Ohh Oo! Stomach Problems? Baking Powder & Soda Makes Food Unhealthy

by Joel Grant January 20, 2022

"The use of soda or baking powder in breadmaking is harmful and unnecessary. Soda causes inflammation of the stomach and often poisons the entire system. Many housewives think that they cannot make good bread without soda, but this is an error. If they would take the trouble to learn better methods, their bread would be more wholesome, and, to a natural taste, it would be more palatable."

{ Ministry of Healing 300.4}

Many of the recipes, in cookbooks today and products on the store shelves have baking powder and are largely made up of white sugar, white flour, hydrogenated fats, butter, etc. These products are generally classed with "empty calories" foods that are detrimental, rather than vital foods which promote health. These foods are unessential and require much time to prepare. Many homes have baking powder as an essential part of their kitchen inventory and use as a rising agent and to also soften the desired product. Some health advocates would oftentimes excuse its use on the basis that new baking powders are actually aluminum free and rightly so knowing that aluminum can be toxic to the body with connections made to Alzheimer's. In spite of that there is more to both just by there nature that should make persons avoid these harmful things. Lets first identity what baking soda and baking powder is.

Baking Soda

"Baking soda is nothing but sodium bicarbonate, which can be denoted by the chemical formula NAHCO3. Baking soda is basically a salt that comprises a sodium cation... is a white, crystalline solid that has a salty taste." (1) Baking soda is also regarded as an exclusively alkaline compound.

Baking Powder

"Baking powder is baking soda with salt included in it, but the acid within the salt won’t react with the base in the baking powder until liquid has been added to it." (2)

At the end of the day both baking powder and baking soda go by the chemical name NaHCO3 which makes it alkaline. The interesting thing is that the stomach digests food by releasing Hydrochloric Acid (HCL). So what happens when alkaline and acid meet? Well, Neutralization. It is common scientific knowledge that Sodium Bicarbonate (NaHCO3) neutralizes Hydrochloric Acid (HCL). The stomach requires a very acidic ph of 1.5 to 2.5 to maintain digestive health. "A lack of hydrochloric acid (called hypochlorhydria), the acid which determines stomach pH, affects the digestion of iron, folate, B12, calcium and protein."(3)

Stomach acid is very critical to digestion and performs certain roles listed below:

Activate the protein-digesting enzyme pepsin
Encourage the flow of bile and pancreatic enzymes
Assist in proper absorption of minerals and trace elements
Support optimal absorption of important nutrients like folic acid and Vitamin B12
Destroy micro organisms like bacteria, viruses, parasites, yeast, and more
Destroy micro organisms in contaminated meat or products
Act as protective barrier against pathogen overgrowth and infection in the small intestine.
Denature or unwind proteins so they are digestible (4)

Without these processes taking place it is evident that one would not get the benefit of the food they are eating. Lets looks at antacids that are commonly used against heartburn, indigestion and upset stomach:

"..the use of antacids that advertise the addition of calcium carbonate as a valuable source of calcium. As they produce an alkaline pH in the stomach and provide the least absorbable (and cheapest) type of calcium, calcium carbonate, little to none of that calcium becomes available to the body." (3)

So there you have it when the stomach's ph is affected by the substance ingested it can render an atmosphere not conducive to proper digestion. As a result a hole host of problems can begin to occur in the body look at H.Pylori which is a bacteria associated with stomach ulcers; the infection is strongly associated with a lack of stomach acids found especially in the aging. As the stomach therefore becomes alkaline bacterial growth begins to take place. Fortunately garlic, manuka honey and mastic gum are helpful to alleviate such issues.

What havoc does food such as baking powder and baking soda have on the body due to the acidic environment in the stomach not being maintained?

We are unable to absorb minerals, proteins, and vitamins necessary for all the metabolic functions of the body.
We can’t make enzymes that catalyze (speed up or facilitate) digestion.
We can’t detoxify chemicals that enter the liver.
We can’t fight off disease causing bacteria and viruses.
Our bodies must work tirelessly to maintain an alkaline blood and cell environment.
Osteoporosis, for example, evolves partly due to a lack of available minerals to alkalinize the body. The minerals are leached from the bone, weakening the very structure of our bodies. As a result, our digestion and physiology suffer from unrelieved inflammation, the cause of all disease. (3)

"Food can be prepared simply and healthfully, but it requires skill to make it both palatable and nourishing. In order to learn how to cook, women should study, then patiently reduce what they learn to practice. People are suffering because they will not take the trouble to do this. I say to such, It is time for you to rouse your dormant energies and inform yourselves."

Counsels On Diets and Foods 118

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