Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!convex!texsun!texbell!bellcore!roy!ephs
From: ephs@roy..bellcore.com (Barbara Chalfonte)
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: The pH of saliva
Message-ID: <18383@bellcore.bellcore.com>
Date: 28 Nov 89 18:54:04 GMT
Sender: news@bellcore.bellcore.com
Reply-To: ephs@thumper.bellcore.com (Barb Chalfonte)
Organization: Bellcore MRE
Lines: 22


We have a _raging_ controversy here that standard sources of information have
failed to resolve.  Is saliva basic or acidic?  I thought acidic, in keeping
in line with the rest of the GI tract, my office-mate thought basic, being
the exception to the GI tract.  So which is it?  Having looked at several
standard dictionaries, medical dictionaries, and encyclopedias, the
conclusion is still unresolved:  some say mildly alkaline, others say
alkaline in reaction, and others say mildly acidic (pH=6.8).  Mostly these
sources just don't say.  Our stockroom doesn't cater to such nonsense and
thus has no litmus paper.

What's the real story?????


Barb Chalfonte
Bellcore MRE 2D-292
445 South Street
Morristown, NJ  07960
email: ephs@thumper.bellcore.com

PS:  The lucky winner with the definitive answer gets to find out _why_
anyone in telecomm & computer research would want to know this...


Brought to you by Super Global Mega Corp .com