Min menu

Pages

Baking Soda Could Be An Inexpensive And Effective Way To Fight Disease, Says Study

Baking Soda Could Be An Inexpensive And Effective Way To Fight Disease, Says Study

Baking soda has always been used as a home remedy because of its healing properties. However, its properties are even larger than those that our ancestors preached. New research has shown that baking soda can be an effective treatment for autoimmune diseases such as arthritis.

Baking soda, also known as sodium bicarbonate, is a staple commonly used as a leavening agent for cakes. It is also a home remedy for various health problems like relieving heartburn, gastric reflux, or even whitening teeth.

A new study
The results of this study were published in the Journal of Immunology, researchers at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University discovered how drinking a baking soda solution can boost the immune system against inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis.

Dr. Paul O'Connor, a renal physiologist at Augusta University, and his colleagues performed tests on the effects of consuming a baking soda solution on rats and then on humans.

The results then showed that sodium bicarbonate emits a signal to a particular type of cell called "mesothelial cells". The information transmitted is that the body is healthy and untouched, making an aggressive immune system unnecessary. Thus, harmful autoimmune responses are avoided.

Baking soda and mesothelial cells

Mesothelial cells lining the internal organs as well as many different cavities in the body. They prevent organs and other internal tissues from sticking to each other.

In this new study, Dr. O'Connor and his team tested the effect of a solution of baking soda on rats. Then they were tested on healthy human participants. They noted that an effect occurs according to an intriguing mechanism.

Baking soda invites the stomach to produce more stomach acid, which allows it to digest food faster and easier. But, in addition to that, it also seems to indicate to the mesothelial cells that are in the spleen to relax, because there is no external threat.

According to Dr. O'Connor, mesothelial cells learn that a food that has just entered the body is not a bacterial infection. Therefore, they do not activate splenic macrophages or white blood cells responsible for eliminating potentially harmful cellular detritus. So, drinking baking soda affects the spleen through the mesothelial cells.

Mesothelial cells communicate with the organs they cover using small projections called microvilli, and the medium through which they send their message is acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter.

From inflammatory to anti-inflammatory

The authors of the Augusta University study note that people who drank the baking soda solution experienced a change in the types of immune cells activated in the spleen. In fact, the number of pro-inflammatory macrophages of the M1 type has decreased, while the level of anti-inflammatory cells of the M2 type has increased.

These same types of cells are also found in the blood and kidneys. This idea prompted researchers in this study to explore the mechanisms by which this substance could help improve kidney function.

Initially, they analyzed the effects of sodium bicarbonate solution on rats with kidney disease and in healthy rats. It was at this point that the researchers noticed that the levels of M1 cells in the kidneys had decreased, while those of the M2 cells had increased. Rats with kidney disease and healthy rats showed similar development. This has highlighted the notion that baking soda could influence the inflammatory response at the cellular level.

Dr. O'Connor explained that switching from an inflammatory pattern to an anti-inflammatory pattern occurs throughout the body, in the kidneys, in the spleen, and in the blood.

A safe way to treat inflammatory diseases?

One of the main revelations of this study is that it is the mesothelial cells that have influenced the anti-inflammatory signals. It has been shown that they communicate directly with the bodies to which they are linked.

Dr. O'Connor and his team became aware of this when they observed that spleen displacement affected the mesothelial cells lining it and that signals modulating the inflammatory response were lost.

These results provide a primary response to the efficacy of baking soda in the treatment of autoimmune diseases, such as arthritis. Further research is needed on these mechanisms to optimize the results obtained with baking soda.
Baking Soda