Baking soda is known for its wide array of uses, from deodorizing your refrigerator to whitening your teeth. Weight loss is one of its latest purported benefits.
Some people suggest that diluting baking soda in water, apple cider vinegar, or lemon juice and drinking it on an empty stomach can help you easily shed excess weight. Others suggest that simply soaking in a baking soda bath will do the trick.
This article explores whether baking soda offers any weight loss benefits, as well as the potential risks associated with ingesting baking soda concoctions.
Claims abound that baking soda, when combined with water, apple cider vinegar, or lemon juice, is especially effective at helping you shed excess body fat. However, there’s little science to back this up.
Likely has little direct effects on weight loss
Baking soda is touted to have alkalizing effects on the body, which are commonly believed to promote weight loss or prevent weight gain. However, this theory has been debunked time and time again.
That’s because your body uses tightly regulated processes to control its pH levels, and what you eat or drink has little influence on them (1Trusted Source, 2Trusted Source).
Another theory suggests that adding baking soda to your bathwater will help you lose weight by replenishing your levels of magnesium and sulfate — two nutrients touted to boost your metabolism and eliminate toxins. Yet, this theory is not backed up by science either.
However, baking soda might soothe an upset stomach, as it has the ability to neutralize stomach acid (3).
This chemical reaction creates carbon dioxide, which is a gas that can cause you to burp. While this may give you a feeling of a lighter stomach, it has no direct influence on your total body fat.
May have minor, indirect effects on weight loss
Baking soda may have an indirect weight-loss-promoting effect, mainly due to the liquid you choose to mix it with.
One popular option is to mix baking soda with apple cider vinegar, a liquid that older research shows may help you feel less hungry. However, recent studies supporting apple cider vinegar’s weight loss effects are limited (4Trusted Source, 5Trusted Source, 6Trusted Source).
Baking soda is often diluted in water, either alone, or together with apple cider vinegar or lemon juice.
When consumed daily, such beverages may result in larger daily fluid intake. This may improve your overall hydration levels, an effect that studies suggest may reduce hunger, increase metabolism, and promote body fat loss (7Trusted Source, 8Trusted Source, 9Trusted Source).
It’s important to note that these possible weight-loss-promoting effects have little to do with baking powder and more to do with other liquids. Adding baking soda to the mix appears to offer few additional benefits.