Biochemical Profiling – Understanding Your Unique Biochemistry, Beyond pH

BY: DR. TORY JACKSON and DR. MELINA ROBERTS

We are happy to now offer ‘Biochemical Profiling’ in our clinic!

‘Biochemical Profiling’ applies basic scientific measurements and simple tools to observe physiology through the body’s own natural feedback mechanisms in order to dynamically manage health.

Simple, non-invasive tests performed by the Doctor/technician are used to gather information about your unique health picture through routine urinalysis, pH, conductivity and specific gravity for both saliva and urine. ‘Vital’ measurements such as blood pressure, heart rate and respiration rate are also collected.

This testing gives us an accurate idea of a person’s biological individuality. What is good for one person may not be good for another.  This testing involves taking a number of specific biochemical measurements to get your unique biochemical profile.  pH is part of the testing, but this testing goes beyond pH.  We are aiming to correct core fundamental imbalances that are occurring in the physical body.

This testing tells us about the biological terrain of the tissues.  We can figure out if your tissues are holding acidity or effectively moving acidity out of the body. We can figure out if you have a fast or slow oxidizer. We can figure out what does YOUR body use as a preferable fuel, glucose or fats, then we can know which foods you should be eating for optimal metabolism. We can find out about the fatty acid versus sterols balance in the body.

pH (potential hydrogen) is one of the most important biochemical balances in all of the human body chemistry. Every enzyme has an optimal pH range. Hormones and their receptors have optimal pH range. pH controls the speed of our body’s biochemical reactions, by controlling the speed of enzyme activity as well as the speed that electricity moves through our body. All biochemical reactions and electrical energy are under the control of pH. pH levels in the body are directly related to the foods we eat. If pH is out of balance then microbes in the blood can change shape, mutate, become pathogenic; enzymes that are constructive can become destructive; oxygen delivery to cells can suffer; organs of the body can become compromised; mineral assimilation can get thrown off.

The pH fallacy is that all health issues would be resolved if we were all alkaline. The problem is that excess alkalinity can be just as harmful as excess acidity, hence being alkaline is not the solution to all health issues, balance in the solution within a finite range.  All physiological systems in the body maintain homeostasis through physiological feedback mechanisms.

There are a number of buffering or feedback mechanisms that work to keep fluid in the body within small specific pH ranges. For example, blood has a buffering mechanism to regulate the pH in a 7.4 zone. Even small subtle changes in urine and saliva pH can make the largest difference in test interpretation and treatments.

Due to the buffering mechanisms you need to look at more than one biochemical parameter to understand what is occurring in the system.  For example the blood may be alkaline, which may seem ideal, but that may mean that the body cannot get rid of the acidity so it stores the acidity to the extra-cellular matrix of the tissues therefore in actual fact the acidity is being held in the tissues which is problematic. Another example is that the urine may be acid, which may seem problematic, but this may indicate that the body is moving acidity out of the body, which can be a good thing.

One of the tests we conduct is specific gravity of the urine and saliva.Specific gravity measures amount of minerals in a solution.

Another test we conduct is conductivity of the urine and saliva. Conductivity measure the flow of electrons or electricity in the body. High conductivity in urine or saliva suggests excess electrical load, which reflects potential increasing oxidation processes.

Body mineral content and balance controls the quantity of electricity in the body. The speed at which electricity flows is controlled by pH.

These measurements allow us to determine if the body is in a state ofelectrolyte stress or electrolyte insufficiency, if they are in a catabolic oranabolic state, if they are a fast oxidizer or a slow oxidizer and if you areacidosis or alkalosis.

Electrolyte stress is having excess electrolytes in the blood compartment. This can lead to high blood pressure, increased pulse, thicker blood, decreased toxin elimination, decreased nutrient absorption, inefficient transport of oxygen, nutrients, hormones and other materials to the cells. From a clinical perspective this is often evaluated as heart disease.

Electrolyte insufficiency is the state of having too few electrolytes in the blood compartment.  This can lead to low blood pressure, lowered pulse, low energy, depression/anxiety. This can occur due to inadequate mineral quality in foods, or inadequate absorption due to poor digestion including inadequate HCl production, pancreatic efficiency, bile movement and imbalances in gut flora.

Our body has a 24hr circadian rhythm. At night our body goes into an anabolic state where we rebuild. During the day we shift into catabolic state where we break things down. With the wrong dietary intake for our biological individuality we can alter or lose our ability to move easily back and forth through these states. The key to which way it goes rests directly with the dietary intake of most specifically fats. Therefore the amount of fats consumed and the type of fats consumed can affect this balance.

Cell membranes are composed of lipids with opposing charges, negatively charged fatty acids and positively charged sterols. It is the balance of these opposing lipids that determines proper membrane permeability.

Dysaerobic or catabolic is caused by an imbalance of cell membrane lipid components (fatty acid dominance) which influence membrane permeability and lead to a high cellular permeability. This state creates too permeable a membrane which interferes with cellular/tissue mineral balance.  This can lead to lower blood volume which makes the blood more sticky, diarrhea, low heart rate, low blood pressure, rapid aging, skin issues, digestive issues, cardiovascular disease.

Anaerobic or anabolic is caused by an imbalance of cell membrane lipid components (sterol dominance) and leads to low cellular permeability. This state creates less permeable a membrane which interferes with cellular/tissue mineral balance. Less oxygen is taken inside the cells for energy production. This can lead to viral/bacteria overgrowths, chronic fatigue, deep sleep but do not feel rejuvenated in the morning, constipation, frequent urination, increased heart rate, increased blood pressure, seizures, cancer.

This testing can determine what metabolic type you are.  There are people who are fast oxidizers and those that are slow oxidizers.

Fast oxidizers are glucogenic therefore their metabolism is predisposed to burn glucose or carbohydrates over fats.

Slow oxidizers are ketogenic therefore their metabolism is predisposed to burn fat over glucose or carbohydrates.

This testing can also determine is a patient is overly acidic or overly basic.

Acidosis is the abnormal presence of low pH, overly acidic.

Alkalosis is the abnormal presence of high pH, overly basic.

Each body is a unique electrical and biological flow system allowing the energy of life to move through blood, tissue and every cell in your body due to the movement of protons and electrons.

Using this information, your Doctor will recommend specific biological support to reestablish and strengthen the body’s adaptive capacity and encourage the innate self-healing process.