Sodium bicarbonate: help with autoimmune diseases?
A daily drink of water and baking soda could be an inexpensive and safe way to fight autoimmune diseases, researchers said in April 2018, adding that the soda drink reduces the destructive inflammatory process that characterizes these diseases.
Sodium bicarbonate is often simply known as baking powder, because it is also used as a leavening agent. Until now, conventional doctors were indignant when naturopathic portals reported on the positive effects of sodium bicarbonate and called it charlatanism.
Sodium bicarbonate could help with inflammatory diseases
Baking soda (Sodium hydrogen carbonate) is used as a leavening agent in some recipes, such as muffins. However, sodium bicarbonate is also an extremely inexpensive and over-the-counter antacid, which means that it neutralizes stomach acid. It is therefore mostly used in Heartburn used. Natron is available in drugstores and also in almost every supermarket. Researchers at the Augusta University in Georgia/USA were able to show in a study that sodium bicarbonate apparently stimulates the spleen to create an anti-inflammatory environment, which would of course be a boon in chronic inflammatory diseases. The results of the study appeared in April 2018 in the Journal of Immunology.
Soda creates an anti-inflammatory environment
If one drinks a sodium bicarbonate solution (e.g. ½ tsp. sodium bicarbonate powder stirred into a glass of water), this leads to a temporary neutralization of the stomach acid. However, the sodium bicarbonate solution not only affects the stomach, but quite obviously also the spleen - an important organ of our immune system - and sends a message to the mesothelial cells of the spleen that an immune response is not necessary. Mesothelial cells line the inside of hollow organs, such as the stomach or intestine. But they also surround the outside of organs to make them slippery and prevent them from rubbing together. Mesothelial cells protect organs in other ways as well. They have tiny finger-shaped protrusions, so-called microvilli, which scan the environment like small sensors and immediately sound the alarm in the event of a threat, thus triggering an immune response, explains Dr. Paul O'Connor, renal physiologist at the Augusta University and author of the study. The conversation between sodium bicarbonate and the mesothelial cells of the spleen takes place with the help of the chemical messenger acetylcholine. The result is an environment that Inflammatory processes inhibits, the researchers report.
After two weeks of sodium bicarbonate solution a different immune system
The spleen normally functions as a blood filter. It sorts out old, damaged and otherwise non-functioning blood cells. Special immune cells (macrophages) are also stored in the spleen. If you now drink water with a little sodium bicarbonate for two weeks, for example, this macrophage population changes - and not only in the spleen, but also in the blood and kidneys. If the so-called M1 macrophages, which promote inflammation, were previously predominant, then their number was suddenly reduced by the sodium bicarbonate, the researchers observed in this study, while the anti-inflammatory M2 macrophages increased in number. Macrophages are known in particular for their ability to dispose of "garbage" in the body. They pick up cellular debris or dead cells, keeping the blood and organs clean. They are also the first immune cells to be on the scene when invaders have entered the body somewhere or for other reasons the Immune system is in demand.
Soda also for weak kidneys
In a study on rats that had been subjected to Hypertension and chronic kidney disease, the animals were given water with sodium bicarbonate. One of the main tasks of the kidneys is to regulate the acid-base balance and also the mineral balance. If the kidneys are diseased and can no longer perform these tasks, then it may be that the pH value of the blood decreases, i.e. becomes acidic and that thereby the Cardiovascular risk and also the Osteoporosis risk increases. Clinical studies had already shown that the daily intake of sodium bicarbonate not only reduces kidney-related Acidification reduce, but also can slow down the kidney disease itself, so that sodium bicarbonate is now used in the therapy of patients with corresponding kidney disease. Also, the slowing of renal insufficiency by the sodium stems from the influence on the immune system (M1 decrease, M2 become the predominant macrophages).
Possible application of sodium bicarbonate: autoimmune diseases
When the sodium bicarbonate water was given to healthy students, the same effect was observed. The distribution of macrophages always changed in such a way that the anti-inflammatory ones suddenly increased and predominated. Other immune cells also changed, e.g. regulatory T cells, which also increased under the influence of sodium bicarbonate. Regulatory T cells suppress autoimmune processes. In other words, they prevent the immune system from attacking the body's own tissue, which could otherwise lead to autoimmune diseases. This effect was observed in human subjects for at least four hours after drinking the soda water. So, basically, sodium bicarbonate doesn't fight anything or add anything, it just provides the body with an anti-inflammatory boost, which in turn helps to regulate and harmonize the immune system. The body moves away from the harmful inflammatory state, so sodium bicarbonate may represent a truly safe (in the sense of having few side effects) way to treat inflammatory diseases, Dr. O'Connor said.
The dosage of sodium bicarbonate to reduce inflammation
If one wants to use sodium bicarbonate therapeutically, one generally drinks a glass of water (at least 120 ml) with about ½ tsp. sodium bicarbonate powder three times a day - preferably outside of meals, if one is not suffering from severe heartburn. This is because neutralization of stomach acid should be avoided before and during meals, since stomach acid is responsible for proper digestion, among other things. Therefore, take the soda one hour before or from two hours after a meal, for example, one hour before breakfast, one hour before lunch and two hours after a light and early dinner. Other uses of sodium bicarbonate - whether in the home or the medicine cabinet - can be found here: Home and remedy sodium bicarbonate. Besides soda is a good Home remedies for blackheads and an important Base bath ingredient.
Text: Health center
To the article "Cured of cancer with baking soda (baking powder)".
