• MissJinx@lemmy.world
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    5 hours ago

    The best way to remain beautiful your whole life is being born in a family of (white) millionaires, remain a millionaire through inheritance and by working on your family’s cushy business without ever having to worry about nothing for not even a second of your life and also having access and being able to aford the most modern and technological advancements in beauty. If that is not enough and you still feel time is getting close you can create your own fake science and get even more money (maybe that helps?)

  • 58008@lemmy.world
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    10 hours ago

    Is there a consensus view on whether or not Gwyneth is a genuine numbnut or is just cynically exploiting people who are?

  • Plurrbear@lemmy.world
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    9 hours ago

    GOOP = What your brain is made of if you support or buy these “products”.

    She’s just another GRIFTER!

  • zout@fedia.io
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    16 hours ago

    Alkaline water won’t be alkaline for long after it enters the stomach, so it doesn’t really matter

    • realitista@lemmus.org
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      14 hours ago

      Alkaline water does have a place for LPR sufferers like me because it deactivates the pepsin that has vaporized and deposited itself in my esophagus and throat which when activated by acidic foods will begin to digest my soft tissues. The rest of ways to sell it I agree are completely bunk.

      • Infamousblt [any]@hexbear.net
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        14 hours ago

        This is true for most fad health things. They come from a place of “this is good for one hyper specific medical outcome” and then extrapolate to “this is good for literally all medical outcomes”

        • nondescripthandle@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          14 hours ago

          Remember the gluten free phase where people with no gluten alergy whatsoever decided they wanted to eat breads stripped of most of their protien(gluten) because they thought it was healthier.

          • graymess [he/him]@hexbear.net
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            12 hours ago

            That’s still unbelievably common where I live. Some restaurants will have zero vegan options, but you can be sure they’ll offer half a dozen clearly marked gluten free items. Come on, you can’t spare the overhead for a block of tofu, but you can keep gluten free breads and pastas?

            • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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              6 hours ago

              I’m curious if it’s just additional labeling or new options? Are they just labeling things they already served as gluten free that didn’t have wheat, or are they making new options specifically designed to avoid gluten?

            • Instigate@aussie.zone
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              8 hours ago

              Can I just say though, as someone who does have diagnosed Coeliac Disease, the gluten free fad really helped to open up my options both for products to buy and restaurants I can eat at and for that I’m thankful. It does suck that there aren’t more/better vegetarian and vegan options at mainstream restaurants though.

              • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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                6 hours ago

                I don’t know how common this is, but I’ve heard the opposite sentiment. It caused a lot of restaurants to stop being careful to ensure there was no cross contamination because most people asking for gluten free foods didn’t actually have an issue with eating it.

                • Instigate@aussie.zone
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                  5 hours ago

                  Yeah I’ve heard that a fair bit too - thankfully I’m a high-tolerance Coeliac meaning my body can handle very small amounts of cross contamination but for those whose bodies can’t process a single iota of gluten this has become a significant issue for them. I find that when I order gluten free a lot of servers will ask me “is that for preference or are you Coeliac” and that gives me confidence that when I tell them I’m Coeliac they’ll take extra precautions.

          • Wren@lemmy.today
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            12 hours ago

            The whole gluten thing is pretty interesting.

            Low carb diets led to commercial production on non-wheat breads in the western world, creating more options for people with celiacs and increasing public awareness of gluten allergies. With more bread options some people noticed they felt better after chowing non-wheat bread.

            Without a lot of health info and bullshit american healthcare, they figured they had gluten allergies or celiacs and adjusted their diet accordingly.

            A widely publicized study on non-celiacs gluten allergies found no gluten allergy, media took it out of context and implied those people were full of shit. This polarized the public against anyone claiming a gluten allergy.

            But! More and more people self-diagnosed gluten allergies, and more study led to discoveries on how fermentation helps digestion (like with sourdough), that parts of grains contain enzymes that aid digestion, found industry-wide problems with undercooked grains, and allergies to different classes of grains.

            So it was healthier for a lot of people, they just didn’t know why.

            • OhVenus_Baby@lemmy.ml
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              2 hours ago

              Being gluten free is a nightmare because of the stigmatism from the gluten free movement and all of those idiots fadding. Sincerally a gluten allergy sufferer well not so much an allergy as much as a immune system disease.

            • nondescripthandle@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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              11 hours ago

              I have a very high family risk of diabetes and my rule of thum for carbs has always been the more fiber the better. White breads, especially wonder bread has so little fiber you’re basically just eating fluffy sugars. I’m no doctor and my body isn’t everyone’s body but If someone was asking me why bread messes with them my first question will always be, well how much fiber are in the bread you eat? Less then or equal to 10g carbs per 1g fiber? Alright. If you can get to 7:1 better. If you can crack 5:1, that’s pretty good for bread.

              • Wren@lemmy.today
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                11 hours ago

                That’s a great point, too. Our digestive systems didn’t evolve as fast as food processing.

                I researched the gluten thing because I was a chef around the time it took off in my part of the world, and almost had to fire a line cook when he flat out refused to follow protcol because of the gluten study.

                I wasn’t super on board at the time, but now I think we should just listen to people. They know their bodies even if they don’t understand the mechanisms.

      • zout@fedia.io
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        11 hours ago

        TIL, thank you. It indeed makes perfect sense that it would help for this.

        • realitista@lemmus.org
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          7 hours ago

          No but I will take a look, thanks! Always pursuing any lead on this particular issue ;-).

          Edit: took a look, looks like pretty serious stuff, any side effects?

          • SoleInvictus@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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            6 hours ago

            The biggest initial issue for many is that it’s pretty sedating, but that lessens with time. I slept like the dead for the first three weeks as baclofen is one of the few drugs that increases the frequency and duration of deep sleep. Now I can take 100 milligrams in a day and not feel a thing. I have literally no side effects.

            One downside is sudden cessation is hell. If I miss an entire day, my anxiety gradually increases until it’s through the roof until I start taking it again. Two days results in gradually increasing visual hallucinations. All of this completely reverses within an hour of taking a dose. You must taper off this stuff, but doing it isn’t hard at all. Just don’t go cold turkey.

            It’s also a medication that people tend not to grow resistant to. It hasn’t lost any effectiveness for me despite having taken 60-80mg/day for almost two decades.

            I used to have constant burning throat pain and the taste of stomach contents. Not anymore! It reduces the frequency of transient lower esophageal sphincter (LES) relaxation and increases its resting tone. Here’s a relevant paper for anyone interested:

            https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9981648/

            Bonus: 20 mg for non-users will halt hiccups but will likely also sedate them pretty hard. 10-20 mg will prevent MDMA hyperthermia.

    • Klear@quokk.au
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      16 hours ago

      So I said, blue M&M, red M&M, they all wind up the same colour in the end.

      - Homer Simpson

      • zout@fedia.io
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        15 hours ago

        Better for the teeth than pH neutral? Nope. For heartburn it might help, but only for a real short time. Non-fat milk would probably be the better choice.

    • kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world
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      15 hours ago

      I believe the intended purpose is to reduce the overall acidity of your body, which it will do (negligibly, maybe even immeasuably). Your stomach acid will compensate regardless, but, in doing so, it uses acidic compounds in the process to do so. Whether that is even beneficial in general is debatable at best, though likely not. But mixing in other acids does negate at least some of the alkalinity, which would defeat the entire point, if there is any effect from it.

      Edit: Clarified my position a bit. I’m not suggesting that alkaline water is effective at doing anything at all, nor even that its intended purpose would be a health benefit.

      • bjorney@lemmy.ca
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        15 hours ago

        Stomach acid is like 10,000,000x more acidic than most alkaline water is basic. Dilution is probably doing an order of magnitude more work than the hydroxide here (meaning just drink more tap water)

        • kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world
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          14 hours ago

          I didnt say it would make a significant or even measurable difference. But it will technically drop your overall pH. If I drop any mass of basic material in any volume of acidic material with which it can react, there will be some net change in acidity, even if negligible.

  • public_image_ltd@lemmy.world
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    10 hours ago

    Sorry to disappoint y’all. This is actually not so dumb. Chemically she makes a buffer solution.

    How a Buffer Solution Works: Example with Baking Soda and Citric Acid

    A buffer solution is a system that resists changes in pH when small amounts of acids or bases are added. Buffers are essential in chemistry and biology because many processes require a stable pH.

    How Buffer Solutions Work

    A buffer usually consists of a weak acid and its corresponding conjugate base (or a weak base and its conjugate acid). When an acidic or basic substance is introduced, the buffer reacts to neutralize the added ions, thus stabilizing the pH.

    • When an acid (H⁺) is added, the buffer’s base component reacts with it, “soaking up” the excess H⁺ ions.
    • When a base (OH⁻) is added, the acid part of the buffer reacts with it, neutralizing the excess OH⁻ ions.

    The ability of a buffer to do this depends on the presence of both a weak acid and its conjugate base in appreciable amounts.

    Buffer Example: Baking Soda (Sodium Bicarbonate) and Citric Acid

    Ingredients Involved

    • Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate, NaHCO₃): A weak base that can act as a proton acceptor.
    • Citric acid (C₆H₈O₇): A weak acid, commonly found in citrus fruits.

    When these two substances are dissolved in water, they interact according to the following reaction:

    $$ \text{C}_6\text{H}_8\text{O}_7 + \text{NaHCO}_3 \rightarrow \text{C}_6\text{H}_7\text{O}_7^- + \text{Na}^+ + \text{H}_2\text{O} + \text{CO}_2\uparrow $$

    This reaction creates a mixture containing both citric acid (weak acid) and its conjugate base (citrate ion).

    How This Buffer System Functions

    • If an acid is added to the solution (increasing H⁺), the citrate ion (Citrat-Anion) from the reaction will bind to the excess H⁺, lessening the pH shift.
    • If a base is added (increasing OH⁻), the leftover citric acid will release H⁺, which neutralizes the OH⁻, keeping the pH stable.

    Key Point:
    This buffer is only effective within a certain pH range, which in this case is close to the pKa value of citric acid (around 3-7 depending on which proton is being lost, as citric acid is a triprotic acid).

    Summary Table

    Component Role Action if acid is added Action if base is added
    Citric acid (C₆H₈O₇) Weak acid Conjugate base absorbs H⁺ Releases more H⁺ to neutralize OH⁻
    Sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO₃) Weak base (forms buffer) Provides conjugate base (citrate ion) Provides weak acid (citric acid)

    This mixture resists pH changes thanks to the reversible interplay between the weak acid (citric acid) and its conjugate base (citrate ion), demonstrating the core principle of buffer solutions.

    • kadu@scribe.disroot.org
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      5 hours ago

      Alkaline water plus citric acid does not make a buffer solution. And even if it did, it has absolutely no impact on your body when drinking it regardless.

      If I wanted an AI answer I could’ve used the shitty website myself, why do you think anybody would be interested in your poorly formatted AI output?

    • Dave2@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      8 hours ago

      Stomach acid is much more acidic for this buffer to function and even then you shouldn’t need anything of this sort, well, unless your body fails to regulate it’s own secretions (in that case, go to a doctor for gods sake!) At most this would provide you with some nutrients and minerals.

      • Agent641@lemmy.world
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        6 hours ago

        To be fair the top commenter is just explaining what a buffer solution is, and why “adding lemon to alkaline water” isn’t just creating a neutral pH saltwater. They aren’t justifying it’s use as a healthy tonic or anything. I learned something from the comment.

    • undergroundoverground@lemmy.world
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      8 hours ago

      The point isn’t the apparent health benefits of applying the worlds mildest buffer to a ph 2 solution, it’s that it’s the sales equivalent of dehydrationmonoxide.

    • OldChicoAle@lemmy.world
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      9 hours ago

      Do these kinds of buffers have health benefits? Why is it good to drink water that has buffering capacity?

          • dubyakay@lemmy.ca
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            4 hours ago

            It’s not dumb in the sense that water that is not alkaline is not the same as water that is alkaline with some added acid.

            In Eastern Europe the soft drink created by mixing sodium bicarbonate into water and then adding a tea spoon of lemon juice or vinegar to it was an oft used refreshment before the 80s.

        • FauxLiving@lemmy.world
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          9 hours ago

          All of that fancy chemistry goes out the window because your stomach is full of a strong acid which completely obliterates the buffer solution.

          • dubyakay@lemmy.ca
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            4 hours ago

            Mixing sodium bicarbonate into water, even with just a teaspoon of acid like vinegar or lemon juice added, is still a good antacid.

  • Feyd@programming.dev
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    16 hours ago

    Not defending pseudoscientific health regimens, but the acid in “a spritz of lemon” doesn’t neutralize an arbitrary amount of alkalinity

    • OmnipotentEntity@beehaw.org
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      29 minutes ago

      It turns out, that for the values we are talking about here, it actually more or less does! A lemon has a pH of around 2.5, while “Flow” has an advertised pH of 8.1. This means roughly that to neutralize 1L of this water you need approximately 0.4mL of lemon juice or about 8 drops/half a gram. It’s hard to tell how much a “spritz” is intended to be, but a single lemon contains about 60mL of juice, so this represents about 0.67% of the total juice inside.

      It’s a surprising consequence of using a logarithmic scale for pH.

    • kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world
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      15 hours ago

      No, but it does reveal a distinct lack of understanding on her her part as to what these pseudoscientific health products even are that are supposedly doing things for her. Like saying “I always drink decaf coffee and pop a shot of 5 hour energy in the morning.” “I drink skim milk with a splash of double cream.” “I love honey on my keto toast.” Like, even if it’s not enough acidity to completely negate the alkalinity, it’s literally antithetical to the supposed goal.

    • Carrolade@lemmy.world
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      15 hours ago

      I think it was Angela Collier that did a pretty basic test with a common store bought alkaline water, a lemon and some test strips. The water doesn’t start very alkaline at all.

      edit: Yep, here we go. https://youtu.be/rBQhdO2UxaQ

      It’s an amusing video.

      • Ephera@lemmy.ml
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        12 hours ago

        She did the math (with some assumptions), but basically 0.25 mL of lemon juice will turn 500 mL of alkaline water into neutral water:

        This is in the video at 13:16.

        The reason is that pH is a logarithmic scale. Alkaline water has a pH of about 8, which means it has a tenth of the hydrogen ions compared to neutral water at pH 7.
        Lemon juice has a pH value of 2, which is 1,000,000 times more hydrogen ions than there are in pH 8. So, you just need a little bit of lemon juice to increase the hydrogen ions in alkaline water tenfold, which makes it neutral.

        • Lvxferre [he/him]@mander.xyz
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          12 hours ago

          0.25 mL of lemon juice is probably too much already.

          She’s doing the maths for the concentration of citric acid in lemon juice through the formula C(acid) = 10^(-pH). That works fine for a strong acid, because you can be pretty sure all that acid in the solution is dissociated, and thus lowering its pH… but citric acid is weak - and weak acids don’t dissociate properly in already acidic conditions.

          This means there’s probably way more acid in that solution than the pH makes you believe, but that acid will react once you raise the pH, by mixing the lemon juice into the water.

          (I don’t blame her for using the strong acid maths. It’s already enough to convey her point, plus the maths for weak acids is a bloody pain.)

      • tburkhol@lemmy.world
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        14 hours ago

        That girl can rant. Love her work, but always watch it at 2x to maximize the frustrated-teacher vibe.

      • inconel@lemmy.ca
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        7 hours ago

        Even regular neutral water shifts to slightly acidic (5.6) as long as it has contact to air (CO2 dissolving). Would be interesting to know how long those store bought alkaline water becomes base or acidic.

    • AHemlocksLie@lemmy.zip
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      15 hours ago

      True, but your body will not enjoy water that’s very alkaline, so there’s a chance it’s sufficient since lemon is pretty acidic.

      Plus, if the whole point of it is to be alkaline, why directly counter that with what you add?

      • Ephera@lemmy.ml
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        15 hours ago

        The body doesn’t care much about alkaline water, since the stomach acid is so acidic that it will easily overpower it…

        • AHemlocksLie@lemmy.zip
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          14 hours ago

          That’s only after your mouth and esophagus. Those aren’t really geared to tolerate exposure to strong acids or bases. Even foods that aren’t acidic enough to immediately damage these regions can still contribute to tooth enamel being worn away, for example. It’s either strong enough to at least consider the impact on those, or it’s weak enough that adding lemon is a questionable move.

          • Ephera@lemmy.ml
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            12 hours ago

            Alright, yeah, we’re talking about a pH value of around 8 for alkaline water. That’s also the pH value for eggs, sea water or blood. So, I do imagine our mouth+esophagus can deal with that. At the very least, alkaline water should be food-safe.

  • IngeniousRocks (They/She) @lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    9 hours ago

    Just an aside, you can make Alkaline lemon water.

    It do it:

    1. Peel a lemon using a vegetable peeler
    2. Squeeze the bits of peel (pith side up) into a glass or bottle. This allows you to express the oils from the peel.
    3. Add your Alkaline water to the Glass, the oils will rise to the top, some of it (very little as oils are hydrophobic) will mix with the water, giving it a lemon flavor similar to lacroix.
  • LeeeroooyJeeenkiiins [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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    13 hours ago

    Unrelated but they put out water at my work that’s like just tap water sitting in a dispenser that they’ll sometimes slice like, a couple oranges or lemons or cucumbers into. It adds no flavor and just wastes the fruit or cucumbers

  • FartsWithAnAccent@fedia.io
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    16 hours ago

    Paltrow is full of shit broadly speaking of course, but she may be accidentally (technically) onto something here: A more ph neutral drink would be a little better for your teeth compared to one that’s more acidic or basic, wouldn’t it?

  • half_built_pyramids@lemmy.world
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    10 hours ago

    because the body must “grip” the egg to keep it inside the vagina, sellers claim jade egg use also strengthens vaginal muscles.