i. Bicarbonate is producted in the Duodenum
– Learn more about the duodenum under Maintaining pH Balance, part 1
ii. Drinking baking soda could be an inexpensive, safe way to combat autoimmune disease
– Take 1/2 teaspoon bi-carb soda in a small glass of water after food has been digested (approx. two hours after a meal):
2018 Science Daily Study
– Digestive juices MUST be reactivated before next meal:
e.g. with Apple Cider Vinegar: Various studies HERE and HERE and HERE
– Or, Kombucha tea (recipe: Kombucha mother closely resembles "mother-of-vinegar")
University of Rochester Medical Center:
Bicarbonate, also known as HCO3, is a byproduct of your body's metabolism. Your blood brings bicarbonate to your lungs, and then it is exhaled as carbon dioxide. Your kidneys also help regulate bicarbonate. Bicarbonate is excreted and reabsorbed by your kidneys. This regulates your body's pH, or acid balance. . . .
– A high level of bicarbonate in your blood can be from metabolic alkalosis, a condition that causes a pH increase in tissue. Metabolic alkalosis can happen from a loss of acid from your body, such as through vomiting and dehydration. It may also be related to conditions including anorexia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
– A low level of bicarbonate in your blood may cause a condition called metabolic acidosis, or too much acid in the body. A wide range of conditions, including diarrhea, kidney disease, and liver failure, can cause metabolic acidosis.
Encyclopedia Britannica: Ducts from the pancreas and gallbladder enter at the major duodenal papilla (papilla of Vater) in the descending duodenum, bringing bicarbonate to neutralize the acid in the gastric secretions, pancreatic enzymes to further digestion, and bile salts to emulsify fat.
Selected reports:
(i)
"the bulk of gastric acid neutralization and CO2 absorption occurs in the duodenum."
Gastroduodenal Mucosal Defense, Ham, et. al, (2012), CH. 43.4.2.3 Duodenal Acid–Base Balance
Excerpt:
The foregut mucosa, comprised of the esophagus, stomach, and proximal duodenum, are constantly exposed to gastric acid at concentrations that promptly necroses unprotected living cells.(6,7) Each organ has evolved robust defense mechanisms that rely on regulated intercellular junctions, blood flow, mucus and bicarbonate secretion, specialized plasma membrane ion permeability, and intracellular defensive proteins and acid–base transport and buffering in order to prevent the occurrence of cellular injury. – Ham et al., (2012), page 1169
. . .
Since >100 mM HCl can be produced by parietal cells, this led to the common belief that the capacity of bicarbonate secretion in the stomach is only 10% of acid secretion. A microelectrode study, however, has reported sustaining the surface pH near 7 even in the presence of luminal pH 1.17 HCl concentration becomes the major determinant of free (active) proton concentration at extremely acidic pH. At pH < 3 (i.e., >1 mM proton), adding conventional pH buffers has negligible influence on measured proton concentrations. Simple dilution with water (or other secretions) will raise pH in this acidic realm not because of neutralization of acid/base equivalents but due to reduction of [H+]. In the absence of volume changes, large concentrations of exogenous acid or base are needed to change pH simply because such amounts are needed to ratchet up or down the prevailing HCl concentration. At less extreme luminal pH, adding pH buffer in the luminal fluid to match the resistance to pH change found at luminal pH 2 caused pronounced blunting of the alkaline surface layer.(64) Thus, increased resistance to luminal pH changes (due to either increased pH buffers or high HCl concentration) can com-promise pH control at the gastric surface by overwhelming the capacity of alkali secretion.
43.3.2.2 Models of pHs Regulation
At present, there are three competing models to explain how gastric acid and alkali secretion impact on surface pH control. – Ham et al., (2012), page 1175
(ii)
Drinking baking soda could be an inexpensive, safe way to combat autoimmune disease
Date: April 25, 2018
Source: Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University
Summary:
A daily dose of baking soda may help reduce the destructive inflammation of autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, scientists say. They have some of the first evidence of how the cheap, over-the-counter antacid can encourage our spleen to promote instead an anti-inflammatory environment that could be therapeutic in the face of inflammatory disease, scientists report.
Excerpt: In the spleen, as well as the blood and kidneys, they found after drinking water with baking soda for two weeks, the population of immune cells called macrophages, shifted from primarily those that promote inflammation, called M1, to those that reduce it, called M2. Macrophages, perhaps best known for their ability to consume garbage in the body like debris from injured or dead cells, are early arrivers to a call for an immune response. . . . With kidney disease, there is impaired kidney function and one of the resulting problems can be that the blood becomes too acidic, O'Connor says. Significant consequences can include increased risk of cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis.
"It sets the whole system up to fail basically," O'Connor says. Clinical trials have shown that a daily dose of baking soda can not only reduce acidity but actually slow progression of the kidney disease, and it's now a therapy offered to patients. >>> more
(iii)
And, where is bicarbonate produced in the body?
Ambardekar, N. (2018)
Excerpt: Your kidneys and lungs balance the levels of carbon dioxide, bicarbonate, and carbonic acid in the blood. This test measures the level of bicarbonate in a sample of blood from a vein. Bicarbonate is a chemical that acts as a buffer. It keeps the pH of blood from becoming too acidic. >>> more
(iv)
Antifungal activity of sodium bicarbonate against fungal agents causing superficial infections.
Letscher-Bru V, et al. (2013)
Abstract excerpt: Although sodium bicarbonate-NaHCO(3) (SB) has many domestic and medical, traditional and empirical uses, only little scientific documentation of its activity is available. The aims of this study were to investigate the antifungal activity of SB on the three fungal groups (yeasts, dermatophytes and molds) responsible for human skin and nail infections. . . . In conclusion, we documented the antifungal activity of SB on the most common agents of cutaneous fungal infection and onychomycosis, and we specified the effective concentrations for the different groups of pathogenic fungi. The mechanism of action of SB has yet to be explored.
>>> more
(v)
Antibacterial activity of baking soda.
Drake D. (1996)
Abstract excerpt: The antibacterial activity of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) was assessed using three different experimental approaches. . . . Use of oral health care products with high concentrations of baking soda could conceivably result in decreased levels of cariogenic S mutans in saliva and plaque. >>> more
(vi)
Cleaning Fruit and Vegetables with Bi-carb Soda
Washing fruit and veggies with bi-carb will remove dirt, wax, pesticides and toxic chemicals which remain on the surface of foods after harvest.
Beware: dirt from the surface of foods can be transferred to and from your hands.
Mix 1 tsp bi-carb soda in 1.5 Litre (1.58 Quart) water
Soak for 12 minutes and rinse
Two studies
1.
American Chemical Society:
A new study finds that a baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) wash can completely remove residues of two pesticides from the surface of apples (J. Agric. Food Chem. 2017, DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.7b03118).
2.
Cornell University: Are pesticides posing intolerable risks?
- The Truth about "Poisoned" apples
- Panic in the Produce Aisle
- But are Children Taken into Account?
- On the Handling of Fruits and Vegetables
- How organic farming fits into the picture.
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