H Level of Apple Cider Vinegar: Is ACV Acid or Base? Apple cider vinegar is a trendy health food product that has a reputation canning with apple cider vinegar being inexpensive, practical, and an effective treatment for many common ailments.

It has a long history of being used in traditional and alternative medicines and can be found in many households worldwide. What exactly is apple cider vinegar? And, what are the true health benefits of this cure-all product? Apple cider vinegar is made by pressing and crushing fresh apples. The high-sugar juice is then fermented using yeast and bacteria, which naturally changes the sugar into alcohol.

The alcoholic juice is then fermented again, using a bacteria that creates acetic acid. This creates the sour-tasting apple cider vinegar that we buy in stores. If acetic acid is created during the production process, is apple cider vinegar acidic? What do we mean when we talk about pH levels in food and the body? When we talk about pH, we are referring to a 14-point scale that represents the free hydrogen ions in food, or our body.

A food product with a pH of 14 is considered to be basic, while anything with a low pH is considered acidic. A pH of about 7 is considered neutral. How Does pH in Foods Impact Your Health? Our body’s internal regulatory systems are highly sophisticated and tightly controlled. Our kidneys, lungs, and other buffering agents in our body, work closely together to ensure that the acid-base range, or pH, of our blood remains balanced at all times.

In general, what we eat does not affect the acidity of our blood, unless there is an underlying medical problem. And since blood pH is difficult to test, we cannot continuously monitor the impacts of our diet directly on blood pH. You may, however, see a change in the pH levels of your urine, as this is much more likely to be impacted by your diet, and is also much easier to test. Eating a heavily acidic or alkaline diet will likely cause an output of urine that has a similar pH. The standard pH of urine is between 4. Medications, medical conditions, and the time of day the urine is tested can all impact acidity levels. Therefore, it is important to keep in mind that your food or supplement intake isn’t the only factor contributing to changes in body pH.