Using Baking Soda to Help Beat Cancer:
Baking soda or sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) is a natural substance used for a number of different household tasks such as baking and cleaning. Research has shown that it is a powerful tool in identifying and stabilizing cancer growth as well (1). Cancer is a complex disease process and there is no one cause or one cure.
It is a disease that develops from damage to the bodies internal environment creating genetic mutations and alterations in the bodies metabolic dynamics. The use of baking soda along with a number of other intensive health strategies to boost the bodies natural healing rhythms are necessary to reverse the process in a natural way.
The human internal ecosystem is stabilized by several different buffering systems that keep the body functioning at a high level for as long as possible. One of these buffering systems is pH.
Our blood stream should be slightly alkaline at 7.365 pH at all times for the body to be healthy. Maintaining pH balance through proper diet and lifestyle is one of the most critical tools to optimizing your health.
Using Baking Soda to Regulate pH Levels:
Baking soda is used to regulate pH as a counterbalance to acid build up in the body. It plays an important role in the pH balance of cells and tissues, cell voltage homeostasis and it increases carbon dioxide and oxygenation. It is also great for helping the body to effectively detoxify and heal from oxidative stress and radiation exposure.
Sodium bicarbonate is used by many natural health care practitioners as a first line of defense against a number of health problems. These include cancer, flu, diabetes, kidney disease and the common cold (2). Baking soda can be used in a bath and the body can absorb the health benefits through the skin or nebulized for lung conditions.
Baking Soda and Cancer Identification:
Relatively new research has found that sodium bicarbonate is a good identifier of cancer cell growth. Cancerous regions of the body accumulate acids and they convert bicarbonate into carbon dioxide. A United Kingdom Cancer Research team found that they could identify changes in bicarbonate on MRI scans with high sensitivity (3).
Cancerous regions of the body have a significantly lower pH than surrounding tissue. The researchers worked with mice that had metastatic breast cancer and they boosted the MRI sensitivity more than 20,000 times. They then inserted bicarbonate and watched via MRI what kind of changes they could observe. It was clear to the research team that the more acidic the tumor the more bicarbonate is converted into carbon dioxide.
Professor Kevin Brindle of the UK’s Cambridge Research Institute at the University of Cambridge was the lead researcher of this ground breaking study (4,5). He said “This technique could be used as a highly-sensitive early warning system for the signs of cancer. By exploiting the body’s natural pH balancingsystem, we have found a potentially safe way of measuring pH to see what’s going on inside patients. MRI can pick up on the abnormal pH levels found in cancer and it is possible that this could be used to pinpoint where the disease is present and when it is responding to treatment.”
Baking Soda Slows Cancer Growth:
Cancer cells produce their energy through anaerobic glycolysis with their primary fuel source being glucose. The byproduct of this biochemical pathway is lactic acid and other acidic metabolites. Studies have shown that the extracellular pH in cancer growth regions is typically much lower than in normal tissue due to this metabolic pathway.
This high acid environment also promotes invasive tumor growth in primary and metastatic cancers. Taking in sodium bicarbonate orally has been shown to raise the pH of tumors and reduce the formation of spontaneous metastases in mouse models with metastatic breast cancer (1). It also reduced the rate of lymph node involvement and reduced the chances of spread to the liver.
Researchers in this field have made the reasonable assumption that increasing systemic concentrations of pH buffers such as sodium biocarbonate would reduce intratumoral and peritumoral acidosis. In mouse models they have also found that the reduction of tumor acid concentrations reduces tumor growth and invasion without altering the pH of blood or other tissues (6).
Additionally, it is also known that tumor acidosis creates chemoresistance to certain chemotherapy drugs such as doxorubicin and paclitaxel (7). So if one had an acidic tumor and they wanted to use the standard chemotherapy route using baking soda to optimize pH levels would only make the chemotherapy more effective.
Remember, cancer is a very complex disease process and using baking soda alone will not “cure” cancer and you shouldn’t listen to anyone who tells you otherwise. However, research shows that using baking soda along with a myriad of other natural therapies to improve immune coordination can help the body to combat cancer naturally.
How Do You Use Baking Soda in Your Body:
Using baking soda to increase the pH levels of the body is always beneficial if the body is an acidic state. Contrary to popular opinion, baking soda does not contain aluminum but baking powder which is a different product may containaluminum. So there is no need to buy “aluminum-free” baking soda but you would definitely want to purchase “aluminum-free” baking powder if you are going to use that for baking.
Arm & Hammer and other similar commercial brands use a chemical process that turns trona ore into soda ash. This then reacts with carbon dioxide with the soda ash to produce baking soda. This is not necessarily bad but it does use a chemical process. Brands like Bod’s Red Mill, Frontier and other natural companies procure their sodium bicarbonate directly from the ground in its natural state. These are the preferred brands to use.
Baking Soda Safety:
Every tumor has its own unique characteristics and not all tumors are highly acidic. However, regardless of the strength of the acidity of the tumor, balancing pH and creating a slightly alkaline environment in the body is always helpful to the body’s internal systems. Ideal pH testing on the pH strips should be between 7.0-8.0 – nothing higher than 8.0 or discontinue using baking soda immediately until the pH lowers.
The key to using sodium bicarbonate safely is in testing and monitoring both urinary and saliva pH with pH test paper or an electronic tester. You should do this every morning and chart results. If you are taking a bath with baking soda take your salivary and urinary pH when you get out. If the pH goes above 8.0 than stop using the baking soda until the pH drops back down.
There are consequences to unregulated usage of baking soda. These include alkalosis, kidney problems, lowered stomach pH levels, etc. To avoid this, just be responsible with your usage and make sure you take the time to monitor your pH levels throughout the day. To avoid digestive problems don’t take the baking soda in water within 30 minutes of meals.
The Baking Soda Protocol:
Measure your pH with pH strips throughout the day and only use this drink when you are testing out acidic. Also, I don’t recommend using baking soda before or after a meal (at least 30 minutes) as it will lower the stomach acid secretions and affect the digestive processes.
Mix ½ tsp of baking soda with 2 tbs of fresh lemon juice or organic apple cider vinegar (ACV) to create an alkaline forming environment in the body. The combination will foam and fizz, so use a tall glass and wait for all bubbling to stop. Then add 8 oz of water to the mixture and drink all at once. This mixture works to neutralize the pH, buffers stomach acid and reduces acidosis.
Drink this baking soda – lemon/ACV combination throughout the day except just before and after meals until you are able to get your pH levels between 7.0-8.0.
Sources For This Article Include:
- Robey IF, Baggett BK, Kirkpatrick ND, Roe DJ, Dosescu J, Sloane BF, Hashim AI, Morse DL, Raghunand N, Gatenby RA, Gillies RJ. Bicarbonate increases tumor pH and inhibits spontaneous metastases. Cancer Res. 2009 Mar 15;69(6):2260-8. PMID: 19276390
- Medical Science Proves Sodium Bicarbonate (Baking Soda) Treats CancerLink Here
- New MRI scanner could detect cancer early…with a pinch of baking sodaLink Here
- Professor Kevin Brindle Link Here
- Shan L. Hyperpolarized 13C-labeled bicarbonate (H13CO3-) for in vivo pH measurement with 13C magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Molecular Imaging and Contrast Agent Database (MICAD) [Internet]. Bethesda (MD): National Center for Biotechnology Information (US); 2004-2013. PMID: 20641986
- Silva AS, Yunes JA, Gillies RJ, Gatenby RA. The potential role of systemic buffers in reducing intratumoral extracellular pH and acid-mediated invasion. Cancer Res. 2009 Mar 15;69(6):2677-84. PMID: 19276380
- Thews O, Nowak M, Sauvant C, Gekle M. Hypoxia-induced extracellular acidosis increases p-glycoprotein activity and chemoresistance in tumors in vivo via p38 signaling pathway. Adv Exp Med Biol. 2011;701:115-22. PMID:21445777
