Baking Soda’s Super Power: Boosting Cancer Meds by Neutralizing PH

photo of a particular baking soda brand, though any brand will achieve positive effects when used, including neutralizing PHPhoto byAddilyn Ragsdill @clockworklemon.comonUnsplash

This article is compiled and summarized from several sources for ease of reading. All attributions are linked within.

Baking soda, also known as bicarbonate of soda or sodium bicarbonate has superpowers when it comes to reducing acid in compounds and your body. This is due to PH or “power or potential of hydrogen” which designates something acid or a base (alkaline). For health purposes, an alkaline state is better.

Bodies function optimally when PH is balanced or neutral. “Body acidity and alkalinity are measured using pH, a scale from 0 to 14. Our body is most acidic at zero and most alkaline at 14. The body works hard to maintain a neutral pH of 7.”

When the environment in our body becomes too acidic, we can experience adverse health effects. "The heart, liver, and kidneys can be overworked, leading to chronic health conditions."

So how can baking soda help?

In simple uses, it will help a stomach ache (think Alka Seltzer), or cover unpleasant smells like pet urine or refrigerator odors. Making a paste of baking soda and water and applying to insect bites, rashes, and even poison ivy is another great use of this inexpensive kitchen staple.

But its ability to neutralize PH goes far beyond that and research is showing positive affects from simply making coffee less acidic to helping cancer drugs work better.

Though there aren’t studies concluding that baking soda cures cancer, it can help chemotherapy work more effectively. “Some chemotherapy drugs need alkaline conditions. Others become more toxic in an acid environment.” Doctors may suggest adding a form of sodium bicarbonate to give the cancer drugs a boost. As always consult your doctor to see if this will work for you.

Mouth and throat sores as a side effect of chemo can also be helped by rinsing “your mouth three times daily with a mixture of 1 cup warm water, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda, and 1/8 teaspoon salt, followed by a rinse with plain water.”

Additionally, research shows that taking sodium bicarbonate daily “can help people whose kidneys can no longer remove enough acid from their blood.”

WebMD cautions not to take other medications within two hours because it lowers stomach acid and “slow the rate at which your body absorbs” some and can also affect effectiveness. The site also advises not giving to children under six years old. Taking too much can also cause bloating and gas.

If nothing else, if you’re a coffee drinker, but can’t partake because of acid reflux, “you only need to put a small pinch of baking soda in your coffee to neutralize the acid to a scale that makes it easy on the stomach.”