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Can Baking Soda Reduce Inflammation?
ShareCan Baking Soda Reduce Inflammation?
In a startling study, researchers at Medical College of Georgia found drinking baking soda daily could combat autoimmune disease like rheumatoid arthritis.Published in the Journal of Immunology, the research reveals how the inexpensive antacid prompts the spleen to foster an anti-inflammatory environment.
How does it work?
Mesothelial cells cover the outside of organs to stop them rubbing together. They also have tiny fingers called microvilli, which alert our organs when an invader is lurking, which then triggers an immune response.When you drink baking soda, the stomach produces more acid to digest your next meal. It also alerts the mesothelial cells to tell the spleen (an organ that’s part of the immune system) that it doesn’t need to initiate an immune response.
“Certainly drinking bicarbonate affects the spleen and we think it's through the mesothelial cells,” said study author Dr Paul O’Connor.
Anti-inflammation across organs
After tests on lab rats and healthy students, the research team discovered the effects of baking soda went beyond the spleen.“The shift from inflammatory to an anti-inflammatory profile is happening everywhere. We saw it in the kidneys, we saw it in the spleen, now we see it in the peripheral blood.”
This was observed for up to four hours in the human test subjects, and up to three days in the rats.
Baking soda as a cheap treatment
Researchers are hopeful baking soda could become a quick, cheap treatment to combat inflammation.“You’re not really turning anything off or on, you’re just pushing it toward one side by giving an anti-inflammatory stimulus. It's potentially a really safe way to treat inflammatory disease," O’Connor said.
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