Posted by IsoM on November 15, 2002, at 15:12:53
In reply to Long-term use of baking soda: good idea?, posted by utopizen on November 15, 2002, at 11:49:02
There two main concerns. One is the neutralizing of stomach acid that's vital for proper absorption of certain vitamins & many minerals. Make sure you don't do this when you have food in your stomach or too close before you eat.
The other is the amount of sodium in your diet. It's suggested that a person shouldn't get more than 2,500 mg of sodium in the diet per day. Each level teaspoon of baking soda gives 1,000 mg. If you’re using a level teaspoon measure of baking soda, you're already getting 4,000 mg per day & that's before you salt your food or include additional sources of sodium found in many foods. Additional sources of sodium can often give another 4,000-7,000 mg per day.
Excessive salt intake increases the risk of kidney stones, osteoporosis, hypertension, stroke, kidney failure, and heart disease & is thought to promote stomach & kidney cancer. Kidney stones are a very real concern. As sodium intake goes up, the body loses more calcium that is excreted in the urine. The high calcium levels can lead to stone formation.
My suggestion if you wish to continue to use baking soda is to not use it when there's food in your stomach, & most importantly, increase your calcium intake & keep ready made prepared foods low (cold breakfast cereals, snack foods, canned soups & sauces, etc). They're the ones highest in sodium. And avoid prepared sandwich meats & bacon preserved with nitrates.
Also increase the amount of potassium rich foods to balance the sodium. Bananas, oranges, grapes, apricots, beets, Brussel sprouts, celery, cabbage, parsley, mushrooms are all very high in potassium.
poster:IsoM
thread:127766
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20021108/msgs/127812.html