Blood De-Acidification – Cancer Cure or Hoax?

Background

People who promote baking soda as a cancer treatment advance the following narrative:

Cancer can thrive in the human body when the blood Ph is too low (too acidic). Acid is bad in the body. Raise the blood Ph by consuming baking soda and this introduces an alkaline balance into the blood. This normalised Ph creates conditions in the body which are detrimental to cancer cells and the body is now able to eliminate them and to heal itself.

Problems

I have several problems with this explanation.

• The approach and explanation seem far too simplistic. Cancer is a hugely complex disease with a vast array of possible causes. Each cancer is different and each requires tailored treatment.
• Saying that acid in the body is bad, is simply incorrect. Our stomachs contain high levels of hydrochloric acid. Our skin needs to be slightly acidic to operate properly. The body maintains different acidity levels in different areas and it is exceedingly good at doing this.
• Consuming baking soda has the effect of neutralizing stomach acid – not good for the digestion of food. Furthermore it damages good gut bacteria.
• The thought that you can influence the Ph balance in your blood by consuming sodium bi-carbonate is difficult to accept.

I may be wrong about these things but I definitely need a better explanation before I can make sense of the logic behind this treatment.

What is to be made of the Baking Soda Approach?

The reality is that many, many sufferers claim to have been cured or at least helped by this treatment. How then does it work? What is going on?

My sense is that our bodies do indeed become acidified because of:

• chemicals we ingest
• processed foods we consume
• pollution
• stress.

Despite these acidifying agents, the body can usually maintain appropriate Ph levels. As stated above, our bodies are really good at doing this.

What I do accept however, is that in order to maintain an alkaline balance (where required), the body may be forced to leach certain chemicals from bones and organs. This in turn can influence the amount oxygen in the cells. For certain cancers, this mineral depletion/oxygen starvation within the body can provide fertile ground in which to take root and spread.

The treatment then, works by replenishing lost chemicals (sodium, magnesium, calcium etc) thereby restoring conditions not favourable to these cancers. When we think of the matter from this perspective, I believe that it becomes easier to accept.

This explanation makes much more sense to me. If we accept it, then we should certainly use baking soda as one of the things we do to improve our prognosis. Baking soda will only replenish sodium however, and I assume that in its fight to maintain optimum Ph levels, the body leaches many other chemicals as well. In this case we should be taking other chemicals in addition to baking soda, to round out the treatment. Calcium is an obvious choice I suppose. Remember to take Vitamin D3 before taking calcium (or spend around 45 minutes in direct sunlight).

The Trojan horse

Proponents of the baking soda “cure” frequently recommend this version of the treatment. It involves taking one teaspoon of baking soda daily, together with one teaspoon of molasses or maple syrup. They call this a “Trojan horse” because the sugar is taken in by the cancer cells but accompanied by the sodium bicarbonate which destroys them.

This has to be one of the least credible explanations of a biological process that I can think of. The thought that sugar and baking soda form an alliance in your mouth, stay together through the stomach and bowel, enter the blood stream together, attach themselves to some cancer cells and then proceed to do their work as a team seems too ludicrous for words.

Whereas I am reasonably sure that my leaching explanation above holds water, I have no explanation for how the “Trojan horse” actually works. Once again though, I have to accept that many people claim to have experienced healing with this treatment. Because of this I am prepared to give it a try. It is not any more dangerous than taking a teaspoon full of antacid so I will be taking the risk.

Conclusion

There you have it. I think that I understand what is going on with the baking soda treatment so I am prepared to give it a try.

I have no idea how the Trojan horse works but because it seems to have elicited good results out there and is probably not dangerous if done in moderation, I will also give it a go.