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Misleading food remedies to fight coronavirus

May 01, 2020 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,

Texts and emails are flooding social media about home food and beverage consumption as potential remedies to tackle the coronavirus. No one knows for sure what works, but one could try anything that is not potentially harmful to health. However, people must be circumspect, as some information can be misleading.
For example, one bit of advice suggests that the virus does not survive in high PH (potential hydrogen) values (alkaline). Thus, one is advised to consume foods or drinks with high PH values. It is not scientifically proven that consuming high PH goods successfully fight off the coronavirus. In general, high PH foods are good, but there must be a balance.
Anyone who studies chemistry or even biology would know about PH values. Guyanese Chemists should have been in the forefront to discuss this issue to guide people on health. I studied Bio-Chemistry (pre-med requisite with intention of going on in medicine) for my undergraduate degree before pursuing post grad (and doctoral) studies in the social sciences and educational administration. I also taught Chemistry, Biology, Physics, hygiene, nutrition, and health education, and worked in a Bio-Chem lab for several years. So I know about a little about PH, etc.
PH tests the acidity and base or alkalinity of products. A PH of about 7.0 or even up to 7.5 is considered neutral (good either way). The PH goes up to 14 (very difficult to stomach). The lower the value, the more acidic is the product. The higher the value, the more alkaline or base it is.
Any value less than 7.0 is considered acidic (like acids, vinegar, etc.). A PH of 1 is unbearable to consume unless diluted. Any value higher than 7.0 is considered to be basic or alkaline. Soapy products are alkaline; the virus dies in soaps, and that is why it is recommended that we wash out hands regularly with (frothy) soaps. So alkalinity does damage the virus.
Water’s PH is around 7.0 which is excellent for the body; some people ionize water to give it higher PH of between 8 and 9. Ionized water is good but costly.
A list of juices making rounds in social media gives incorrect alkalinity. For example, lemon, lime, tangerine, pineapple, mango, and orange juices are listed as 9.9, 8.2, 8.5, 12.7, 8.7, and 9.2 respectively. These values are not correct.
During studies for my degree in Biochemistry, some forty years ago, a required laboratory course was to analyze PH values of various juices and foods. Almost all juices are acidic and are generally not advised for diabetics, except in small quantities. Almost all oils are alkaline.
The approximate PH values for above juices are 2.2, 1.8, 2.5, 3.1, 4.0, and 3.3 respectively. They are very high in sugar; the body bio-chemically process juices (and all starches) into sugar that can be dangerous to a diabetic patient. Mango is very high in sugar content, but has healthy fibre as do some other fruits.
Some relatively high PH value (healthy) foods are avocadoes, watermelon, sweet potatoes, squash or loukie, milk, eggs, baigan, roti (high sugar), butter, beans (like dhal or channa or black eye), rice (high sugar), saijan, ochro or bindhi, kareila, various bhajis (chowrai, poi, saijan, etc), among others.
Tea has a high PH value of 7.2 – that is a good liquid to drink (warm) to tackle the virus. People should consume warm water or tea throughout the course of the day – very good for health.
Most importantly, one should double check information with health officials (doctors, scientists, nutritionists) or with others who experimented already with proven homemade remedies. So far, citrus peel (high alkalinity) boiled water seems to be working to ward off virus (but not scientifically proven). Neem, tulsi, kareila leaves boiled water (consumed raw better – no harm done to body) seem to be lowering blood sugar as per my experience. But these have to be tested scientifically; chemists and biologists at UG need to do some research on above.
Yours truly,
Dr. Vishnu Bisram

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