Healing the Kidneys with Sodium Bicarbonate

Sodium bicarbonate is not only an excellent agent for natural chemotherapy, bringing as it does higher O2 levels through increased alkalinity to the cells, it is also one of the most basic medicines we have for kidney disease. New research by British scientists at the Royal London Hospital shows that sodium bicarbonate can dramatically slow the progress of chronic kidney disease.[1] We don’t need a thousand years of tests to understand something as simple as water and it is quite the same with bicarbonate, which is always present in the best drinking waters.

Bicarbonate acts to stimulate the
ATPase by acting directly on it.[2]

The simple household product used for baking, cleaning, bee stings, treating asthma, cancer and acid indigestion is so effective in treating kidney disease that it prevents patients from having to be put on kidney machines. The findings have been published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. Bicarbonate is a truly strong universal concentrated nutritional medicine that works effectively in many clinical situations that we would not normally think of. It is a prime emergency room and intensive care medicine that can save a person’s life in a heartbeat and it is also a supermarket item that you can take right off the shelf and use for more things than one can imagine – including diaper rash.

Dr. SK Hariachar, a nephrologist who oversees the Renal Hypertension Unit in Tampa Florida stated, upon seeing the research on bicarbonate and kidney disease, ”I am glad to see confirmation of what we have known for so long.  I have been treating my patients with bicarbonate for many years in attempts to delay the need for dialysis, and now we finally have a legitimate study to back us up. Not only that, we have the added information that some people already on dialysis can reverse their condition with the use of sodium bicarbonate”.

John, a dialysis technician at the same center as Dr. Hariachar, who used to be on dialysis himself for 2 years as a result of kidney failure, had his kidneys miraculously start functioning to the point where dialysis was no longer needed. He states that he was prescribed oral doses of sodium bicarbonate throughout his treatment, and still takes it daily to prevent recurrences of kidney failure. Dr. Hariachar maintains though, that not everyone will be helped by taking bicarbonate. He says that those patients who have difficulty excreting acids, even with dialysis using a bicarbonate dialysate bath, that, “oral bicarbonate makes all the difference.”

Kidneys Produce Bicarbonate

The exocrine section of the pancreas has been greatly ignored in the treatment of diabetes even though its impairment is a well documented condition. The pancreas is primarily responsible for the production of enzymes and bicarbonate necessary for normal digestion of food. Bicarbonate is so important for protecting the kidneys that even the kidneys get into the act of producing bicarbonate and now we know the common denominator between diabetes and kidney disease. When the body is hit with reductions in bicarbonate output by these two organs,’ acid conditions build and then entire body physiology begins to go south. Likewise when acid buildup outstrips these organs normal bicarbonate capacity cellular deterioration begins.

The kidneys alone produce about two hundred
and fifty grams (about half a pound) of bicarbonate
per day in an attempt to neutralize acid in the body.

The kidneys monitor and control the acidity or “acid-base” (pH) balance of the blood. If the blood is too acidic, the kidney makes bicarbonate to restore the bloods pH balance. If the blood is too alkaline, then the kidney excretes bicarbonate into the urine to restore the balance. Acid-base balance is the net result of two processes, first, the removal of bicarbonate subsequent to hydrogen ion production from the metabolism of dietary constituents; second, the synthesis of “new” bicarbonate by the kidney.[3]

It is considered that normal adults eating ordinary Western diets have chronic, low-grade acidosis which increases with age. This excess acid, or acidosis, is considered to contribute to many diseases and to contribute to the aging process. Acidosis occurs often when the body cannot produce enough bicarbonate ions (or other alkaline compounds) to neutralize the acids in the body formed from metabolism and drinking highly acid drinks like Coke, Pepsi and we are even seeing reports on bottled mineral water being way too acidic.

Acid-buffering by means of base supplementation is one of the major roles of dialysis. Bicarbonate concentration in the dialysate (solution containing water and chemicals (electrolytes) that passes through the artificial kidney to remove excess fluids and wastes from the blood, also called “bath.”) should be personalized in order to reach a midweek pre-dialysis serum bicarbonate concentration of 22 mmol/l.[4] Use of sodium bicarbonate in dialysate has been shown in studies to better control some metabolic aspects and to improve both treatment tolerance and patients’ life quality. Bicarbonate dialysis, unlike acetate-free biofiltration, triggers mediators of inflammation and apoptosis.[5]

One of the main reasons we become acid is from over-consumption of protein. Eating meat and dairy products may increase the risk of prostate cancer, research suggests.[6] We would find the same for breast and other cancers as well. Conversely mineral deficiencies are another reason and when you combine high protein intake with decreasing intake of minerals you have a disease in the making through lowering of pH into highly acidic conditions. When protein breaks down in our bodies they break into strong acids.

Unless a treatment actually removes acid toxins
from the body and increases oxygen, water, and
nutrients most medical interventions come to naught.

These acids must be excreted by the kidneys because they contain sulfur, phosphorus or nitrogen which cannot break down into water and carbon dioxide to be eliminated as the weak acids are. In their passage through the kidneys these strong acids must take a basic mineral with them because in this way they are converted into their neutral salts and don’t burn the kidneys on their way out. This would happen if these acids were excreted in their free acid form.

Substituting a sodium bicarbonate solution for saline
infusion prior to administration of radiocontrast
material seems to reduce the incidence of nephropathy.[7]

Dr. Thomas P. Kennedy

American Medical Association

Bicarbonate ions neutralize the acid conditions required for chronic inflammatory reactions. Hence, sodium bicarbonate is of benefit in the treatment of a range of chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Sodium bicarbonate is a well studied and used medicine with known effects. Sodium bicarbonate is effective in treating poisonings or overdoses from many chemicals and pharmaceutical drugs by negating their cardiotoxic and neurotoxic effects.[8] It is the main reason it is used by orthodox oncology – to mitigate the highly toxic effects of chemotherapy.

Sodium bicarbonate possesses the property of absorbing heavy
metals, dioxins and furans. Comparison of cancer tissue with
healthy tissue from the same person shows that the cancer tissue
has a much higher concentration of toxic chemicals, pesticides, etc.

Sodium bicarbonate injection is indicated in the treatment of metabolic acidosis, which may occur in severe renal disease, uncontrolled diabetes, and circulatory insufficiency due to shock or severe dehydration, extracorporeal circulation of blood, cardiac arrest and severe primary lactic acidosis. The acid/alkaline balance is one of the most overlooked aspects of medicine. In general, the American public is heavily acid, excepting vegetarians, and even their bodies have to face increasing levels of toxic exposure, which help turn the body to acidic pH conditions.