Minerals with a negative electrical charge are attracted to the H+ ion. These are called acid minerals. Acid minerals include: chlorine (Cl-), sulfur (S-), phosphorus (P-), and they form hydrochloric acid (HCl), sulfuric acid (H2SO4), and phosphoric acid (H3PO4).

Minerals with a positive electrical charge are attracted to the negatively charged OH- ion. These are called alkaline minerals. Nutritionally important alkaline minerals include calcium (Ca+), potassium (K+), magnesium (Mg+), and sodium (Na+). (Cancer patients tend to have an excess of sodium. - Gerson page 97). Also important for cancer treatment and prevention are the alkaline trace minerals rubidium and cesium. To determine if a food is acid or alkaline, it is burned and the ash is mixed with water. If the solution is acid or alkaline then the food is called acid or alkaline. Ash is the mineral content of the food.

Also, while it is commonly understood that the body needs calcium to build bones, what is not generally known is bones are a complex matrix of many different minerals and if all the required minerals are not present then strong bones cannot be built.

There are at least 18 key bone-building nutrients essential for optimum bone health. The implication is that it is easier to destroy bone through excess acidity in the body than it is to rebuild bone. Furthermore, as farm soils become depleted of many trace minerals the foods grown on these soils contain less and less of the required nutrients. At last count, the human body requires 90 different nutrients for optimum health, and the list is growing year by year.

How does this relate to body metabolism? Basically, if the body fluids are acid they will seek alkaline minerals to react with - such as sodium, potassium, zinc, iron, calcium. These are found in the liver, muscles, ligaments and bones, etc., if too little is available from the diet. But why should this happen? Effectively, all the body's internal fluids are designed to be slightly alkaline, such as interstitial fluid, cerebrospinal and lymphatic fluid, liver bile and so on. The only exception to this is the hydrochloric acid produced by the stomach.

While our bodies are designed to be alkaline, cells produce acid as a by-product of their normal activity. The acid waste matter thus produced is reduced to carbon dioxide and water which are excreted harmlessly from the body.

The body has to rid itself of its acid wastes. This type of acid ash cannot be eliminated through the lungs as carbon dioxide and water in the same way as cellular metabolism. Instead the body has to buffer the ash with alkaline substances in order to neutralize it. Buffering takes place both inside and outside the cell, the majority of the buffering occurring in the blood itself.

Clinical research by Dr M T Morter (Arkansas, USA) has shown that if the anabolic urinary and salivary pH (measured immediately upon awakening) is below 6.8, we can be relatively certain that digestive support must be provided. Controlled clinical studies by Dr Paul Yanick (Pasadena, USA) have confirmed Dr Morter's findings and recorded that intracellular assimilation of nutrients is significantly decreased when the anabolic pH is below 6.8.

Diets which are high in protein, fat and carbohydrates and low in greens and raw food, stress the digestive mechanisms, inhibiting proper digestion and overloading the immune system with incompletely digested macromolecules and toxins. These digestive disturbances are aggravated by the typically high intake of food additives, pesticides and stimulating foods that are common in the Western diet.

Also in an effect to solve the problem of worsening public water quality, more and more people are turning to water in plastic containers. What is usually not realized is that virtually all bottled water is highly acidic and missing the essential alkalizing minerals.