Use This To Remove Splinters – and To Address Many Other Health
Needs
by
Joseph Mercola
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by Joseph Mercola: Simple
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Baking soda,
or sodium bicarbonate, is a staple in many homes for baking and
cleaning purposes – but there’s a good chance you’re not taking
full advantage of all that baking soda has to offer.
For instance,
did you know there’s a whole gamut of medicinal uses for baking
soda, such as safely removing splinters from your fingers, or just
brushing your teeth?
It rates right
up there with hydrogen
peroxide as one of the most inexpensive and safe health tools
around (you can buy an entire box of baking soda for about $1),
so it makes sense to learn all you can about the many, many uses
of baking soda.
A Brief Baking
Soda History
In its natural
form, baking soda is known as nahcolite, which is part of the natural
mineral natron. Natron, which contains large amounts of sodium bicarbonate,
has been used since ancient times. For instance, the Egyptians used
natron as a soap for cleansing purposes. Later, anecdotal reports
throughout history suggest that many civilizations used forms of
baking soda when making bread and other foods that required rising.
However, it
wasn’t until 1846 when Dr. Austin Church and John Dwight began to
manufacture and sell the compound we know as baking soda today.
By the 1860s, baking soda was featured in published cookbooks, and
in the 1930s was widely advertised as a “proven medical agent.”1
Come 1972, the idea to keep a box of baking soda in your fridge
to keep food fresh was born, and it really caught on … raise your
hand if you have a box in your fridge right now!
Baking soda
was popularized by Arm & Hammer more than 150 years ago, and
while many are aware of its versatile qualities for cooking and
household use, few people realize that baking soda also has potent
medicinal properties.
Baking Soda
May Help Fight Colds and the Flu
Some people
believe that when taken internally, baking soda can help maintain
the pH balance in your bloodstream. This is likely the basic premise
behind its recommended uses against both colds and influenza symptoms.
In their booklet “Arm & Hammer Baking Soda Medical Uses,”
published in 1924, Dr. Volney S. Cheney recounts his clinical successes
with sodium bicarbonate in treating cold and flu:2
“In 1918
and 1919 while fighting the ‘flu’ with the U. S. Public Health Service
it was brought to my attention that rarely anyone who had
been thoroughly alkalinized with bicarbonate of soda contracted
the disease, and those who did contract it, if alkalinized early,
would invariably have mild attacks.
I have
since that time treated all cases of ‘cold,’ influenza and LaGripe
by first giving generous doses of bicarbonate of soda, and in many,
many instances within 36 hours the symptoms would have entirely
abated.
Further,
within my own household, before Woman’s Clubs and Parent-Teachers’
Associations, I have advocated the use of bicarbonate of soda as
a preventive for 'colds,' with the result that now many reports
are coming in stating that those who took 'soda' were not
affected, while nearly everyone around them had the 'flu.'
Not too certain
though about how valid the pH optimizing is as to baking soda’s
mechanism of action, as clinically I have frequently used diluted
hydrochloric acid intravenously to also help people nearly instantly
recover from acute infections. Obviously this is pushing the pH
in the opposite direction, yet both appear to work, suggesting that
the mode of action may be other than pH mediated.
The administration
is easy enough, and is relatively harmless even if you should not
experience relief from your cold symptoms. Simply dissolve the recommended
amount of baking soda in a glass of cold water and drink it. Recommended
dosages from the Arm & Hammer Company for colds and influenza
back in 1925 were:
- Day
1 – Take six doses of ½ teaspoon of baking soda
in glass of cool water, at about two-hour intervals
- Day
2 – Take four doses of ½ teaspoon of baking soda
in glass of cool water, at the same intervals
- Day
3 – Take two doses of ½ teaspoon of baking soda
in glass of cool water morning and evening, and thereafter ½ teaspoon
in glass of cool water each morning until cold symptoms are gone
11 More Medicinal
Uses for Baking Soda
You’ll be amazed
at the myriad of remedies you can whip up if you have a box of baking
soda handy. Among them:
- Ulcer
Pain: I have personally recommended this to many including
family members and have been surprised how remarkably effective
it is. This would make sense, as the baking soda would immediately
neutralize stomach acid. Dosing is typically 1-2 teaspoons in
a full glass of water.
- Splinter
removal: Add a tablespoon of baking soda to a small glass
of water, then soak the affected area twice a day. Many splinters
will come out on their own after a couple of days using this treatment.
- Sunburn
remedy: Add ½ cup of baking soda to lukewarm bathwater,
then soak in the tub for natural relief. When you get out, let
your skin air dry, rather than toweling off the excess baking
soda, for extra relief. You can also add a mixture of baking soda
and water to a cool compress and apply it to the sunburn directly.
- Deodorant:
If you want to avoid the parabens and aluminum found in many deodorants
and antiperspirants, try a pinch of baking soda mixed with water
instead. This simple paste makes an effective and simple natural
deodorant.
- Enhanced
sports performance: Distance runners have long engaged
in a practice known as “soda doping” – or taking baking soda capsules
– before races to enhance performance,3
a measure that’s thought to work similarly to carbohydrate loading.
While I don’t suggest you try this at home, it’s another example
of baking soda benefits.
- Plaque-busting
tooth and gum paste: For an incredibly effective tooth
and gum paste, use a mixture of six parts of baking soda to one
part of sea salt. Place them in a blender and mix for 30 seconds,
then place in a container to use. Wet the tip of your index finger
and place a small amount of the salt and soda mixture on your
gums. Starting with the upper outside gums and then the inside
of the upper, followed by the lower outside of the gums then the
lower inside, rub the mixture onto your teeth and gums. Spit out
the excess. After 15 minutes rinse your mouth. This mixture is
incredibly effective at killing bacteria.
- Insect
bites: Apply a paste made of baking soda and water to
insect bites to help relieve itching. You can also try rubbing
the dry powder onto your skin. This is also effective for itchy
rashes and poison ivy.
- Teeth
whitener: For a natural way to whiten your teeth, crush
one ripe strawberry and mix it with 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda.
Spread the mixture onto your teeth and leave on for five minutes.
Then brush your teeth and rinse. This method should be used no
more than once a week, as excessive use could potentially damage
your tooth enamel.
- Foot
soak: Add three tablespoons of baking soda to a tub of
warm water for an invigorating foot soak.
- Exfoliator:
A paste made from three parts of baking soda combined with 1 part
water can be used as an exfoliator for your face and body. It’s
natural, inexpensive and gentle enough to use every day.
- Detox
bath: Baking soda and apple cider make a wonderful spa-like
bath for soaking away aches and pains and detoxing. It also cleans
the tub and the drain, as a bonus!
Baking Soda
is an Excellent Household Cleaner, Too
After you’ve
stashed a box of baking soda in your medicine cabinet, put one under
your kitchen sink, in your bathroom and with your cleaning supplies
too …
- Baking soda
is great to scrub your bath and kitchen with. Put it in a glass
grated cheese container with a stainless steel top that has holes
in it, and just sprinkle the baking soda on the surfaces and scrub.
You may add a few drops of your favorite essential oil to this.
Lavender and tea tree oil have potent anti-bacterial qualities.
- Baking soda
mixed with apple cider vinegar is a bubbly combination that has
many uses. As a drain cleaner, sprinkle baking soda down the drain,
then add apple cider vinegar and let it bubble for 15 minutes,
then rinse with hot water. This is a safer alternative to dangerous
drain cleaners.
- Soak pots
and pans in hot water and baking soda for 15 minutes to easily
wipe away baked-on food.
- Use baking
soda to scrub your barbecue grill.
- Clean baby
toys in a mixture of 4 tablespoons of baking soda and 1 quart
of water.
- Baking soda
can also be used as a fabric softener in your laundry, or to get
your clothes whither and brighter (add one cup to your laundry
load).
- Baking soda
is a natural carpet cleaner. Sprinkle it onto carpets, let it
sit for 15 minutes, then vacuum it up.
- To polish
silver without using toxic silver polish, fill your kitchen sink
with hot water, add a sheet of aluminum foil and baking soda,
and let the silver pieces soak until clean. It is an easy and
fun way to clean silver.
- Sprinkle
baking soda in your shoes for a natural deodorizer.
- In the event
of a minor grease fire in your kitchen, use baking soda to help
smother out the flames.
Not bad for
around $1 a box, right?
[+] Sources and References
August
28, 2012
Copyright ©
2012 Dr. Joseph Mercola
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