[fuulknotion]

Just to inform the forum off the bat, I haven’t dealt with chemistry since my college General Chemistry course in the 1980’s. Forewarned, meaning I know enough to appear foolish.

I’m trying to research the effects of Sodium Acetate has on Lactic Acid. Actually I’m studying vinegar’s effect on muscle tension/fatigue (sore muscles caused by Lactic and Pyroracemic Acid) as well its effect on the body’s ph levels.

To provide the forum some direction on my inquiry, I’m an amateur practitioner of TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine), and traditionally all their herbal treatments are made from sake or vodka. In one of my books, Tom Bisio’s “A Tooth from the Tiger’s Mouth,” makes the suggestion that adding vinegar may aid in treating certain conditions; (by softening spasms in the muscle and tendon, and “smooth out” the flow of energy through the injured area). Having a chronic history of suffering severe calf muscle cramps I took notice of this suggestion. In researching I’ve turned up an interesting article on Naturodoc.com by Shomatsu Osada called “Vinegar for Life.” http://www.naturodoc.com/library/lifestyle/umeboshi_vinegar.htm.   He explains vinegar’s action on sore muscles and cramps.  I’ve tried adding vinegar to certain treatments to gauge its overall effectiveness and results were very promising but as with crank01’s post “How to Neutralize Vinegar’s Odor” the offensive odor mitigates possible benefits.

Now I’ve tried the forum’s various suggestions, taking one fl oz of vinegar and either adding lemon juice, baking soda or water, I used 9.5 alkaline H20. More on my reasoning for alkaline water shortly. My methodology was put each solution in a bottle, shake each one, and compare the odor to each other and a shaken bottle of 6% vinegar.

I’ve basically ruled out lemon juice, its addition to sufficiently mask the odor would be at portions of potential overwhelming any herbal formula and altering its desiring effects.

The suggestion of diluting with water has promise but forgive me here, I’m weak on understanding the nature of correlation of % of acidity and ph levels, say high (6%) of acidity in vinegar translate to what (high or low)? ph level. Understanding that ph level is also a crucial factor in sore muscles or cramps I’m postulating the additional alkalinity would/could offset the lowering of acidity. I would like to get forum members take on that.

As to Sodium Acetate, my research has shown some feel ingesting baking soda water has positive effects on improving muscle function so I’m assuming muscle function could benefit from Sodium Acetate too. But how? Would Sodium Acetate negate my original intent of relieving muscle cramps and tension? Or would it improve it or just slightly diminish? Could the increase of sodium be detrimental to individuals with high blood pressure or other medical issues related to sodium levels in the body or can Sodium Acetate be toxic to the body in any other ways? I’m currently testing on myself with soaked towels of Sodium Acetate whenever I get a case of calf cramps or general sore muscles/muscle fatigue but if anyone could provide a layman’s explanation that I can relay to individuals I treat would be much appreciated.

Finally, during my odor comparison test I observed that after numerous of times of shaking the bottle of vinegar the odor seemed to weaken. Don’t know if due to the possibility of my nose becoming desensitized or an actual weakening of the odor. This led me to the notion of carbonation. By shaking the vinegar have I unwittingly created an action along the lines of reducing carbonation in soda by stirring it with a fork in a glass? In doing so have I altered the compound Acetic Acid or changed its strength (% of acidity)? I don’t have means of measuring % of acidity to verify myself.

Thank you for any help you may provide. fuulknotion