What is urinary pH?
Urine pH reflects both metabolic activity and overall well-being. In a healthy person, urine pH is 6 (however, normal values can range between 4.5 and 8).
Having a low or high pH can often be related to the risk of suffering from certain conditions.
To measure urinary pH, there are medical devices on the market such as Lit-Control pH Meter, which allows you to measure it from home with laboratory accuracy.
How does urinary pH affect pregnant women?
Pregnant women experience many changes in their bodies (physical and functional) during gestation. Many of these changes occur in the urinary tract: bladder volume increases, bladder and urethral tone decrease, urine pH increases, urinary evacuation slows down, vesicoureteral reflux increases, and urinary secretion of glucose and estrogens increases.(1)
This change in urinary pH acidity makes pregnant women more prone to urinary infections because bacterial proliferation is higher in an alkaline environment (between 5% and 10% of pregnant women will develop urinary infections). In addition, it also affects women prone to developing kidney stones, who will be more likely to form them during pregnancy and experience episodes of renal colic (although these do not usually pose risks to the baby, hospitalization of the mother is often necessary to treat the pain).
What preventive measures can be taken?
To prevent the aforementioned pathologies, it is important to:
-Maintain a preventive pH range between 5.5 and 6.2, which helps to achieve the optimal acidity level to prevent kidney stones and favor environments where bacteria causing urinary tract infections do not proliferate.
-Follow a healthy diet.
-Maintain proper intimate hygiene.
-Drink a minimum of 2L of fluid daily (preferably water).
References used:
1-https://www.natalben.com/enfermedades-relacionadas-con-el-embarazo/infeccion-orina
