Viruses and pH.

 Bilingual ( English & Chinese)

Coronavirus doesn’t have own pH level, alkaline food won’t ‘beat’ it

The PH Spectrum: Understanding pH .

Watch YouTube ( click here explanation) 

 

For instance, in a healthy body, the average blood pH value is slightly alkaline, ranging between 7.35-7.45, and the lungs and kidneys are responsible for maintaining this balance. Alternatively, the saliva has a pH ranging from 6.5-7.0, the human skin has a pH of 5.5, which makes it acidic, while the pH of the digestive tract varies from 1.5-7.0.

“This is to inform us all that the pH for corona virus varies from 5.5 to 8.5,” reads a graphic shared on WhatsApp. It says this is based on “research” from “Journal of Virology, April 1991”. A similar claim is going around Facebook where it is used to sell an "alkaline cup".

The graphic goes on: “All we need to do, to beat corona virus, we need to take more of an alkaline foods that are above the above pH level of the Virus.” It says these foods include lemon (pH8.2), lime(pH9.9), avocado( pH15.6) and garlic (pH13.2) but doesn’t say how exactly they beat it. 

Here alarm bells should start to ring. According to the graphic, avocado has a pH of “15.6”. But the pH scale, which measures how acidic or basic (alkaline) something is, goes from zero to 14. Nothing has a pH above 14.

But could the pH for the new coronavirus “vary from 5.5 to 8.5”? We checked. 

Coronaviruses and pH

Coronaviruses are a group of viruses that cause illnesses ranging from the common cold to more serious diseases. An outbreak of a new coronavirus was identified in Wuhan, China in late December 2019. It causes the disease Covid-19. 

An article about a coronavirus and pH was published in the Journal of Virology, from the American Society for Microbiology, in April 1991. It’s titled Alteration of the pH Dependence of Coronavirus-Induced Cell Fusion: Effect of Mutations in the Spike Glycoprotein. Either scroll to the bottom ** or click here for details. 

But the very first sentence of the abstract makes it clear that the 1991 study was looking at a completely different coronavirus – the coronavirus mouse hepatitis virus type 4, or MHV4. 

The new coronavirus that causes Covid-19 is called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, or SARS-CoV-2. 

And the journal article doesn’t claim that MHV4 has a certain pH level, or range. Rather, the study is about what happens when “susceptible murine cells” – that is, mice or rat cells – are infected with MHV4 “ at pHs from 5.5 to 8.5”. 

More significantly, it has nothing to do with the new coronavirus, which was unknown before the current outbreak began.

Coronavirus ‘does not have own pH’

 The new coronavirus “does not have its own pH”. It survived well in an environment with a pH of about 6 (weak acidity just below pH 7) and was unable to survive at a pH of 8 and above. 

 The claim about the pH of the new coronavirus was incorrect. People should be reminded  how the virus spreads, through sneezing and coughing. 

Coronavirus has nothing to do with the stomach digestion, so how do these ‘alkaline foods’, like lemon, lime, avocado and garlic, beat the virus? This false claim should be ignored.

Lemon is a tropical fruit, which is rich in vitamin C and citric acid. Citric acid gives lemon its acidity. It also contains riboflavin, iron, thiamin and magnesium and anti-oxidants such as ascorbic acid. The health benefits of lemon were first noticed when it was found effective against scurvy, which is caused by vitamin C deficiency.

Lemon juice has a pH falling between 2 and 3, which makes it 10,000-100,000 times more acidic than water. Bottom Line: A food's pH is a measure of its acidity. 

Are citrus fruits acidic in nature? The Answer is Yes! Fruits and vegetables, many of which are acidic in their natural state, undergo a dramatic change during metabolism - acids are neutralized and alkaline elements become the dominant presence. This is why highly acidic lemon juice is actually known as a potent alkaline-forming food.

In short, after the stomach digestion process , all acidic fruits are no more acidic in chemical compound but has been turned into alkaline. 

**Infection of susceptible murine cells with the coronavirus mouse hepatitis virus type 4 (MHV4) results in extensive cell-cell fusion at pHs from 5.5 to 8.5. The endosomotropic weak bases chloroquine and ammonium chloride do not prevent MHV4 infection. In marked contrast, we have selected variants from a neural cell line persistently infected with MHV4 which are entirely dependent on acid pH to fuse host cells and are strongly inhibited by endosomotropic weak bases. Wild-type and variant viruses were compared at the level of the fusion-active surface (S) glycoprotein gene. Cloning and sequencing of each 4,131-base open reading frame predicted a total of eight amino acid differences which fell into three distinct clusters. Each S glycoprotein, when expressed from cDNA, was synthesized in equivalent amounts, and similar proportions were transported to the cell surface. Wild-type S induced cell-cell fusion at neutral pH, whereas variant S required prolonged exposure to acidic pH to induce fusion. Expression of hybrid S genes prepared by exchange of restriction fragments between wild-type and variant cDNAs revealed that elimination of neutral pH fusion was solely dependent on amino acid alterations at positions 1067 (Q to H), 1094 (Q to H), and 1114 (L to R). These changes lie within a predicted heptad repeat region of the transmembrane cleavage fragment of S (S2). These findings demonstrate that the pH dependence of coronavirus fusion is highly variable and that this variability can be determined by as few as three amino acid residues.

冠状病毒没有自己的 pH 值，碱性食物不会“打败”它

 PH 谱：了解 pH 值。

 观看 YouTube（点击此处说明）

 例如，在健康的身体中，平均血液 pH 值呈弱碱性，介于 7.35-7.45 之间，而肺和肾脏负责维持这种平衡。 或者，唾液的 pH 值为 6.5-7.0，人体皮肤的 pH 值为 5.5，使其呈酸性，而消化道的 pH 值则为 1.5-7.0。

 “这是为了告诉我们所有人，冠状病毒的 pH 值从 5.5 到 8.5 不等，”WhatsApp 上分享的一张图片写道。 它说这是基于“Journal of Virology, April 1991”的“研究”。 类似的说法在 Facebook 上流传，它被用来销售“碱性杯”。

 图形继续说：“我们需要做的就是打败冠状病毒，我们需要摄入更多高于病毒 pH 值的碱性食物。” 它说这些食物包括柠檬（pH8.2）、酸橙（pH9.9）、鳄梨（pH15.6）和大蒜（pH13.2），但没有说明它们究竟是如何打败它的。

 在这里，警钟应该开始响起。 根据图表，鳄梨的 pH 值为“15.6”。 但是测量某物的酸性或碱性（碱性）程度的 pH 值从 0 到 14。没有任何东西的 pH 值高于 14。

 但新型冠状病毒的 pH 值能否“在 5.5 到 8.5 之间变化”？ 我们检查了。

 冠状病毒和 pH 值

 冠状病毒是一组病毒，可引起从普通感冒到更严重疾病的各种疾病。  2019 年 12 月下旬在中国武汉爆发了一种新型冠状病毒。它导致了 Covid-19 疾病。

 1991 年 4 月，美国微生物学会的《病毒学杂志》上发表了一篇关于冠状病毒和 pH 值的文章，标题为“冠状病毒诱导的细胞融合的 pH 依赖性的改变：突刺糖蛋白突变的影响”。 滚动到底部 ** 或点击此处了解详情。

 但摘要的第一句话清楚地表明，1991 年的研究正在研究一种完全不同的冠状病毒——冠状病毒小鼠肝炎病毒 4 型，或 MHV4。

 引起Covid-19的新型冠状病毒被称为严重急性呼吸系统综合症冠状病毒2，或SARS-CoV-2。

 并且该期刊文章并未声称 MHV4 具有特定的 pH 值水平或范围。 相反，该研究是关于当“易感的鼠细胞”——即小鼠或大鼠细胞——被“在 5.5 到 8.5 的 pH 值下”感染 MHV4 时会发生什么。

 更重要的是，它与新型冠状病毒没有任何关系，在当前爆发之前，这种病毒并不为人所知。

 冠状病毒“没有自己的酸碱度”

 新型冠状病毒“没有自己的酸碱度”。 它在 pH 值约为 6 的环境中能很好地存活（弱酸性刚好低于 pH 值 7），并且无法在 8 及以上的 pH 值下存活。

 关于新型冠状病毒 pH 值的说法是错误的。 应该提醒人们病毒是如何通过打喷嚏和咳嗽传播的。

 冠状病毒与胃消化无关，那么柠檬、酸橙、鳄梨和大蒜等“碱性食物”是如何战胜病毒的呢？ 这种虚假声明应该被忽略。

 柠檬是一种热带水果，富含维生素 C 和柠檬酸。 柠檬酸赋予柠檬酸度。 它还含有核黄素、铁、硫胺素和镁以及抗氧化剂，如抗坏血酸。 当发现柠檬对由维生素 C 缺乏引起的坏血病有效时，人们首先注意到了它的健康益处。

 柠檬汁的 pH 值介于 2 和 3 之间，这使其酸性比水高 10,000-100,000 倍。 底线：食物的 pH 值是衡量其酸度的指标。

 柑橘类水果本质上是酸性的吗？ 答案是肯定的！ 水果和蔬菜，其中许多在自然状态下是酸性的，在新陈代谢过程中会发生巨大的变化——酸被中和，碱性元素成为主要存在。 这就是为什么高酸性柠檬汁实际上被称为强效碱性食物的原因。

 总之，经过胃的消化过程，所有酸性水果的化合物都不再是酸性的，而是变成了碱性。

Technically, pH is a measure of the hydrogen ion concentration in solution. The pH scale runs from 0-14. Neutral pH is 7.0. The higher the pH (greater than 7) the more alkaline or basic, while a pH lower than 7 is acidic.

The range goes from 0 - 14, with 7 being neutral. pHs of less than 7 indicate acidity, whereas a pH of greater than 7 indicates a base. pH is really a measure of the relative amount of free hydrogen and hydroxyl ions in the water. Water that has more free hydrogen ions is acidic, whereas water that has more free hydroxyl ions is basic.

The hydroxyl ion acts as an antioxidant in the body. It reduces harmful radicals that destroy tissues and DNA, protecting you from premature aging and the development of degenerative diseases.

从技术上讲，pH 值是溶液中氢离子浓度的量度。  pH 值范围为 0-14。 中性 pH 值为 7.0。  pH 值越高（大于 7），碱性或碱性越强，而 pH 值低于 7 则是酸性的。

 范围从 0 到 14，其中 7 为中性。  pH 值小于 7 表示酸性，而 pH 值大于 7 表示碱性。  pH 值实际上是衡量水中游离氢和氢氧根离子相对量的指标。 含有更多游离氢离子的水是酸性的，而含有更多游离氢氧根离子的水是碱性的。

 羟基离子在体内起到抗氧化剂的作用。 它减少了破坏组织和 DNA 的有害自由基，保护您免于过早衰老和退化性疾病的发展。