CO2 and pH

[EndAllDisease]

When describing the role of bicarbonate and pH in the body, Dr. Mark Sircus writes in his book Sodium Bicarbonate that it works to neutralize the acid in the blood.

When you add baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) to vinegar (acid), it bubbles and carbon dioxide is produced, so it would make sense to me that acids would be neutralized by bicarbonate and converted into CO2 and help stimulate it's production.

However, today while listening to the Ray Peat lecture called 'The Biology of Carbon Dioxide', I heard him talk about a guy named Peter A Stewart who, when asked 'what is the role of bicarbonate in acid base regulation' said, "none".

If it doesn't work in this way, then what is actually happening with the introduction of carbon dioxide into the body...
1. To the bloodstream, and,
2. To the cell

 

[Giraffe]

post 118310 what is actually happening with the introduction of carbon dioxide into the body...
1. To the bloodstream, and,
2. To the cell

If you ingest it with food it can slow stomach emptying a bit.

1. Ideally blood ph sorts itself out.
2. If you were deficient in bicarbonate, it will acidify the cell.

Related topic: Bag breathing vs. baking soda?

Don't overdo on baking soda in combination with a (very) high calcium diet. See Milk Alkali Syndrome (explicit).

 

[EndAllDisease]

post 118342 If you were deficient in bicarbonate, it will acidify the cell.

Yes I recall Ray saying that CO2 will acidify the cell, giving it a negative charge and greater affinity for oxygen.
Would oxygen then be alkaline in nature? And are all things alkaline positive in charge?

 

[EndAllDisease]

post 118342Related Topic: Bag Breathing vs. Baking Soda?

I'm still in search of an answer to the question I posted before this, but below is what I found most useful from the thread you shared...

RP: Yeah. Every cell or tissue that you look at, it's protected if you restore the proper amount of carbon dioxide and the carbon dioxide in the gaseous form. It's easier if you think about the pH acid base balance of the organism. If you think of it as being pushed by a few factors, one of which is the amount of dissolved or gaseous carbon dioxide. So that breathing in a bag is one of the most powerful ways to restore the proper balance. If you need more bicarbonate, the gaseous carbon dioxide will allow you to make more bicarbonate and that will help you regulate your minerals and even help you retain more of your alkaline minerals. It will help correct your balance either in the acid or base direction. Taking sodium bicarbonate, for example, will actually acidify cells that are in need of more carbon dioxide because when the bicarbonate has been deficient and a cell is exposed to the bicarbonate it will convert it into the acidic carbon dioxide and be able to lower its pH even though you've taken the alkaline baking soda.