An apple a day may keep the doctor away…but a new study also indicates that some baking soda each day may keep the arthritis at bay.
As we have posted previously, baking soda is often touted for its many uses from household cleaning to dental care and more.
Now, treating rheumatoid arthritis (RA) may be added to its ever-growing list of purposes.
It is important for your overall health to maintain proper pH balance in your body. An environment that’s too alkaline or too acidic can result in a wide array of health problems and negative physical symptoms.
Experts say baking soda can help alkalize a too-acidic environment in the body. Many holistic and naturopathic doctors, as well as nutritionists, health-coaches, and dietitians stress the fact that an alkaline body environment is better than an acidic one – and while that’s true in general, it’s important to note that being too far at either end of the spectrum can result in medical woes.
Late last month, the Journal of Immunology published a study, which concluded that drinking water mixed with baking soda cold possibly reduce someone’s chances of getting illnesses such as RA and Lupus.
Some of you may recall from previous posts that both are autoimmune diseases.
Paul O’Connor, PhD., an associate professor and director of the physiology graduate program at Augusta University in Georgia who was the lead author of the study, introduced baking soda to two cases of test subjects. These tests subjects included both healthy humans and rats.
After two weeks of drinking the baking soda and water mixture, scientists found that their immune cells (macrophages) appeared to change jobs.
The macrophages began to focus on reducing inflammation instead of promoting it. The immune system usually promotes inflammation to fight against pathogens, true or perceived.
Essentially, the baking soda acted in a way to naturally stimulate, or “turn on”, the macrophages anti-inflammatory response. Illnesses such as rheumatoid arthritis could benefit from these anti-inflammatory properties.
How baking soda works
Baking soda is actually sodium bicarbonate and should not be confused with baking powder. Anyway, baking soda basically tells the body to calm down its autoimmune response. Instead, it helps to strengthen the anti-inflammatory response.
So, cells from the spleen and stomach can tell a faulty immune system that there’s likely no need to turn itself on and attack. The baking soda seemed to alert macrophages and mesothelial cells that the body wasn’t under actual attack.
There’s more scientific evidence, but I won’t bore you with it.
Inexpensive solution
This could be an inexpensive, safe, accessible way to treat conditions such as RA and other autoimmune diseases. Buy some pH strips from your pharmacy, to see if you are too alkaline; pH way above 8. Or, you may want to check with your doctor before starting such a regimen.
“It’s potentially a really safe way to treatinflammatorydiseases”, states O’Connor.
That’s not all it has been shown to do, either.
Baking soda has also been used to treat acid reflux. It’s even been studied as a way to potentially help prevent certain forms of cancer.
I drink my baking soda and water mixture with some lemon juice in the morning, and add apple cider vinegar, instead of lemon juice, to the mixture in the evening.
Try it.
That’s it for now; see you all the next time.
