Baking Soda: Recommended Flu Treatment in 1925

JGeropoulas

The Living Force
A year ago, after a thorough assessment of my diet and symptoms, my Chinese Medicine doctor recommended I stop eating wheat, dairy and sugar. I was very motivated (MRSA on face and neck has that effect), so I've done well adapting. I have no complaints about my menu at this point, but it requires an enormous amount of time (compared to my previous routine of microwaving frozen preservatives until all nutrients were removed :) ).

Anyway, through it all I learned about the need to reduce acidity and increase alkalinity. Through dietary changes and supplements (I can provide details if desired), I was gratified to see my pH gradually move from serious acidity (5.50) to healthy alkalinity (6.75).

After indulging in sugar during the holidays, recalling that baking soda neutralized acid indigestion (e.g. Alka-Seltzer), I was pondering why I'd never been advised to use baking soda increase my alkalinity (though I see that it has been cited here on the Forumas a treatment for prostate cancer http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196775-Bicarbonate-of-Soda-Used-to-Cure-Stage-Four-Prostate-Cancer- )

Well "ask (or even ponder, apparently) and ye shall receive"! Today I came across the article below on Dr. Joe Mercola's site about Arm and Hammer's 1924 marketing materials recommending the use of baking soda to treat the flu--complete with actual guidelines for such dietary use.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/12/15/Baking-Soda-Used-to-Treat-Swine-Flu-85-Years-Ago.aspx

Overlooked 150 Year Old Household Cleaner a Remedy for Swine Flu?
December 15 2009

In a 1924 booklet published by the Arm & Hammer Soda Company, the company starts off saying, “The proven value of Arm & Hammer Bicarbonate of Soda as a therapeutic agent is further evinced by the following evidence of a prominent physician named Dr. Volney S. Cheney, in a letter to the Church & Dwight Company:

“In 1918 and 1919 while fighting the ‘Flu’ with the U. S. Public Health Service it was brought to my attention that rarely any one who had been thoroughly alkalized with bicarbonate of soda contracted the disease, and those who did contract it, if alkalized early, would invariably have mild attacks.”

Recommended dosages from the Arm and Hammer Company for colds and influenza back were:

During the first day:
Take six doses of half teaspoonful of Bicarbonate of Soda in glass of cool water, at about two hour intervals

During the second day:
Take four doses of half teaspoonful of Bicarbonate of Soda in glass of cool water, at the same intervals

During the third day:
Take two doses of half teaspoonful of Bicarbonate of Soda in glass of cool water morning and evening, and thereafter half teaspoonful in glass of cool water each morning until cold is cured
 
Yes, I've also heard about this protocol. Anything that helps to restore the correct pH balance will surely benefit us. One adjustment I would make would be to use Baking Soda without Aluminum Here's an inexpensive source:

_http://www.vitacost.com/Bobs-Red-Mill-Aluminum-Free-Baking-Soda
 
Elizabeth said:
Yes, I've also heard about this protocol. Anything that helps to restore the correct pH balance will surely benefit us. One adjustment I would make would be to use Baking Soda without Aluminum Here's an inexpensive source:

_http://www.vitacost.com/Bobs-Red-Mill-Aluminum-Free-Baking-Soda

Good point. That's what I use in all my gluten-free baking.
 
Just a note: boxes of sodium bicarbonate - baking soda- do not have aluminum in them anyway. It is only baking POWDER that has been known to have aluminum. Baking POWDER is a different product than baking SODA. Baking powder is a MIXTURE that contains an acid salt such as sodium aluminum sulfate or sodium aluminum phosphate.

Note also that the link Elizabeth has provided links to a product that warns: "Manufactured in a facility that also uses tree nuts and soy." It's an exhorbitant price to pay for sodium bicarbonate/baking soda that you can buy rather cheaply in its pure form in every supermarket.

Your best bet is to simply buy Sodium Bicarbonate.

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_bicarbonate

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baking_powder

Elizabeth, please do your research more carefully before you advise anyone.
 
I use soda regularly to reduce acidity. I mix in some potassium bicarbonate. Baking soda is dirt cheap and if you are interested you can study more for example here:
http://www.earthclinic.com/Remedies/alkalizing_formulas.html
http://www.earthclinic.com/Remedies/baking_soda.html
 
I've been using sodium bicarbonate since I first read about it here in the Diet and Health forum for alkalinity, and when I feel congestion or a cold creeping up. Wonderful stuff for so many things as well as the body. When I was a child, my grandmother dosed herself and me with sodium bicarbonate for tummy aches or acid indigestion.
 
Elizabeth said:
Thanks, Laura, for the clarification and correction.

I'm really surprised at how many people do not know the difference between baking soda and baking powder. I wonder how many of them have been cooking and baking for years thinking that the two products are equivalent and maybe wondering why things don't turn out as the recipe says it should?

I enjoy cooking and baking because it is chemistry... even a little like alchemy - and knowing your chemical components well and how they interact together is a science. Once you know that, you can take any set of ingredients and figure out ways to get them to do what you want (like tasting really good, having good texture, and making the diners happy) and that is art.
 
Laura said:
I'm really surprised at how many people do not know the difference between baking soda and baking powder. I wonder how many of them have been cooking and baking for years thinking that the two products are equivalent and maybe wondering why things don't turn out as the recipe says it should?

Guilty! (I posted about this on the buckwheat pancake thread, as a matter of fact) :-[ I've had the main cooking responsibilities in my family for the last 2 or 3 years, but that had never included baking until I decided to try buckwheat muffins (I did do pancakes before, but always used a pre-made mix). Growing up, I only remember seeing baking soda around the house -- my mom may have used baking powder, but if so I was blissfully unaware. Since then, whenever I heard 'baking powder' I had always just assumed it was an alternate name for 'baking soda' (like the regional differences between 'soda', 'pop', and 'soda pop')-- hence my initial failure with the pancakes! I'm happy to finally know the difference, since having given up gluten I plan to be baking a lot more with buckwheat.
 
Here is an article with more information about the topic:

http://sodiumbicarbonate.imva.info/index.php/administration-methods/for-cold-and-flu/

Sodium Bicarbonate For Cold And Flu

Though we know by now that sodium bicarbonate is a most useful medicine for the treatment of cancer and kidney disease and have always known its good for stomach acid imbalances and for cleaning our pools and refrigerators it is not likely we have thought about it to help resolve our common colds nor to alleviate they symptoms and dangers of influenza. Medicine does not have to be complicated and mysterious nor do we have to lay still and be run over by the Hun Hordes of Influenza viruses that the health authorities want us to be so frightened of.

Dr. Volney S. Cheney reported[1] long ago that, “A number of cases of colds of varying severity were carefully studied in the laboratory. Observation was made as to the degree of acidity of the urine; the CO2, combining power of the blood as an indicator of the alkaline reserve; tests were also made to determine the calcium content of the blood, the sugar content; non-protein nitrogen and the basal metabolism. The urine invariably carried a higher degree of acidity than the normal-in some cases as high as 800 (normal 350); the CO2 combining power of the blood in all cases was low, the highest being 52 per cent; the sugar content of the blood was generally decreased (below 100 mg. per 100 c.c.); the metabolic rate was always on the minus side. (These cases were carefully selected because of their lack of any symptoms of disturbed thyroid activity.) There is a change in the blood chemistry and, consequently, there must be a change in the tissues supplied by the blood. There is a decrease in the bicarbonates or reserve bases contained in the blood plasma and the tissues. These findings seem to point the way to the conclusion that a cold is a disturbance of the alkaline balance or reserve, in other words, a mild acidosis, or perhaps better stated, a lessening of the “buffer” action of the blood plasma through a decrease in its bicarbonate content.”

After doing his experiments, Dr. Cheney reported: “I have been able to induce all the symptoms of a cold, in varying degree from a simple coryza to that of la grippe and the “flu,” by the induction of an artificial acidosis through the administration of ammonium and calcium chlorides. The degree of severity of the symptoms was in direct ratio to the degree of acidosis induced. In the severer degree of acidosis, all the classical symptoms of the “flu” were present, even including a low degree of fever. The symptoms rapidly subsided upon the administration of sodium bicarbonate in large doses by mouth and by rectum.

Let’s talk about your refrigerator. Go home, unplug your refrigerator, and find out what happens. Now remember that before you unplugged that fridge there was no mold, no bad bacteria, and no bugs. By pulling the plug you change the environment. Watch what happens. Your food will start to break down through fermentation and then putrefaction. Things start growing and crawling around. Where did they come from? You know that they didn’t sneak in. The door was closed. They were always there. It is just that they have gone through metamorphosis and they have changed due to an environmental shift – in other words “a drop in pH”.

Dr. Cheney further reported his “abortive treatment” of any cold or flu thusly:

If the disease is attacked when there is a beginning dryness in the pharynx or a slight corzya, or congestion of the mucous membrane of the nose, and alkalinization is instituted by large doses of sodium bicarbonate, until the urine is alkaline to litmus paper, a “cold” can always be aborted. Along with the sodium bicarbonate which I generally prescribe in 6 g. doses, accompanied by a large glass of hot water, every 2 hours for 3 doses, I give to an adult 1 g. of calcidin (a calcium and iodine combination) every half hour until 6 doses have been taken.

Most colds begin to manifest themselves late in the afternoon or early evening and the abortive treatment is best given at this time up to retiring. At the time of taking the treatment, the usual meal should be dispensed with, or should consist of milk and some cereal, or soup or broth. If the bowels are constipated, they should not be moved by a cathartic or laxative but the lower bowels should be relieved by a soap suds enema. This treatment will abort colds, if taken in their incipiency.

Where a cold has advanced to the stage where there is hoarseness and a profuse coryza, or where this condition has advanced to what we generally term “a cold,” I use the following treatment:

Initial dose 6 g. of sodium bicarbonate and 1 g. of calcidin, then 3 g. of sodium bicarbonate and 1 g. of calcidin every 2 hours for 6 doses, then 20 g. of sodium bicarbonate with /3 g. of calcidin every 3 hours during the waking period until the cold is checked.

The administration of the sodium bicarbonate should always be in or followed by a large glass of hot water. Locally, spray the nose and throat with a 1 to 5000 solution of metaphen, or other alkaline solution (1 dram of sodium bicarbonate to one pint of water) morning and night. If the bowels are constipated, I prescribe no laxative or cathartic but use an enema of soap suds to relieve the lower bowels.

Prophylaxis is best maintained by exercise and a diet which is well balanced and thoroughly adapted to the individual’s physical activities.

When the cold or ‘flu germs enter your body they immediately lodge themselves in the membranes of your nose. Your immune system then resists them by releasing inflammatory mediators. These in turn cause excessive mucus gland secretion, which blocks the sinuses, leading to a runny nose and all the other unpleasant symptoms of a cold or the ‘flu.

Dr. Hana’s Nasopure® Nasal Wash System transforms the ancient technique of nasal irrigation into the most effective, convenient and inexpensive nose washing system available today. It is a modern day netti pot. It quickly and safely washes away pollen, mold, dust, bacteria, viruses and mucus— the primary causes of nasal and sinus allergies, infection and discomfort. The Nasopure sinus cleansing salt mixture contains pharmaceutical grade sodium chloride (salt) and sodium bicarbonate.

Do not add regular table salt to any solution used for nasal washing as it contains undesirable additives and throws off the saline concentration of the solution. Salt is both soothing and therapeutic (in the proper concentration). Too little or too much salt will cause the water to “burn” or irritate your nasal passages and sinuses. Pickling salt, which is usually pure salt, is preferable to regular table salt if making your own salt solution.[2]

For a 0.9% isotonic saline solution, the amount normally found in bodily fluids, use 1/3 teaspoon (approx. ¼ heaping teaspoon, or 1.85 ml) of salt. Anything less than this is hypotonic, anything greater is hypertonic. Some research suggests a hypertonic solution may be best when combating a runny nose (as it would have a drying effect), so you might want to go to the higher end of the salt range. Add baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) to help buffer the solution. A hypotonic solution, however, would tend to be moisturizing (i.e. the lower end of the salt range), and may be what you want in a nasal spray for general prophylactic use.

If you want to take direct action against the virus or germs that are already attacking you, the battleground is inside your nose. Directions for common use of nasal washings include; pour a little warm water into a dish and add a level teaspoon of your sodium bicarbonate. Stir it well and then immerse your nose and surrounding parts of your face into it. Slowly breathe the water up your nose until it reaches the point where it begins to overflow into your mouth. Then expel it and rinse your mouth out. Be careful not to add more than a teaspoonful to the water, and that the dish is of a size that enables you to fit your face into. If the mixture is too strong it will sting your nose for a while. A little trial and error will tell you how warm the water should be, which is warm enough but not hot. Do this three times a day, and it should ward off even the heaviest of colds well ahead of time.

Garlic nose drops. In his book The Healing Power of Garlic Paul Bergner writes: “Garlic nose drops directly kill the viruses that cause cold or flu.” He also writes about a study with mice where some were inoculated with garlic, and some were not. The flu virus was introduced to the nasal passages of each mouse. Those mice that received the garlic remained healthy, where all the others got sick. To make nose drops, Bergner instructs us to crush some garlic to obtain juice, and add ten parts water and mix well. Eating garlic will also have a systemic effect, but deodorized garlic tablets or capsules reportedly do not work near as well.

Hydrogen Peroxide: Another method is to fill a spray bottle with a 50/50 mixture of hydrogen peroxide and water. Tilt your head back and spray it into your nostrils. It will bubble up and help to kill the bacteria in your nose. Hold for a few minutes and then blow your nose into a tissue. One can also use hydrogen peroxide in a vaporizer as well.

If an individual co-operates in a cleansing process of Nature by performing enemas, nasal washes and gives rest to his digestive system by observing a modified fast at the very beginning of cold or flu they will reduce the severity and length of their suffering and with a little luck get rid of the problem within 48 hours. During a fast, half lemon juice mixed with a glass of warm water may be taken several times a day. One or two spoons of honey may be added to this if desired. Not only does this help with the elimination process but it directs internal energies to healing instead of digesting and assimilating new food.

Zinc gluconate lozenges reduced the average
duration of common colds with exceptionally strong
statistical significance when taken in the first few hours.


Because most people don’t understand what detoxification symptoms are, they head to a drug-oriented doctor, who also doesn’t understand detoxification symptoms. The doctor confirms that they are sick, and then puts them on some sort of drug that is designed to stop the symptoms and this short circuits the detox dump and actually prolongs suffering. A real doctor will look at what is really going on and treat the problem on a fundamental level with medicinals that do not interfere with the natural process going on. According to recent studies use of over-the-counter cold and flu medicines at any stage of the illness only act to make it worse by prolonging the disease[3] and drugs like Tamiflu have their own dangerous toxicity that in certain cases is life threatening.

[1] “The Common Cold” Etiology, Prevention and Treatment*

VOLNEY S. CHENEY, M. D., FELLOW A. P. H. A.

Medical Director, Armour and Co., Chicago,Ill.

_http://ajph.aphapublications.org/cgi/reprint/18/1/15.pdf

[2] Note: “Neti pot salt” (or “aromatic salt”) is just a marketing gimmick to sell salt at a higher price. It usually has some essential oils added, which might have some therapeutic value, or which some people may find pleasing. However it should be viewed as a luxury at a premium price, with relatively little practical value. Use it if you wish, but pickling salt is usually just as pure and free of additives, is widely available, and generally inexpensive.

[3] _http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/cold-remedies/ID00036
 
Another one:

Bicarbonate Treatment for Swine Flu (1924)

http://sodiumbicarbonate.imva.info/index.php/administration-methods/arm-hammer-soda-company/

clip_image002_0003.jpg


Over 150 years ago Dr. Austin Church formed a business to produce and distribute Baking Soda. ARM & HAMMER® Baking Soda is derived from a natural occurring mineral called trona. It is 100% pure, safe, and natural. Baking Soda (also known as sodium bicarbonate) is a substance that is found naturally in all living things. Its purpose is to maintain pH balance in the bloodstream, which is necessary to sustain life. Due to its chemical and physical properties, sodium bicarbonate has unique medicinal capabilities that every healthcare practitioner, doctor and patient needs to know about.

The only problem is that Arm & Hammer Baking Soda
can replace many more expensive medicines and this
does not make the medical industrial complex happy.


In today’s modern world of medicine the FDA just will not let companies that sell products make medical claims about them unless they have been tested at great expense and approved as a drug. But this was not always the case and as we can see in the information in this chapter, which is from a 1924 booklet,[1] published by the Arm & Hammer Soda Company. On page 12 the company starts off saying, “The proven value of Arm & Hammer Bicarbonate of Soda as a therapeutic agent is further evinced by the following evidence of a prominent physician named Dr. Volney S. Cheney, in a letter to the Church & Dwight Company:

“In 1918 and 1919 while fighting the ‘Flu’ with the U. S. Public Health Service it was brought to my attention that rarely any one who had been thoroughly alkalinized with bicarbonate of soda contracted the disease, and those who did contract it, if alkalinized early, would invariably have mild attacks. I have since that time treated all cases of ‘Cold,’ Influenza and LaGripe by first giving generous doses of Bicarbonate of Soda, and in many, many instances within 36 hours the symptoms would have entirely abated. Further, within my own household, before Woman’s Clubs and Parent-Teachers’ Associations, I have advocated the use of Bicarbonate of Soda as a preventive for “Colds,” with the result that now many reports are coming in stating that those who took “Soda” were not affected, while nearly every one around them had the “Flu.”

Recommended dosages from the Arm and Hammer Company for colds and influenza back in 1925 were:
During the first day take six doses of half teaspoonful of Arm & Hammer Bicarbonate of Soda in glass of cool water, at about two hour intervals.

During the second day take four doses of half teaspoonful of Arm and Hammer Bicarbonate of Soda in glass of cool water, at the same intervals.

During the third day take two doses of half teaspoonful of Arm and Hammer Bicarbonate of Soda in glass of cool water morning and evening, and thereafter half teaspoonful in glass of cool water each morning until cold is cured.

“Well the sodium bicarbonate cure for colds and sore throats.
A friend called as I was reading about it, I told her to try it.
She is rapt! Relief in a few hours, and she went to work the
following day! And she was miserable and could hardly talk,[2]
had just woken with it full on, and was planning on missing work.”

In order to secure the best results with Arm & Hammer Pure Bicarbonate of Soda (Baking Soda) when taken internally, certain simple rules must be observed. Materia Medica, pharmacology and Therapeutics (Bastedo, Page 88) clearly outlines these rules to follows:

“The effect of an alkali in the stomach will vary according to the nature of the stomach contents at the time of administration. In the resting period (after food is digested) sodium bicarbonate merely dissolves mucus and is absorbed as bicarbonate into the blood, to increase its alkalinity directly.

“In the digestive period it reduces the secretion of gastric juice, neutralizes a portion of the hydrochloric acid, liberates the carminative carbon dioxide gas, and is absorbed as sodium chloride.

“In cases of fermentation or ‘sour stomach’ it may neutralize the organic acids and so result in the opening of a spasmodically closed pylorus (the opening between the stomach and the small intestine); while at the same time it acts to overcome flatulency (accumulation of gas in the stomach and bowels).

“The time of administration must, therefore, be chosen with a definite purpose. Usually for hyperchlohydria (excess of acid) one hour or two hours after meals will be the period of harmful excess of acid.

“In continuous hyperacidity and in fermentative conditions a dose an hour before meals will tend to prepare the stomach for the next meal; or sometimes a dose will be necessary immediately after eating, because of abnormal acid or base having been present at the commencement of the meal. (For the average person one-half hour after meals is recommended).

“A dose at bedtime tends to check the early morning acidity, or a dose on arising cleans the stomach of acid and mucus before breakfast.”

Whenever taking a bicarbonate solution internally the soda should be dissolved on cold water.

This is all very valuable information coming from the horses own mouth, the Arm and Hammer Baking Soda Company, which sells aluminum free baking soda. Clearly they knew what they had in their hands one hundred years ago; and its long use in medicine sustains the companies published medical views:

“Besides doing good in respiratory affections, bicarbonate of soda is of inestimable value in the treatment of Alimentary Intoxication, Pyelitis (inflammation of the pelvis of the kidney), Hyper-Acidity of Urine, Uric Acid disturbances, Rheumatism and Burns. An occasional three-day course of Bicarbonate of Soda increases the alkalinity of the blood, assists elimination and increases the resisting power of the body to all Infectious Diseases.”

Magnesium chloride is the only form of magnesium that has been reported to increase immune system strength though all forms of magnesium need to be counted in this regard. When one adds magnesium chloride to ones baths, puts it on the skin like suntan screen, or takes it orally with sodium bicarbonate one supercharges their defensive perimeter or what is called the anti-pathogen factor in Chinese Medicine. Add Iodine, Selenium, Vitamin C and some healthy sun exposure or Vitamin D and we have the heart of army we need to array against viral invaders. Magnesium Bicarbonate – Ultimate Mitochondrial Cocktail is the name of one of my chapters that explains why both these essential mineral ions need to be present in sufficient concentrations.

Testimonials:
My father was a veterinarian and as far back as I can remember (I was born in 1938 so my memory goes back to maybe 1943) he would take sodium bicarbonate dissolved in a full glass of warm water whenever he felt a cold coming on. I don’t remember him ever coming down with a full blown cold. He would treat my cold symptoms likewise and I responded equally as well. He also treated farm animals for various illnesses with sodium bicarbonate via a gastric tube and they recovered quickly. So I’ve known about the benefits of sodium bicarbonate from early childhood on. Glad to see that its benefits are being more widely touted. Although my father was a doctor of Veterinarian medicine, he sometimes referred to himself as an MD (Mule Doctor).

Dr. David B Winter, DO

Dear Dr. Sircus,

Several weeks ago, I purchased your eBook about Sodium Bicarbonate. IT CHANGED MY LIFE. I believe that God is working through you and your staff to spread the word about the body’s natural ability to heal, given the right elements. Thank you!!!

I’ve been reading your newsletter for some time now, and happened to see your eBook about baking soda. We don’t have a lot of money, but I felt that your research might help me. Sure enough I can tell you that within the week following reading your book - and practicing what you preach – I have been practically hive/urticaria free.

I started with straight baking soda and water. Yuck! I could hardly make myself do it. But I was going for the PH balance you talked about. I read more about the different oral combinations and decided to try the Maple Syrup and Baking Soda. 3:1, it worked great and tasted great too. I couldn’t believe I could eat that much sugar!

Right now I’m smiling and feeling great. My mood is good, my energy is way up and most important the swellings and itching are gone. My hair is growing back thicker. My skin looks great. I’m not tired all the time. I can’t believe the difference in my health. Praise God for his goodness in inspiring your work.

I’ve recently added Nascent Iodine after reading some tips of yours. I was indeed deficient and that seems to be adding to the overall good effects. My children are benefiting from this research as well. I’m so happy to find alternatives to mainstream medicine.

Lane Carter,
Delaware, United States

Dear Dr. Sircus,

I have had Morgellons for over 6 years – very nasty – and I know you are aware of our plight. I am now ready to start your transdermal magnesium therapy treatments but first I have to tell you something.

I would like you to know that bicarbonate baths really help me. But, and this is a big BUT, I use it with about 3 Lb’s of sea salt per bath and when I did 5 Lb’s of bicarbonate – I put myself into an alkaline state. The high salt content somehow opened up my skin to take in the bicarbonate – it came out of my skin for a few weeks!

Thank you,
Carola Dunham

The addition of a cup of baking soda to a hot bath after a long exhausting day alleviates tension and muscle aches. It exfoliates the skin to remove dead dry skin leaving fresh bright youthful skin behind without the high cost of the commercial skin exfoliates. The addition of baking soda to foot baths help with tired, achy feet when working in jobs such as waitressing or other heavy-walking type jobs. Combining the baking soda with magnesium chloride brings dramatic changes to human physiology and the only thing making this formula even better would be the addition of some sodium thiosulfate for a full hot springs therapeutic treatment.

When salt and baking soda are combined in the
bath, the combination may reduce the negative
effects of minor exposure to the radiation from X-rays.

Sodium bicarbonate, the monosodium salt of carbonic acid, is used as a gastric and systemic antacid and to alkalize urine; also used, in solution, for washing the nose, mouth, and vagina, as a cleansing enema, and as a dressing for minor burns.

[1] _http://cgi.ebay.com/ARM-&-HAMMER-BAKING-SODA-MEDICAL
-USES-BROCHURE-1924_W0QQitemZ370285074486QQcmdZ
ViewItemQQimsxZ20091104?IMSfp=TL091104191005r1063

[2] A testimonial left on my site by Laurel from Australia
 
Here is an article about Oral Dosages of Bicarbonate

http://www.imva.info/news/oral-dosages-of-bicarbonate.html

Many people write to me asking about dosages for sodium bicarbonate and I tell them to read Sodium Bicarbonate – Rich Man’s Poor Man’s Cancer Treatment. Below is some information from that chapter with some additional information that I hope people will find useful. I have resisted responding to many people in this regard for there are many variables one has to consider when addressing the issue of dosages and this type of question is best answered by ones personal healthcare provider.

The best guidance for dosages for sodium bicarbonate is provided by one’s own urinary and salivary pH, which one takes in the morning or several times during the day when doing a heavy course of dosages for cancer or other serious diseases. One needs to buy inexpensive pH paper strips for this. Because Natural Allopathic Medicine is designed for self administration I include as much information in my books as possible so people can find their way without having to depend on physicians but again it is always helpful to have good support when treating serious conditions.

There is no question that plasma bicarbonate concentrations are shown to increase after oral ingestion. The most important effect of bicarbonate ingestion is the change in acid-base balance as well as blood pH and bicarbonate concentration in biological fluids.1 In Europe, spa-goers drink bicarbonate-rich water to heal ulcers, colitis and other gastric disorders. Ingesting bicarbonate by way of bathing stimulates circulation, possibly benefiting those with high blood pressure and moderate atherosclerosis.

While the body does have a homeostatic mechanism which maintains a constant pH 7.4 in the blood, this mechanism works by depositing and withdrawing acid and alkaline minerals from other locations including the bones, soft tissues, body fluids and saliva. Therefore, the pH of these other tissues can fluctuate greatly. Some believe the pH of urine remains at the acidic end of the scale because it is a reflection of the body eliminating unwanted acids, and therefore is not an accurate measure of the body’s pH. The pH of saliva offers us a window through which we can see the overall pH balance in our bodies.

When healthy, the pH of blood is 7.4, the pH of spinal fluid is 7.4, and the pH of saliva is 7.4. Thus the pH of saliva parallels the extra cellular fluid. The pH of the non-deficient and healthy person is in the 7.5 to 7.1 slightly alkaline range. The range from 6.5, which is weakly acidic to 4.5, which is strongly acidic represents states from mildly deficient to strongly deficient, respectively. Most children are at a pH of 7.5. If the saliva pH is too high, the body may suffer from excess gas, constipation and production of yeast, mold and fungus.

The following testimonies from the bicarbonate book highlight bicarbonate’s use as a pain reliever: "After suffering from a 4 hour long blinding headache for which nothing I took brought any relief, I tried the sodium bicarbonate, 1 tsp mixed in a glass of water. Within a few short minutes I could feel the headache abating and within the hour it was completely relieved! I tried this again when another headache occurred, and it worked just as miraculously." "This is the best pain reliever of all the ones I have been trying. I am amazed that something so simple would be so potent! I haven't exceeded 7 a day; but wish I could. It takes the pain away for about 2 hours. Nothing seems to work more then 2 hours at a time."

Sodium bicarbonate can be used orally in doses of 1/2 tsp in 4 oz of water every two hours for pain relief as well as gastrointestinal upset, not to exceed 7 doses per day. That’s basically the receipt on every box of Arm and Hammers sold in every supermarket in the country.

Here are the exact instructions for oral use from the Arm and Hammer baking soda package. Directions:

Add 1/2 teaspoon to 1/2 glass (4 fl. oz.) of water every 2 hours, or as directed by physician.
Dissolve completely in water. Accurately measure 1/2 teaspoon.
Do not take more than the following amounts in 24 hours:
--Seven 1/2 teaspoons.
--Three 1/2 teaspoons if you are over 60 years.

Do not use the maximum dosage for more than 2 weeks.

Other Information:
Each 1/2 teaspoon contains 616 mg sodium.

Dr. Parhatsathid Nabadalung, “The best time to take it is whenever your pH is most acidic, which is during the night. It is best used when pH is around 5.6-5.9 (urinary). However if the pH is below that then somewhat stronger alkalinity is needed. In which case, I turn to potassium carbonate, potassium bicarbonate and sodium bicarbonate mixture. So if you take these, then both your salivary and urinary pH optimum should aligned close to each other. The usual dosage for me is 1/2 teaspoon (of potassium bicarbonate), 1/2-1 teaspoon of sodium bicarbonate, now if my pH is very acid, I add 1/8 teaspoon of potassium carbonate.”

Dr. Napatalung began using baking soda as far back as 1969 to relieve colds and various ailments including cancer. Dr. Reams began using lemon formula with bicarbonate to treat in the 70s thousands of cancer patients to effect changes in the basic biological terrain. As to the alkalization formula Dr. Napatalung has used citrates, carbonates, bicarbonates, potassium, sodium, and magnesium. One can read many comments about using apple cider vinegar with bicarbonate as well as some people’s personal struggles at the Earth Clinic site.

One of the great questions for cancer patients when considering oral intake of bicarbonate is whether or not to take it with maple syrup, molasses, honey, just water or even with lemon. This question is important for patients with cancer for often their cells are starving for glucose and perhaps because the sugar acts as a kind of Trojan horse getting the cancer cells to open their mouths wide. Then the increased O2 enters more easily. This topic is presented in depth in my book.

Though I have published about the folk formula using maple syrup I do not recommend that. I recommend either black strap molasses (because you don’t have to cook it and because of its rich mineral status) or just with mineral or distilled water. Bicarbonate with molasses fulfills the role of the glucose, which Dr. Simoncini always used when giving bicarbonate intravenously. Distilled water is excellent for treating disease “if” one adds bicarbonate and some pure magnesium chloride to it to enrich and harden it. One could even add a bit of sodium thiosulfate. When our water becomes a medicine benefits flow that are retarded when ones air and water supplies are tainted.

Many ask what a maintenance dosage would be or a cancer prevention dosage. Again this would vary widely but one teaspoon split into two dosages could be a standard but one still has to measure ones pH for guidance. Sodium bicarbonate is not a substitute for an alkaline diet nor is it a substitute for exercise and proper breathing which both increase a persons CO2 levels and thus O2 levels.

One practices strong medicine if one is in tune with ones own pH levels and use that as a guiding light in terms of dosages. Such a simple method can compete with so many tests that allopaths are obligated to do at great expense to the patient or society that pays for them. And still all these official tests ignore something so basic to human health.

My recommendation is to always use bicarbonate in one way or another because our world is acidic, our food, air and water and even emotions tend to be acidic. I brush my teeth and load up my water pick with bicarbonate and use it as a deodorant as well as take perhaps a half teaspoon a day when I am paying attention to my health. Whenever there is a health problem I always include it in my protocols for one can hardly go wrong with it. That said it is important to realize that there can be side effects and that one has to monitor with applied sensitivity their feelings and reactions to whatever one takes.

A major point I make in the book is that bicarbonate is best taken in conjunction with other medical and healing substances. The primary substance we need to think about, when taking bicarbonate, is magnesium chloride. The two together offer tremendous returns for they cooperate together right down to the mitochondrial level meaning they make the perfect mitochondrial cocktail.

Important Notes and pH controversy:

What ph level should we get the urine or saliva up to? Your ph can go too high, which also invites certain illnesses and imbalances in the body, and this is the purpose of the monitoring with the pH paper - to keep ph in a proper, healthy range. For our purposes with my protocol we will measure urine and saliva pH and depending on how closely you want to monitor, this can be more than several times a day. In Sodium Bicarbonate, Rich Man’s Poor Man’s Cancer Treatment there is a model provided by a gentleman who used bicarbonate and black strap molasses. His testimony tracks his pH testing and bicarbonate dosage with the attempt and success of reaching urinary pH readings of over 8. The idea though is not to keep it there nor maintain proper pH through the use of bicarbonate alone. There is no compensation for a lack of exercise, improper breathing and bad dietary choices. Using bicarbonate indefinitely as compensation will not yield desirable results. That said, in our toxic polluted acidic world sodium bicarbonate should be held close by and used in a variety of different ways for oral and overall body care.

When you take your saliva pH, take it at least one hour
before or 2 hours after you eat. Take measurements 2-3
times a day so you can get a feel for what your average is.

pH levels in your saliva can be affected by bacteria in your mouth as well as food you recently ate. In a perfect world with all other health parameters in place, the "averaged" pH of both urine and saliva will be right around what? That’s a good question and is best answered perhaps not by a pH strip but by ones optimum feelings and state of being. Some people think that a pH as low as 6.4 is a good urinary target but there are some large assumptions that can put us into doubt about this. Getting this one right is important because Oxygen levels in the body are directly related to pH. Increasing pH from 4 pH to 5 pH increases oxygen to the cells by ten fold. From a 4 to a 6 increases oxygen by 100 times and raising pH from 4 pH to 7 pH increases oxygen levels by 1,000 times.

When body pH drops below 6.4, enzymes are deactivated,
digestion does not work properly; vitamins, minerals
and food supplements cannot effectively assimilate.

Understand that pH can move all over the place.2 This is so because most individuals "total alkalinity" is not very strong and that is exactly what bicarbonate therapy as well as exercise, dietary sanity and good breathing promote, total alkalinity. So for instance two hours after a meal you may find the urine going acid as it is a reflection of the meals acid components pushing the pH. Now really, with life threatening situations especially, we don’t want to be eating meals with large acid components so our urinary drift into the acidic with meals can be very mild if one is eating and even fasting correctly.

The food we consume stores the flame of the sun. The more perfect our body's biological terrain, the more capacity we have to extract that flame to give us vibrant health and energy. Likewise we can eat close to the sun. Spirulina, for instance, from a esoteric energetic perspective can be viewed as practically crystallized sunlight that is most easy for the body to extract from. Its one of the reasons it makes a perfect survival food but as a mono fasting food it practically becomes the perfect medicine. When we eat this way or raw food our intake is highly alkaline so the acids being cleared in the urine would be more from the detoxification of the tissues then from the food.

Sustained high urine pH is not what we are looking for though we do want to maintain "total alkalinity." One does not want to go over the deep edge with an alkaline urinary obsession. Some practitioners say you do not want to see urine above 6.5 for long periods of time and we should expect urinary changes up and down strongly depending on ones diet. We should not be surprised or disturbed when we see urinary pH getting down into the 5 range sometimes as this is a reflection of kidney capacity and it shows metabolic acids can and are being removed from the system. You want your urine able to move acid, and to essentially be acid when appropriate. If you are keeping urine above 6.5 and day to day are into neutral pH (7) or above numbers, this is actually not normal unless one is eating very purely. But for cancer treatment we want to break past this and establish a pH of around 8 for two weeks and then take a break letting urinary pH fall. The chapter on pH in the bicarbonate book deals in depth with this very important indicator of health.

Correct Magnesium Levels: Highly absorbable magnesium chloride (magnesium oil) helps to build necessary acid buffers. Magnesium is often lost in urine as a consequence of too much acid in the body. If your urine is too acid you are losing magnesium. Soak in a tub of warm water with one cup or more of Magnesium (oil or flakes) and one cup of baking soda. Use warm, not hot water especially for diabetic patients, as the soak will cause vasodilation of all of the surface blood vessels and they might faint when they stand up. This soak will pull the acidic toxins out of the body and put magnesium into the body (thus putting buffering alkaline magnesium into the body’s circulation) through the process of osmosis.

Mark Sircus Ac., OMD
Director International Medical Veritas Association
http://publications.imva.info
 
Laura said:
Just a note: boxes of sodium bicarbonate - baking soda- do not have aluminum in them anyway. It is only baking POWDER that has been known to have aluminum. Baking POWDER is a different product than baking SODA. Baking powder is a MIXTURE that contains an acid salt such as sodium aluminum sulfate or sodium aluminum phosphate.

Laura's absolutely correct about this. I should have caught Elizabeth's error myself, having learned the difference through some "flat out" disasters when I first began baking.
 
Hi. I think baking soda baths haven't been discussed here.
I'm bringing this up because i bought a baking soda and in the box it said that it was also good for a "relaxation bath". So i did a quick search on the web, but couldn't find anything telling of a continuous use (like one day, two days a week), but found remarks that it could be used for a detox bath with sea salt mixed. As for the ingestion there is a limit,

Do not use the maximum dosage for more than 2 weeks.

does anyone know if there is a recommended limit for the bath, or has anyone tried to have baths with it?
 
Around here baking soda is used frequently in a varierty of ways. We bake with it, brush our teeth with it, do household cleaning with it, buffer ascorbic acid with it, bathe with it, exfolliate with it, launder with it (also paired with vinegar it makes a great fizzy cleaner and vinegar is an excellent fabric softener and static eliminater) and take it whenever we experience general malaise. Almost always does the trick. Works very well for mild acid reflux.
 

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