Milk,acidic or alkaline

whacker4fun

Is standard milk you buy in the shops acidic or alkaline???????

purple'n'gold

The PH would be somewhere about 6.4 / 6.5 That would make it slightly acidic.

whacker4fun

purplengold wrote:

The PH would be somewhere about 6.4 / 6.5 That would make it slightly acidic.

Yea thats what i thought.....so technically milk is bad for somebody with acid problems in there stomach.

purple'n'gold

It would be best for anyone with acid problems in their stomach to see their doctor.

Delphi91

whacker4fun wrote:

Yea thats what i thought.....so technically milk is bad for somebody with acid problems in there stomach.

If you mean acid problems as in too much acid, then I doubt milk would have much of an effect. The pH of your stomach acid is around 1-2 so milk would almost be alkaline compared to it.

But that's just my opinion, so ask for medical advice.

dudara

People with digestive issues often find milk soothing. I do, and I've heard it from others too.

Can anyone explain why this is the case?

Red Hand

dudara wrote:

People with digestive issues often find milk soothing. I do, and I've heard it from others too.

Can anyone explain why this is the case?

Placebo effect? Brings back early memories from when you were a baby and were, um, comforted?:)

Black Swan

Hot milk sooths my stomach at times, or so I think, after a cat-like consumption my tummy troubles leave and I curl up to sleep.

dudara

I wonder is it related to the fact that a glass of milk before some drinking helps, that it lines the stomach somehow, creating a barrier over the irritated areas.

mawk

dudara wrote:

People with digestive issues often find milk soothing. I do, and I've heard it from others too.

Can anyone explain why this is the case?

its like lundi(i think so anyway) said. the milk is waay less acidic than your stomach. try not to look at things as being either acidic or basic 1/0. there are plenty of values in between. the milk is a step away from whats wrong just because its not the exact ph doesnt mean its a step in the wrong direction

inverted_world

Blue_Lagoon wrote:

Hot milk sooths my stomach at times, or so I think, after a cat-like consumption my tummy troubles leave and I curl up to sleep.

I can see how this would work alright, but I don't believe that milk (any other way) would be soothing on the stomach. In fact, most people have trouble digesting milk, whether they realise it or not, because it cannot be broken down properly by the enzymes. Since this is the case, it would then ferment and lactose converts to lactic acid, which can lead to upleasantness, depending on how much you drink.

Warm milk also contains tryptophan, which is thought to be a natural sleep aid as it can raise melatonin levels, so that explains why warm milk makes you sleepy.

Regarding drinking milk before a night out, it is substance. Any good food would do, as it's just not good to drink on an empty stomach. I don't think milk had any extra special properties to make it more effective. But then again, I'm not a biologist so I wouldn't be certain.

djbj198

Hi,

When we talk about the pH of anything its better to think of one thing being less acidic than another rather than acidic, neutral or alkaline. The stomach's pH is about 1 and therefore be more acidic than the milk. To a limitted extent the milk will act as a buffer (which means it will keep the pH constant and a little higher than 1). Although I have not tested this, I would imagine it won't have any noticable effect more than water.
However milk is colloid, a dispertion or blend of fat in a liquid which means its an excellent fat transport system. That means the milk transports the fat to the stomach and the pipe leading to the stomach coating it in a layer of this fat. It encourages the body to produce mucus which is the bodies natural barrier to acid (the stomach wall is perminantly lined with a thick mucus layer to prevent the acid digesting the stomach itself). The increase layer of fats and mucus act as a barrier to any excess acid in or from the stomach and hence soothes.
Hope that helps
(PS incidently pH has a small p and capital H, p = -log10 and H = concentration of hydrogen ions)

Michael Collins

djbj198 wrote: »

Hi,

When we talk about the pH of anything its better to think of one thing being less acidic than another rather than acidic, neutral or alkaline. The stomach's pH is about 1 and therefore be more acidic than the milk. To a limitted extent the milk will act as a buffer (which means it will keep the pH constant and a little higher than 1). Although I have not tested this, I would imagine it won't have any noticable effect more than water.
However milk is colloid, a dispertion or blend of fat in a liquid which means its an excellent fat transport system. That means the milk transports the fat to the stomach and the pipe leading to the stomach coating it in a layer of this fat. It encourages the body to produce mucus which is the bodies natural barrier to acid (the stomach wall is perminantly lined with a thick mucus layer to prevent the acid digesting the stomach itself). The increase layer of fats and mucus act as a barrier to any excess acid in or from the stomach and hence soothes.
Hope that helps
(PS incidently pH has a small p and capital H, p = -log10 and H = concentration of hydrogen ions)

That's what I call a good first post!