I don\u2019t know why I torment myself with these observations, but I\u2019ll note that we\u2019re already more than 10 percent of the way through 2016. That\u2019s as good of a benchmark as any for noting our progress, or lack thereof, toward New Year resolutions. <\/p>\n
I\u2019ll note one resolution that backfired on one of my pals. About six years ago he went on a serious diet, and he not only drank diet soda as a replacement for the sugary kind, but he also drank diet soda to keep his belly full and stave off hunger. He told me he\u2019d sip diet soda all day long out of a big plastic cup, starting with his commute to work in the morning and ending after dinner. <\/p>\n
Last year, he noticed that his teeth weren\u2019t in such great shape. After seeing a dentist, he surmised that the acidity of the soda had been eroding his tooth enamel. <\/p>\n
I asked a dentist about this. He said that soda is acidic, so if you\u2019re going to drink one you should just go ahead a drink it down and not make a habit of marinating your teeth in it. That made sense. But here\u2019s something else: He said that soda isn\u2019t the only culprit here, and that many beverages are, in fact, highly acidic as well. <\/p>\n
A factor called \u201cpH\u201d is used to indicate the acidity of water-based liquids, and is also used to indicate the opposite of acidity, which is alkalinity. It\u2019s a pretty common term. I remember a popular shampoo being advertised as \u201cpH balanced.\u201d<\/p>\n
So here\u2019s a good question for a bar bet: What does pH stand for? <\/p>\n
I had to look up the answer. Here it is: \u201cpH\u201d stands for \u201cpower of hydrogen.\u201d This speaks to the underlying chemistry of the gig, which is, of course, completely over my head. <\/p>\n
Anyway, you\u2019d think that the pivot point of a scale would be set at zero. But nothing involving chemistry is ever that simple, apparently. We\u2019re up against the fact that on the great see-saw between acid and alkaline, the pivot point is level 7. So, a pH of 7 is neutral (that\u2019s what pure water is). The further below 7 pH something is, the more acidic it is. And the further above 7 pH something is, the more alkaline it is. <\/p>\n
As for the alkaline (also called \u201cbase\u201d) realm, a few common examples of alkaline substances are soap, baking soda, and bleach. All I know is that when I put baking soda on my car\u2019s battery terminals, it fizzes up (cool!) as it neutralizes the acid that the battery seeps. <\/p>\n
Like earthquake magnitudes, the pH scale isn\u2019t linear, it\u2019s exponential. A movement of one unit on the pH scale involves a tenfold change in acidity. <\/p>\n
Anyway, having suffered to understand this stuff, we can now contemplate some rough pH numbers. I rounded up a few numbers from various websites, so this is just ballpark stuff to serve as food for thought.<\/p>\n
Grapefruit juice is about 3 pH, so that sets a useful benchmark for us.<\/p>\n
The pH of popular colas is about 2.5; the diet flavors are generally less acidic, ranging from about 3 to 3.4. <\/p>\n
What surprised me is just how acidic many other beverages can be, such as sports drinks and other non-carbonated products. Some stuff that you\u2019d think is a more tooth-friendly alternative to sodas has a pH of 2.4 or so, which is even more acidic than many sodas are.<\/p>\n
The Web has a lot of information on this subject, much of it posted by dentists. You might find some interesting results by running a search for the stuff you\u2019re in the habit of consuming. <\/p>\n
For the sake of context, I looked at a list of common foods, and virtually all of them had acidic pH levels, so that\u2019s just how nature seems to work. I\u2019m not worried about this pH thing, but it still can\u2019t hurt to have a little awareness about it. <\/p>\n
Tea is popular on Saipan, so I\u2019ll mention that a 2001 British Dental Journal study, \u201cTooth surface pH during drinking of black tea,\u201d concluded that black tea \u201cmay be safely recommended as a substitute for more acidic drinks as a part of preventive measures for dental erosion.\u201d The tea used in the study had a 4.9 pH, but the tooth surfaces quickly returned to their normal pH levels.<\/p>\n
Well, now that we\u2019ve taken care of this subject, we can start plodding our way through the remaining 88 percent of the year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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