Rheumatoid Arthritis Inflammation Can Be Reduced with Baking Soda, Says New Study

A dose of baking soda per day could help with rheumatoid arthritis inflammation, found a new study. Researchers from Augusta University, US, found out a very cheap way to help our body cope with inflammation.

It’s the antacid that can help the spleen lower the inflammation in the body. A solution of baking soda, also known as sodium bicarbonate helps the stomach make more acid and it digests food better.

The Journal of Immunology: The Science Behind Baking Soda

The study was published in the Journal of Immunology, after conducting experiments first on mice and then on humans.

The spleen also gets a new information from the baking soda solution, and it will not show a protective immune response. The spleen has some mesothelial cells that also line other organs inside the body to keep them from rubbing against each other. Mesothelial cells have another role. They have tiny fingers, called microvilli, which sense the place around them, warning the organs about invaders and causing them to show an immune response.

A person that drinks baking soda solution will affect the spleen, making it less responsive regarding the immune response. And this is good for people with rheumatoid arthritis inflammation.

Baking Soda Transforming from Inflammatory to Anti-inflammatory Cells

After two weeks of drinking water with baking soda, immune cells in the spleen (macrophages), those in the blood and in the kidneys, transformed from the ones that caused inflammation (M1), to cells that reduce inflammation (M2).

Macrophages are the cells that consume injured and dead cells in the body and are the first ones that get when there’s an immune response.

Clinical trials on humans showed that baking soda is also good at reducing acidity and slowing the progression of kidney disease. It is now used in therapy for patients with kidney disease.

Paul O’Connor, a renal physiologist at Augusta University said that “the shift from inflammatory to an anti-inflammatory profile is happening everywhere,” after tests on both mice and humans.

Scientists also saw that some immune cell types (regulatory T cells) that keep the immune system from attacking our system, have shifted after consuming baking soda with water and the anti-inflammatory effect was sustained for almost 4 hours.