One of the most overlooked beneficial products in your household is the boring baking soda box, but we have several excellent reasons why you should make use of it every day. You don’t have to be a baker to use baking soda and although it’s great for household cleaning and odor removal, we are just going to cover the health benefits of baking soda.
Baking soda, or sodium bicarbonate, is a natural mineral often found in mineral spring water. Baking soda is also found naturally in the mineral natron, and was used by the Egyptians. The mineral natrol can be found in areas that once had sea beds and salt lakes.
Let’s look at the reasons why you should use baking soda every day.
Here’s Why You Should Use Baking Soda Every Day
The most common use of baking soda is, of course, in baking. Baking soda gives bread a light and fluffy texture because it produces bubbles that stay in the dough as it bakes. Baking soda will react with the other ingredients in the recipe to produce bubbles and create a rising action.
Baking soda is alkaline, which means that it can be used to reduce the pH of something that is acidic. When taken internally, baking soda changes the body pH balance to make it less acidic and more alkaline. The natural pH of the body is alkaline, between a 7.35 and 7.45. Stomach acid is naturally more acidic and is around a 3.5 pH.
For example, when you have excess stomach acid from eating a rich meal, drinking baking soda dissolved in water can help reduce the pH of the hydrochloric acid and help relieve heartburn. However, the acid in the stomach is necessary to help break down food for digestion.
When looking for home remedies for health problems, remember to consult with your medical professional to see what holistic health options are available to you. Your doctor will know if baking soda as a remedy will interact with any of your other treatments or if it is a good option for you.
Every day uses for baking soda
It is not recommended to ever take baking soda in its dry form, so you should dissolve it thoroughly in water before using it as a drink. You can use the following baking soda remedies every day.
Antacid
Gas relief
Mouthwash
Dry mouth rinse
Toothpaste
Tooth whitening
Body scrub
Foot soak
Acne treatment
Anti-itch cream
Fingernail whitening
Treat urinary tract infection
Cold and flu prevention and remedy
Muscle pain relief
The sodium bicarbonate in baking soda acts just like most over the counter antacid remedies. Just like brand name antacids, baking soda works to relieve heartburn and stomachache.
By adding a base to the acid of the stomach, pH is lowered which helps the digestive system when too much acid is in the stomach. You can read more about other healthy to treat heartburn in our article 10 Ways to Stop Heartburn.
Drinking a half-teaspoon of baking soda per day dissolved in water is good for antacid, gas relief, muscle pain, treating a urinary tract infection, and as a cold and flu remedy. You can drink this up to 6 times per day or until you have relief.
For mouthwash and rinsing, you can use more baking soda in the water because you will not be swallowing it. For the other every day baking soda remedies, make a paste with very little water and a good amount of baking soda and apply to the area that needs treatment.
Science proves that baking soda can kill staph bacteria
In a study of the use of baking soda to kill staph and other types of bacteria, baking soda showed that it had significant ability to kill bacteria. When baking soda was combined with a foaming product and applied to the bacteria, even for a short amount of time, the bacteria could not survive. Researchers found that baking soda caused statistically significant decreases in numbers of staph bacteria cells and they recommend the use of oral health care products with high concentrations of baking soda.
Other surprising uses for baking soda
Baking soda is used by some women who specifically want to conceive a male child. The use of a baking soda and water douche changes the pH of the cervical mucus, and can create a more favorable environment for sperm that carry the male chromosome. Although this may be a method used by couples for family planning, regular use of a baking soda wash is unnecessary as the body cleans itself naturally.
Baking soda can be used as a treatment for hyperchloremic metabolic acidosis as in uncontrolled diabetes, renal, pancreatic and gastrointestinal diseases. Gout sufferers have reportedly used baking soda to help decrease levels of uric acid, which brings on attacks of gout. This remedy to treat gout is believed to have been used by Queen Victoria at the recommendation of her doctor.
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