The pH of your stomach acid can vary due to health conditions, medications, and other factors. Having a pH that is too high or too low can cause complications.
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Stomach acid, or gastric acid, is a watery, colorless fluid that's produced by your stomach's lining.
It's highly acidic and helps break down food for easier digestion. This helps your body absorb nutrients more easily as food moves through your digestive tract.
In order to break down everything from meat to tough, fibrous plants, stomach acid has to be highly acidic.
Your body is designed to handle average levels of stomach acid so that it doesn't cause you any illness or health complications.
However, those systems may not always work the way they are supposed to. Having gastric juices with low or high levels of acidity can cause other health problems.
Keep reading to find out how strong stomach acid is and what happens when your body makes stomach acid that's either too strong or too weak.
Stomach acid does a lot on behalf of your body. It breaks down the foods you eat into easier-to-digest particles. It also acts as the first line of defense against pathogens and microbes that could make you sick.
These actions require a liquid that's quite acidic. But just how acidic?
To really understand how strong stomach acid is, you'll first need to understand how a liquid's acid level is measured.
Acidity is measured on a pH scale, which ranges from 0 to 14. The lower the pH level, the stronger the fluid's acidic levels. For example, battery acid has a pH of 0, which means it's a very strong acid.
The least acidic fluids are at 14. These are called alkaline liquids. In the middle at 7 are neutral fluids, like pure water.
Stomach acid has a pH between 1 and 2, which makes it quite acidic.
Keep in mind that battery acid can dissolve materials like metal and bone. Stomach acid, with its pH balance being only one or two spots higher, can also damage very strong materials, like bones and teeth.
Stomach acid's low pH level is largely due to hydrochloric acid (HCl).
However, there's only a very small amount of HCl in stomach acid. Other components include potassium chloride (KCl) and sodium chloride (NaCl).
The cells lining your stomach wall secrete this acidic trio. The cells also release several enzymes and mucus.
This mucus is key to the process. It protects the lining of your stomach so that the acid and other gastric juices don't damage the sensitive organ.
It's common for your stomach acid's pH level to fluctuate from time to time.
Certain situations, like medication and stress, can interfere with stomach acid. This may prevent your body from producing as much HCl.
When this happens, you may begin to experience symptoms like:
But if your stomach acid is chronically low, you may have a condition called hypochlorhydria.
The complications of having chronically low levels of acid can be quite significant. The early stages of this condition can result in difficulties digesting food and absorbing the nutrients your body needs to function properly.
If left untreated, it can damage your gastrointestinal system. This increases your risk for infections and chronic health issues.
The exact treatment for low acid gastric juices will depend on the likely cause.
Your doctor may prescribe an HCl supplement. This can increase your stomach acid's pH level. They may also prescribe medications with the enzyme pepsin, which helps increase stomach acidity.
Other treatments include:
If the level of acid in your gastric juices is too high, the mucus in your stomach may stop being effective.
High stomach acid levels can lead to a number of complications, including:
The most obvious symptoms of high stomach acid levels include:
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High stomach acid is most commonly treated with medication. Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) work to lower stomach acid. Your doctor may prescribe PPIs by themselves. Sometimes, PPIs are prescribed with other medications.
Other treatments will depend on the suspected cause of these high acid levels. These treatments may include:
A number of conditions, medications, and lifestyle factors can cause acid level fluctuations. While some fluctuations are unusual, not all are.
Chronically low or high levels of acid can be problematic for your health and well-being. Seeking treatment can prevent long-term complications.
Certain conditions increase your risk for low acid levels. These risk factors include:
Stomach acid is a highly acidic liquid your body naturally produces to help you digest and absorb nutrients in food. Your body also produces enzymes and mucus to help protect itself against the acid's strength.
High levels of stomach acid can lead to heartburn, acid reflux, and ulcers. Low levels of stomach acid may impair your ability to digest food.
Seek medical attention if you're showing signs of low or high levels of acid. Both of these can be problematic if they're chronic and not treated properly.
A healthcare professional can review your symptoms and decide the best treatment for you. In some cases, they may look for underlying health issues, like an infection, that could be contributing to your altered acid levels.
The buffer systems in the human body are extremely efficient, and different systems work at different rates. It takes only seconds for the chemical buffers in the blood to make adjustments to pH. The respiratory tract can adjust the blood pH upward in minutes by exhaling CO2 from the body. The renal system can also adjust blood pH through the excretion of hydrogen ions (H+) and the conservation of bicarbonate, but this process takes hours to days to have an effect.
The buffer systems functioning in blood plasma include plasma proteins, phosphate, and bicarbonate and carbonic acid buffers. The kidneys help control acid-base balance by excreting hydrogen ions and generating bicarbonate that helps maintain blood plasma pH within a normal range. Protein buffer systems work predominantly inside cells.
Nearly all proteins can function as buffers. Proteins are made up of amino acids, which contain positively charged amino groups and negatively charged carboxyl groups. The charged regions of these molecules can bind hydrogen and hydroxyl ions, and thus function as buffers. Buffering by proteins accounts for two-thirds of the buffering power of the blood and most of the buffering within cells.
Hemoglobin is the principal protein inside of red blood cells and accounts for one-third of the mass of the cell. During the conversion of CO2 into bicarbonate, hydrogen ions liberated in the reaction are buffered by hemoglobin, which is reduced by the dissociation of oxygen. This buffering helps maintain normal pH. The process is reversed in the pulmonary capillaries to re-form CO2, which then can diffuse into the air sacs to be exhaled into the atmosphere. This process is discussed in detail in the chapter on the respiratory system.
Phosphates are found in the blood in two forms: sodium dihydrogen phosphate (Na2H2PO4'), which is a weak acid, and sodium monohydrogen phosphate (Na2HPO42-), which is a weak base. When Na2HPO42- comes into contact with a strong acid, such as HCl, the base picks up a second hydrogen ion to form the weak acid Na2H2PO4' and sodium chloride, NaCl. When Na2HPO42' (the weak acid) comes into contact with a strong base, such as sodium hydroxide (NaOH), the weak acid reverts back to the weak base and produces water. Acids and bases are still present, but they hold onto the ions.
HCl + Na2HPO4'NaH2PO4 + NaCl (strong acid) + (weak base) ' (weak acid) + (salt) NaOH + NaH2PO4'Na2HPO4 + H2O (strong base) + (weak acid) ' (weak base) + (water)The bicarbonate-carbonic acid buffer works in a fashion similar to phosphate buffers. The bicarbonate is regulated in the blood by sodium, as are the phosphate ions. When sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3), comes into contact with a strong acid, such as HCl, carbonic acid (H2CO3), which is a weak acid, and NaCl are formed. When carbonic acid comes into contact with a strong base, such as NaOH, bicarbonate and water are formed.
NaHCO3 + HCl ' H2CO3+NaCl (sodium bicarbonate) + (strong acid) ' (weak acid) + (salt) H2CO3 + NaOH'HCO3- + H2O (weak acid) + (strong base)'(bicarbonate) + (water)As with the phosphate buffer, a weak acid or weak base captures the free ions, and a significant change in pH is prevented. Bicarbonate ions and carbonic acid are present in the blood in a 20:1 ratio if the blood pH is within the normal range. With 20 times more bicarbonate than carbonic acid, this capture system is most efficient at buffering changes that would make the blood more acidic. This is useful because most of the body's metabolic wastes, such as lactic acid and ketones, are acids. Carbonic acid levels in the blood are controlled by the expiration of CO2 through the lungs. In red blood cells, carbonic anhydrase forces the dissociation of the acid, rendering the blood less acidic. Because of this acid dissociation, CO2 is exhaled (see equations above). The level of bicarbonate in the blood is controlled through the renal system, where bicarbonate ions in the renal filtrate are conserved and passed back into the blood. However, the bicarbonate buffer is the primary buffering system of the IF surrounding the cells in tissues throughout the body.
CO2 + H2O ' H2CO3 ' H+ + HCO3'
Respiratory Regulation of Acid-Base Balance
The respiratory system contributes to the balance of acids and bases in the body by regulating the blood levels of carbonic acid (Figure 26.4.2). CO2 in the blood readily reacts with water to form carbonic acid, and the levels of CO2 and carbonic acid in the blood are in equilibrium. When the CO2 level in the blood rises (as it does when you hold your breath), the excess CO2 reacts with water to form additional carbonic acid, lowering blood pH. Increasing the rate and/or depth of respiration (which you might feel the 'urge' to do after holding your breath) allows you to exhale more CO2. The loss of CO2 from the body reduces blood levels of carbonic acid and thereby adjusts the pH upward, toward normal levels. As you might have surmised, this process also works in the opposite direction. Excessive deep and rapid breathing (as in hyperventilation) rids the blood of CO2 and reduces the level of carbonic acid, making the blood too alkaline. This brief alkalosis can be remedied by rebreathing air that has been exhaled into a paper bag. Rebreathing exhaled air will rapidly bring blood pH down toward normal.The chemical reactions that regulate the levels of CO2 and carbonic acid occur in the lungs when blood travels through the lung's pulmonary capillaries. Minor adjustments in breathing are usually sufficient to adjust the pH of the blood by changing how much CO2 is exhaled. In fact, doubling the respiratory rate for less than 1 minute, removing 'extra' CO2, would increase the blood pH by 0.2. This situation is common if you are exercising strenuously over a period of time. To keep up the necessary energy production, you would produce excess CO2 (and lactic acid if exercising beyond your aerobic threshold). In order to balance the increased acid production, the respiration rate goes up to remove the CO2. This helps to keep you from developing acidosis.
The body regulates the respiratory rate by the use of chemoreceptors, which primarily use CO2 as a signal. Peripheral blood sensors are found in the walls of the aorta and carotid arteries. These sensors signal the brain to provide immediate adjustments to the respiratory rate if CO2 levels rise or fall. Yet other sensors are found in the brain itself. Changes in the pH of CSF affect the respiratory center in the medulla oblongata, which can directly modulate breathing rate to bring the pH back into the normal range.
Hypercapnia, or abnormally elevated blood levels of CO2, occurs in any situation that impairs respiratory functions, including pneumonia and congestive heart failure. Reduced breathing (hypoventilation) due to drugs such as morphine, barbiturates, or ethanol (or even just holding one's breath) can also result in hypercapnia. Hypocapnia, or abnormally low blood levels of CO2, occurs with any cause of hyperventilation that drives off the CO2, such as salicylate toxicity, elevated room temperatures, fever, or hysteria.
The renal regulation of the body's acid-base balance addresses the metabolic component of the buffering system. Whereas the respiratory system (together with breathing centers in the brain) controls the blood levels of carbonic acid by controlling the exhalation of CO2, the renal system controls the blood levels of bicarbonate. A decrease of blood bicarbonate can result from the inhibition of carbonic anhydrase by certain diuretics or from excessive bicarbonate loss due to diarrhea. Blood bicarbonate levels are also typically lower in people who have Addison's disease (chronic adrenal insufficiency), in which aldosterone levels are reduced, and in people who have renal damage, such as chronic nephritis. Finally, low bicarbonate blood levels can result from elevated levels of ketones (common in unmanaged diabetes mellitus), which bind bicarbonate in the filtrate and prevent its conservation.
Bicarbonate ions, HCO3', found in the filtrate, are essential to the bicarbonate buffer system, yet the cells of the tubule are not permeable to bicarbonate ions. The steps involved in supplying bicarbonate ions to the system are seen in Figure 26.4.3 and are summarized below:
It is also possible that salts in the filtrate, such as sulfates, phosphates, or ammonia, will capture hydrogen ions. If this occurs, the hydrogen ions will not be available to combine with bicarbonate ions and produce CO2. In such cases, bicarbonate ions are not conserved from the filtrate to the blood, which will also contribute to a pH imbalance and acidosis.
The hydrogen ions also compete with potassium to exchange with sodium in the renal tubules. If more potassium is present than normal, potassium, rather than the hydrogen ions, will be exchanged, and increased potassium enters the filtrate. When this occurs, fewer hydrogen ions in the filtrate participate in the conversion of bicarbonate into CO2 and less bicarbonate is conserved. If there is less potassium, more hydrogen ions enter the filtrate to be exchanged with sodium and more bicarbonate is conserved.
Chloride ions are important in neutralizing positive ion charges in the body. If chloride is lost, the body uses bicarbonate ions in place of the lost chloride ions. Thus, lost chloride results in an increased reabsorption of bicarbonate by the renal system.
Disorders of the' Fluid Balance: Acid-Base Balance: Ketoacidosis
Diabetic acidosis, or ketoacidosis, occurs most frequently in people with poorly controlled diabetes mellitus. When certain tissues in the body cannot get adequate amounts of glucose, they depend on the breakdown of fatty acids for energy. When acetyl groups break off the fatty acid chains, the acetyl groups then non-enzymatically combine to form ketone bodies, acetoacetic acid, beta-hydroxybutyric acid, and acetone, all of which increase the acidity of the blood. In this condition, the brain isn't supplied with enough of its fuel'glucose'to produce all of the ATP it requires to function.
Ketoacidosis can be severe and, if not detected and treated properly, can lead to diabetic coma, which can be fatal. A common early symptom of ketoacidosis is deep, rapid breathing as the body attempts to drive off CO2 and compensate for the acidosis. Another common symptom is fruity-smelling breath, due to the exhalation of acetone. Other symptoms include dry skin and mouth, a flushed face, nausea, vomiting, and stomach pain. Treatment for diabetic coma is ingestion or injection of sugar; its prevention is the proper daily administration of insulin.
A person who is diabetic and uses insulin can initiate ketoacidosis if a dose of insulin is missed. Among people with type 2 diabetes, those of Hispanic and African-American descent are more likely to go into ketoacidosis than those of other ethnic backgrounds, although the reason for this is unknown.
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