonary ventilation), are responsible for the acid-base balance of the blood through the expulsion of the NON-volatile acids (hydrogen ions) produced normally and daily by the metabolism (about 60mEq). Hydrogen ions, if not expelled, they cause the lowering of the blood pH and the metabolic acidosis; a possible difficulty in producing and eliminating acid urine in conditions of metabolic acidosis almost always suggests a renal insufficiency.
As you can easily guess from what has been described above, the pH of the urine can fluctuate significantly and is an indispensable condition for maintaining blood homeostasis (prevention of systemic acidification or alkalosis); normally, the urine pH is between 4.4 and 8, with normality at 6/7.
Acidify the urine
Urine acidification is useful in the prevention and treatment of cystitis (bladder infection), urethritis (urethral infection) and urethrocystitis (bladder + urethra). It is also used in pharmacology to modulate the effect of some drugs, favoring the elimination of weak bases (useful practice for example in case of amphetamine overdose) and hindering the excretion of weak acids (in this case urinary acidification reduces the elimination of the drug by prolonging its half-life).
The bacteria that infect the urinary epithelium are generally belonging to the coliforms and most commonly it comes to Escherichia coli, a microbial strain that is particularly sensitive to the surrounding pH. In acidic conditions, Escherichia coli is NOT able to reproduce effectively, therefore, in case of urinary tract infections it is still useful to try to acidify the urine.
The most used food (and the only one subjected to clinical trials) in the treatment of urinary infections (by virtue of its power to acidify the urine and above all to prevent bacterial adhesion to the urinary mucosa) is cranberry juice. it is a drink obtained from the fruits of the American cranberry and it seems that if consumed in portions of 500-750 ml / day it can favor the prevention and remission of the aforementioned diseases; however, as often happens, the experimental results are still controversial but it is still necessary to specify that it is a food and not a drug; therefore, being characterized by the TOTAL absence of contraindications, it is always advisable to use it.
Other foods useful to acidify the urine are all those containing an abundant acid residue deriving from chlorine (Cl), phosphorus (P) and sulfur (S). In particular, the foods useful to acidify the urine are: cheeses, egg yolk, white and red meats, fish, followed by dried fruit, legumes and cereals.
Other methods: Contraindications
Urine acidification can occur as a result of inappropriate eating habits such as ketogenic (or generally high-protein) diets, but also in post-exercise PROTRACT. In both cases, also due to dehydration, the pH of the urine undergoes acidification due to because of:
- Chetonic bodies
- Nitrogen residues
Although they also contribute to the acidification of the urine, from my point of view it is absolutely inadvisable to exploit these obsolete and generally unwanted conditions; the negative aspect that precludes its use in therapy against urinary tract infections is the potentially fatiguing effect they exert on the renal filtering system (see ketogenic diet) ... without considering that both ketone bodies and nitrogen residues in addition to acidifying the urine, they cause systemic impairment which, in some cases (such as renal insufficiency) can lead to severe metabolic acidosis.
PLEASE NOTE: regardless of the method chosen, in people with hyperuricosuria (high levels of uric acid in the blood) or hypercystinuria (high urinary levels of cystine), acidifying the urine means promoting the formation of stones in the urinary tract; for these categories of patients, urinary alkalinization is therefore recommended and urinary acidification is strongly discouraged. The same goes for the prevention of osteoporosis, given that a diet CHRONICALLY rich in acid residues promotes bone mineral loss.
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