What is pH of Milk?

As children, all of us were encouraged to drink milk. Drinking milk is considered as an ultimate key to good health. However, drinking milk may not be always desirable for your health. More so, if you ignore certain facts about milk. pH of milk is one such issue that needs to be taken seriously. Balancing pH of foods that you eat is very important, since many diseases and disorders stem from the imbalance of acids and alkalies in our body.

In the pH scale of 1 to 14, acids cover the lower scale between 0 to 7, while bases dominate the higher scale between 7 to 14. A pH of 7 is considered as neutral. Pure rainwater is considered to have a pH of 7. In its purest, form milk is slightly acidic with a pH of 6.7. The milk that we are talking about in this case is cow's milk.

Since, cow's milk is the mostly consumed milk type in the western world, knowing pH of cow's milk is very important. Homogenized milk is most acidic while raw milk is medium acidic. As milk begins to sour, its pH levels fall sharply making it even more acidic.

Certain bacteria named lactobacilli convert the sugars in milk into acids, thereby reducing its pH. Completely sour milk has a pH of about 4.4. On the other hand, there are certain other bacteria which convert the milk components into ammonia products. This process gradually increases the pH of milk, making it alkaline.

Human breast milk is by far considered as the most alkaline milk type. It has a slightly alkaline pH, just above 7. Goat's milk and soy milk are other milk types which fall under the category of low alkaline foods. However, giving goat's milk for infants is not good as it carries certain risks. Electrolyte imbalance is one such health concern associated with drinking goat's milk.

Almost all the milk products have a pH below 7, making them acidic. Buttermilk, cottage cheese are some of the low acidic milk products. Processed milk products have the highest acid content, hence lowest pH amongst all milk products. These foods include processed cheese, ice-creams, etc. Goat cheese is low alkaline with a pH value just above 7.

Milk and water exhibit different nature when acids are added, even though they have a pH range in same scale. When you add acids to water, the pH plummets at a faster rate. On the other hand, reduction in pH level is gradual in case of milk. This is because milk contains certain buffering agents such as caseins and calcium phosphate which slow down the process.

As mentioned above, knowing the pH of foods that you consume is of utmost importance. Milk is often taken as a remedy for acidity. If you do not know the pH value of milk, you might end up taking acidic milk (say homogenized milk) to cure acidity. This will in fact add to the levels of acids already present in your body.

Soy milk or goat's milk would be a better alternative in this case. Knowing the pH of milk products may also help you to cut down your intake of these high acidic foods.

Thus, keeping yourself informed about the pH of milk is extremely necessary to keep acid-base related disorders at bay.