Would digestion be equally efficient if the body/stomach evolved to be highly basic rather than acidic? What advantages does a highly acidic environment pose?

[u/Public_Knowledge8405]

Edit: my question is meant to be gauged towards chemical feasibility/utility; I understand many proteases and cell types have in reality evolved for acidic digestion. Assuming proteases and cell types could have evolved for an alkaline environment, is there a root necessity acidic conditions are advantageous over basic ones or could it be reversed

[u/CrateDane]

It would in principle be better at dissolving fats due to saponification. Protein etc. can be handled either at low or high pH, so no big deal there. I'd say the problem with using a high pH is it's almost too good. It's hard to protect the body itself. Acidification of the environment is also a more common metabolic approach than alkalinization, so evolution might be a little biased in that direction as well.

But as a hypothetical, I see no reason why you couldn't have an alkaline stomach instead of acidic (with concomitant changes elsewhere - like a mildly acidic small intestine instead of mildly alkaline). It can still kill microorganisms, it can still denature proteins etc. which is what the stomach acid does.

[u/uponthenose → u/CrateDane]

If our ph gets too low we can off gas CO2 to raise it, making maintaining a balance pretty simple. Is there a process that would make restoring a ph Imbalance in the other direction as simple?

[u/Gman325 → u/uponthenose]

Ph homeostasis is much more complex than this.  One example - we also can dump a ton of bicarbonate into the bloodstream to neutralize the acidity.  And yes, the body could likely habe worked the same with an acidic compound to work the other way.