The quest for effective weight loss strategies has led to interest in various substances, including baking soda and tea. While both have garnered attention for their potential health benefits, it's crucial to examine the scientific evidence behind the claims, especially as they relate to weight management. This article explores the purported weight loss benefits of baking soda and tea, while also looking at the potential risks associated with baking soda consumption.
Baking Soda and Weight Loss: Separating Fact from Fiction
Baking soda, also known as sodium bicarbonate, is a common household ingredient with a wide array of uses, from deodorizing refrigerators to whitening teeth. More recently, it has been touted as a weight loss aid, with proponents suggesting that diluting baking soda in water, apple cider vinegar, or lemon juice and drinking it on an empty stomach can help shed excess weight. Another method involves soaking in a baking soda bath.
Debunking Popular Claims and Theories
One popular theory suggests that baking soda has alkalizing effects on the body, which are believed to promote weight loss or prevent weight gain. However, this theory has been debunked because the body uses tightly regulated processes to control its pH levels, and what you eat or drink has little influence on them.
Another theory suggests that adding baking soda to 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.
While baking soda might soothe an upset stomach by neutralizing stomach acid, this chemical reaction creates carbon dioxide, which 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.
Read also: The Truth About Baking Soda and Coffee for Weight Loss
Minor, Indirect Effects May Be Possible
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 research published in 2014 shows may help you feel less hungry. However, recent studies supporting apple cider vinegar’s weight loss effects are limited.
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.
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.
Methods of Incorporating Baking Soda
There are three popular methods that people use to incorporate baking soda into their daily routines. The first involves diluting 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda in 1-2 cups (240-480 mL) of water and drinking this concoction on an empty stomach whenever it’s most convenient during the day.
Read also: Does Baking Soda Help You Lose Weight?
The second requires mixing 1 teaspoon of baking soda with 2 tablespoons (30 mL) of apple cider vinegar or lemon juice. Once this mixture has stopped releasing gas, you can dilute it in water and drink it on an empty stomach. Diluting is important to avoid throat burns or eroding your tooth enamel, as the exact acidity is unknown.
An alternative way to integrate baking soda to your regimen without ingesting it is to dilute 3-4 cups (662-883 grams) of baking soda in a bathtub full of water prior to soaking in it.
Keep in mind that neither of these preparation methods’ safety is backed by science, so use them at your own risk.
Risks and Side Effects of Baking Soda Consumption
Excess intake of baking soda is associated with a range of side effects.
Consuming large amounts of baking soda can be dangerous, as it may cause metabolic alkalosis, a life threatening condition that occurs when your body is no longer able to control the pH of your blood.
Read also: Best Keto Flour Options
Metabolic alkalosis can result from an excess intake of alkali compounds, such as baking soda, and cause muscle weakness, spasms, an irregular heartbeat, and an altered mental status. If left untreated, it can be deadly.
Baking soda tends to be high in sodium. As such, high intakes of baking soda may cause fluid accumulation or heart failure in some people. People with alcohol use disorder or compromised kidney function should be especially careful.
Baking soda may also cause breathing difficulties and seizures in young children, and it should not be given to children under 5 years old. People who are pregnant or breastfeeding may also benefit from avoiding its intake.
Combining baking soda with an acid, such as apple cider vinegar or lemon juice, causes a chemical reaction that releases carbon dioxide gas. This may result in gas or bloating, especially if you ingest the mixture before all the gas has escaped.
Baking soda may interact with certain medications. People currently taking medications should consult a healthcare professional before adding baking soda to their diet.
Finally, there’s currently little information about the long-term safety of ingesting baking soda, either alone or in combination with lemon juice or apple cider vinegar. Therefore, it may be safest to avoid such mixtures until more research emerges. Soaking in a bathtub containing baking soda may be safer than ingesting it. However, no studies have researched the benefits or risks associated with this practice.
Tea and Weight Loss: Exploring the Connection
Tea, derived from steeping the leaves of Camellia sinensis in water, is the most widely consumed beverage in the world aside from water. Tea contains high concentrations of polyphenolic compounds. The three major types of tea, black, oolong, and green, differ in terms of processing, chemical composition and consumption patterns. Green tea is consumed primarily in Japan, China, and a small subset of Middle Eastern and North African countries. Black tea is commonly consumed primarily in Europe, India, and the United States. Oolong tea is a product that undergoes an intermediate level of oxidation and is consumed most widely in China. Tea and tea polyphenols have been extensively studied for their potential as preventive agents for cancer, heart disease, neurodegenerative disease, and other chronic conditions.
Tea Consumption and Body Weight: Evidence from Research
A limited number of epidemiological studies have been conducted to determine the association between tea consumption and body weight. Wu and colleagues found that habitual tea consumption (primarily green and oolong) was associated with lower waist: hip ratio in Taiwanese adults; Hughes and colleagues found that black tea consumption was associated with lower BMI in the Netherlands. Most recently, a cross-sectional study between tea consumption and body weight status in US adults was reported by Bouchard and colleagues. The authors found that tea was inversely related to waist circumference, however, the method for evaluating tea intake was relatively weak; the authors used only a single cycle of NHANES, which was not adequately weighted for generalizable analysis.
Hot Tea vs. Iced Tea: A Comparative Analysis
In a cross-sectional analysis of a nationally representative sample of US adults, hot tea and iced tea consumption were associated with various markers for obesity and Metabolic Syndrome, however, the association differed by tea type (hot vs. iced). Perhaps one of the most interesting findings in this paper was the opposing relationships between health outcomes and hot and iced tea consumption.
In this sample of adults, approximately 70% consumed iced tea, while 56% consumed hot tea. Typically, hot tea has higher antioxidant content, and often lower sugar content than iced tea; hot tea is typically consumed in a smaller portion than iced tea, therefore exacerbating the sugar: antioxidant relationship.
Adults who regularly consumed hot tea were leaner than non-consumers, having a lower BMI and waist circumference. In contrast, iced tea consumption was associated with an significant increase in waist circumference and BMI in women, even after controlling for various factors.
Potential Mechanisms of Action
One possible theory for the opposite relationship between hot tea consumption and obesity may be that tea consumers have higher intake of caffeine than non-consumers, although non-consumers may be coffee drinkers. Previous studies have indicated caffeine intake affects metabolic rate and energy expenditure, and therefore may influence weight status.
Tea Polyphenols and Weight Management
All performed studies validated the ability of tea and its components to reduce fat stores and body weight of humans. This effect was achieved thanks to polyphenols. According to the existing data, epigallocatechin and caffeine from tea leaves have independent mechanisms of effect but synergic effect on weight loss. According to some sources, black tea polyphenols are more efficient than green tea polyphenols, but other authors report evidence of stronger effect of green tea.
It is presupposed that tea molecules reduce fat stores through several pathways:
- They influence neuroendocrine metabolic regulators of appetite and reduce food consumption.
- They reduce emulsion and absorption of lipids and protein in gastrointestinal system and consequently reduce calorie intake.
- They act on gastrointestinal microbiota (lacto- and bifidobacteria), which are responsible for digestion. For example, they produce short fatty acids, which increase the rate of lipid metabolism.
- They inhibit the differentiation and proliferation of preadipocytes.
- They reduce lipid production.
- They promote lipolysis and lipid metabolism.
- They stimulate conversion of white adipose tissue to brown, increase its oxidation, burning and expenditure of energy through heat production.
- They promote fecal lipid excretion.
However, it is necessary to take into consideration that the effect of green tea and its molecules manifests only when large doses are consumed.
Safe and Sustainable Weight Loss Strategies
There is no scientific evidence that baking soda is effective for weight loss. People are more likely to reach and maintain their goal weight by losing weight gradually and steadily. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that people lose no more than 1-2 pounds (lbs) per week.
Setting Realistic Goals
An important step for weight loss is setting realistic goals. The CDC suggests these goals should be a mix of long- and short-term. For example, losing 10 lbs could be a long-term goal. A short-term goal could be the number of steps a person aims to take each day to lose that weight. Other short-term goals could be walking to and from work or going for a 20-minute bicycle ride over the weekend. Short-term goals should be specific and realistic.
Physical Exercise
Regular physical activity can help a person to achieve or maintain a moderate weight. However, it also offers other benefits, such as lowering the risk of certain health conditions and improving stress levels, cognitive function, sleep, joint mobility, and balance. Adults should aim to get at least 150 minutes of aerobic activity and two days of muscle-strengthening activity each week.
Healthy Eating
Healthful eating habits are vital for losing weight in a sustainable and safe way. Changing eating habits can be challenging, but it is possible to do. People should avoid sudden, drastic changes to their diet, such as only eating a salad at every meal. Although this approach may lead to short-term weight loss, it is challenging to stick to and may not give people all of the necessary nutrients.
Instead, the CDC suggests a three-step approach for developing more healthful eating habits:
- Reflect on eating habits and identify any triggers for habits that are unhealthful.
- Replace less healthful eating habits with more healthful ones.
- Reinforce the new eating habits.
For example, if a person realizes that they eat too quickly, they can consciously focus on eating more slowly by purposely putting down their eating utensils between bites. Another strategy is to make a healthful meal plan and then meal prep for the following week. A person can make all of their meals for the week during the weekend. Doing this can help reduce the temptation of buying takeout or fast food.