miquelangeles
Member
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2021
- Messages
- 928
Taking 1 - 1.5 grams of sodium bicarbonate 20-30 minutes before meals (that is 2 or 3 times per day) has improved my digestion dramatically. Not just digestion but I will discuss only the digestive improvements in this thread.
There are already many threads on this forum about bicarbonate and much of this has already been discussed before.
I understand that dosing is very individual and this is what I found works best for me. Anything more than that taken in a single dose makes me feel off.
It has completely resolved bloating and fullness after meals, gave me two solid bowel movements per day and eliminated reactions to some trigger foods (I can eat servings of acidic or fermented foods, yogurt etc without affecting my mood or getting a runny nose or histamine reaction whatever you may call it).
All of the possible mechanisms have already been discussed in various threads here, but this is what I speculate explains my current experience digestion-wise:
- taking advantage of the rebound effect of acid secretion after bicarbonate administration; Ray also mentioned several times that sodium bicarbonate only stops acid for a short time the secretion quickly returning to normal; also the study from a few years ago on the anti-inflammatory effects of sodium bicarbonate mediated by the spleen also identified the acid secretion as being the key trigger of this process; when they administered PPIs concomitant with baking soda the anti-inflammatory effect was abolished; the circadian timing in my GI tract might be dysregulated and stimulating acid production before meals in this way probably sets the right cascade of signalling for proper digestion
- studies show that 95% of pancreatic juice bicarbonate is derived from plasma bicarbonate; metabolic CO2 is not the source of juice bicarbonate; the pancreas secretes 2-3 L per day of bicarbonate rich juice which is important for buffering of acid chyme entering duodenum and for activation of enzymes; pancreatic bicarbonate is critical to neutralizing the acid coming into the small intestine from the stomach; the small intestine is not specialized to withstand the strong acids from the stomach; the digestive enzymes secreted by the pancreas are active at a basic pH;
So I think one key factor is to take the sodium bicarbonate 20-30 minutes before meals to take advantage of the rebound acid secretion. I hope this helps someone.
There are already many threads on this forum about bicarbonate and much of this has already been discussed before.
I understand that dosing is very individual and this is what I found works best for me. Anything more than that taken in a single dose makes me feel off.
It has completely resolved bloating and fullness after meals, gave me two solid bowel movements per day and eliminated reactions to some trigger foods (I can eat servings of acidic or fermented foods, yogurt etc without affecting my mood or getting a runny nose or histamine reaction whatever you may call it).
All of the possible mechanisms have already been discussed in various threads here, but this is what I speculate explains my current experience digestion-wise:
- taking advantage of the rebound effect of acid secretion after bicarbonate administration; Ray also mentioned several times that sodium bicarbonate only stops acid for a short time the secretion quickly returning to normal; also the study from a few years ago on the anti-inflammatory effects of sodium bicarbonate mediated by the spleen also identified the acid secretion as being the key trigger of this process; when they administered PPIs concomitant with baking soda the anti-inflammatory effect was abolished; the circadian timing in my GI tract might be dysregulated and stimulating acid production before meals in this way probably sets the right cascade of signalling for proper digestion
- studies show that 95% of pancreatic juice bicarbonate is derived from plasma bicarbonate; metabolic CO2 is not the source of juice bicarbonate; the pancreas secretes 2-3 L per day of bicarbonate rich juice which is important for buffering of acid chyme entering duodenum and for activation of enzymes; pancreatic bicarbonate is critical to neutralizing the acid coming into the small intestine from the stomach; the small intestine is not specialized to withstand the strong acids from the stomach; the digestive enzymes secreted by the pancreas are active at a basic pH;
So I think one key factor is to take the sodium bicarbonate 20-30 minutes before meals to take advantage of the rebound acid secretion. I hope this helps someone.