Baking soda: A safe treatment for arthritis?

Baking soda has been used as a home remedy for generations due to its antacid properties. Yet its benefits run even deeper, and new research may explain why it is an effective aid in the treatment of autoimmune diseases such as arthritis.

Mesothelial cells line the internal organs as well as many different cavities in the body. Not only do they prevent organs and other internal tissue from sticking together, they also serve other functions, not all of which have been studied in detail. In the new study, O’Connor and team tested the effect that a baking soda solution would have first on rats, and then on healthy human participants, and they noted that it influenced an intriguing mechanism.

Baking soda “prompts” the stomach to produce more gastric acid, which allows it to digest food quicker and easier. But, in addition to this, it also seems to tell the mesothelial cells that line the spleen to “take it easy,” because there is no threat. Basically, in O’Connor words, mesothelial cells learn that “it’s most likely a hamburger not a bacterial infection.” So they, in turn, do not activate the spleen’s “army” of macrophages, or white blood cells tasked with clearing up potentially harmful cellular detritus.

Certainly drinking bicarbonate affects the spleen and we think it’s through the mesothelial cells.

Mesothelial cells line the internal organs as well as many different cavities in the body. Not only do they prevent organs and other internal tissue from sticking together, they also serve other functions, not all of which have been studied in detail. In the new study, O’Connor and team tested the effect that a baking soda solution would have first on rats, and then on healthy human participants, and they noted that it influenced an intriguing mechanism.  But, in addition to this, it also seems to tell the mesothelial cells that line the spleen to “take it easy,” because there is no threat. Basically, in O’Connor words, mesothelial cells learn that “it’s most likely a hamburger not a bacterial infection.” So they, in turn, do not activate the spleen’s “army” of macrophages, or white blood cells tasked with clearing up potentially harmful cellular detritus.