Category: RemediesBaking Soda Combats Autoimmune Disease, According to Scientists
Baking Soda Combats Autoimmune Disease, According to Scientists
Jun 7, 2018 Carly Fraser Save For Later Print
baking soda being taken out of container with wooden spoon
Baking soda has numerous medicinal uses and benefits. From acting as a natural deodorant, alleviating heartburn and indigestion, to whitening the teeth, baking soda has a range of applications.
But could baking soda get even better? Science says so. Now, researchers have discovered that baking soda combats autoimmune disease, a debilitating condition that characterizes over 100 different diseases.
What is Autoimmune Disease?
An autoimmune disease is a condition in which your immune system mistakenly attacks your body. As a result, the body isn’t able to protect itself from foreign invaders, which increases vulnerability to infections.
Instead of producing antibodies to an unknown trigger (to fight infections), the immune system starts attacking the body’s own tissues.
Examples of autoimmune disease include (1):
– Rheumatoid arthritis
– Lupus
– Inflammatory bowel disease (Chron’s disease and ulcerative colitis)
– Multiple sclerosis (MS)
– Type 1 diabetes
– Guillain-Barre syndrome
– Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy
– Psoriasis
– Graves’ disease
– Hashimoto’s thyroiditis
– Vasculitis
The list doesn’t end there – as mentioned above, there are over 100 different autoimmune conditions.
Autoimmune Disease and Inflammation
The connection between autoimmune disease and chronic inflammation are tightly interwoven. Someone can have chronic inflammation without autoimmunity, but autoimmune conditions almost always have some sort of chronic inflammatory input.
Chronic inflammation happens when there is a trigger that initiates the inflammatory response, but that response remains chronic (instead of temporary). With autoimmune conditions, the body’s white blood cells produce a specific antibody to target a particular tissue or enzyme within a tissue of the body. So when someone is suffering from autoimmunity, tissue damage results as a direct effect of the inflammatory process (instead of indirect with just plain chronic inflammation and no immunity).
Baking Soda and Inflammation
A recent study conducted at the Medical College of Georgia claims that baking soda can reduce and remove inflammation caused by autoimmune diseases. The best part? Baking soda is widely available for anyone to use, and it’s cheap as dirt.
The 2018 study, published in The Journal of Immunology, included a sample of rats and healthy medical students. When the participants and animals consumed baking soda mixed with water, they discovered two major things (2):
– Greater stomach acid production (which increases stomach acid for your next meal)
– Prevented the spleen (a major part of our immune system) from mistaking foods that would normally trigger inflammation
But what’s happening here at a molecular level? According to the study, sodium bicarbonate interacts with the mesothelial cells found in the spleen, which increases acetylcholine (a neurotransmitter) activity. As a result, an anti-inflammatory signal is sent to your body to help lessen the immune response.
