A Rising Health Risk by Dorcas Anne Gerace
Thanks to Dorcas, and also to Macrobiotics Today Magazine where this article orginally appeared in their Sept/Oct 1999 issue, for letting us remind you of the dangers of consuming baking powder and baking soda. Bita Hunt, whose cookies we sell at CyberMacro, recently did a survey of other cookies that also use the word macrobiotic to describe themselves, and was very surprised to find that most were using baking powder, while she is very firmly against this. After reading Dorcas's article, you may very well question what is in your so called healthy cookie or baked good before you take your first bite.
Further on this theme of consuming baked goods made with only the healthiest of ingredients, we are having a monthly recipe makeover contest, which this month is for cookies, please read more about it here
That baking powder and baking soda in your kitchen cabinet, could it be a rising health risk? Because of the widespread use of these items in food manufacturing and the proven harm they can do in the body, I feel so uneasy about the way these products are promoted in our own macrobiotic community that I felt the need to connect with my fellow teachers and cooks in life's workroom. The information that follows is a valuable collection of information of mine I have collected since I discovered the harm of these poisons when I was just in my middle 20s. It took me a few years to really make a commitment to baking and cooking without needing that "store bought appearance" especially to my baked goods.
As a result, I was challenged to study and learn to prepare and present a fine looking end product, wonderfully tasting, and most important to my peace of mind, a food that wouldn't harm that valued stream of life: my blood and the blood quality of my family.
BAKING SODA
Since baking powder has sodium bicarbonate in it, I will focus my information for this article on sodium bicarbonate also known as baking soda. Baking soda is an alkali prepared by the reaction of soda ash with carbon dioxide (the same poison our systems huff and puff to
throw off as a waste product) and used in: prepared pancake, biscuit, and muffin mixes, various crackers and cookies, soups (specifically tomato to adjust the acidity of the tomato) ices, sherbets, pastes, beverages, syrups for frozen products, confections, self rising flours, cornmeals, canned peas, canned beans, and is used as a neutralizer for butter, cream, milk, and ice cream. For use on the skin, it can leave an alkaline residue that may and usually does cause irritation on very dry skin. It may alter the urinary excretion of other drugs, thus making those drugs either more toxic or less potent.
On page 29 of Zen Macrobiotics [1965 edition] you will read, "baked goods that contain baking soda are not used. The soda promotes rapid-rising and expansion in a dough mixture. As such, it is too yin (emphasis mine) to be a part of a balanced, healthful diet. It is so yin that no matter how you try to offset the high alkalinity, you can never make a food with it fit for human consumption. The damage to the lining of the stomach, nervous system, brain and blood is done regardless of how much yang you wish to rationalize the little bit of poison of the yin soda toward balance, it is "..Too yin to be a part of a balanced, healthful 'diet."
When I first began eating macrobiotically, I heard someone say that with the very first meal I would eat that was cooked with the understanding of the macrobiotic way, my body would began to make its blood toward that balance. I become very excited at just the thought of that! There begins a change in the plasma, red and white blood cells, consequently the quality of blood my brain receives improves and the rest of my body system also experience the difference. Even the very origin of the imbalances are being touched with that balanced meal. The body, has a clean chance to "make something of itself so to speak. To be able to make out of itself what the earth is meant to give us for food by the divine plan. The commitment to continued balance offers then the benefit of homeostasis (organic equilibrium). The very vital force, the chi is being cleansed so it may flow freely through the being, the chemical processes eased and elevated, the electrical system gets stimulated with an enjoyable, calm verve and one's emotions and attitudes are lightened and it is possible to cope more effectively with stress.
BLOOD CHEMISTRY
Dr. Sherry Rogers in her book entitled, You Are What You Ate gives me an idea. It is no secret that biochemists report that there are major changes that occur in our blood chemistry when we eat. When observing a drop of blood on a glass slide for the microscope, immediate signs of debris from poor fat digestion, red blood cell rouleau formation, toxic blood, inactive/overactive white blood cells, fungus, yeast, bacteria, and even parasites, just to name a few signs, are visible. Oh yes, and the sign we are hearing a lot about now, free radicals. Free radicals seem to be more a common sight with blood screening, Those are the ones that spell degenerative disease. I should like to suggest that baking powder and baking soda can be added to the list of fumes, drugs, smog, and inhalation of toxins that lend to the bane called free radicals.
Some food substances must be taken in several gram quantities to make a major change in the chemical components of the blood. Fiber falls in that category. Other food substances require only milligram quantities to change the composition of the blood, such as salt. One half of one percent of a food such as salt can cause a major alteration in blood constituents. When it comes to baking soda or baking powder, not a great amount of it is required before the effect on the blood is profound. Since blood bathes every cell in the body, any substance dissolved in the blood-carrying system will and does have an influence on all tissue. While both sodium and bicarbonate are natural substances in the body, the need for the metabolic control (an inside job from being nourished with a balanced diet) of both of them being very tight causes a derangement in the physiology when the amounts are in excess or extrinsic. Our spiritual experience is greatly affected as well, since the brain/ mind and stomach are closely connected by large nerves and a disordered stomach produces a disordered, uncertain state of mind. The main nerve of the stomach, the vagus nerve, is also one of the main nerves of the brain. When the stomach is irritated and upset, reflex impulses travel back up this nerve and cause the brain to feel irritated leading to mental confusion and dullness. For the body, excess bicarbonate represents a threat, as it can profoundly alter the ph of the blood (not just urine and saliva -but even more profoundly the blood which has dangerous implications) and therefore many tissues of all the systems. So it may just as well be said then that the entire system is deranged by the use of baking soda and baking powder. Some vitamins in foods are consequently made unavailable to the body such as thiamin and vitamin C as they are largely destroyed by too much of these poisons.
The stomach requires a very acid medium to do its work. The ph of the stomach contents should be approximately 1.5 to 3.0. The ph of the solution of baking soda is about 9. Most foods by contrast run about 4 to 7. When one introduces an alkalizing substance into the stomach, digestion is delayed while the stomach takes on the expensive task of producing more acid. This production of larger quantities of acid depletes the energy of the stomach. Since the stomach is sending in the troops to pump more acid, and may not be able to stop producing the acid at just the proper quantity, excessive acid may be temporarily produced causing the person to be susceptible to peptic ulcer. (This presents further complication with the digestion because of the imbalance it would cause as the food enters the small intestine.) Imagine The see-saw effect of using anti-acids! Since soda is so rapidly absorbed into the blood stream, taken too often, it can lead to alkalosis (far more to be feared than acidosis) which places a fearful burden on the kidneys. If one were to put a bit of the hydrochloric acid on his/her leg, for example, at the ph of 1.5 to 3.0, the cannibal workings of it would devour the flesh pronto. In the stomach where the acid needs to be that level, with the healthy mucus lining to protect the organ itself, it works according to divine plan.
SOUNDING THE ALARM
Ingesting an alkali that strips the lining or inflames it, prompts the need to sound the alarm to adjust it back to the ph as near normal as possible or 1:5 to 3.0. This large spread in the numbers of 1.5/3.0 to an alkaline of 9.0 is difficult to bring back to normal, especially when one abuses the range with substances as poisonous as baking soda and baking powder.
The American Journal of Medicine 87.7 July 1989 reported that sodium bicarbonate reduces both heart and system oxygenation. It may actually lead to oxygen starvation of the heart muscle in some of the population with that pathology. Another potentially injurious substance in baking soda is the sodium. For some people with a family history of hypertension, the use of baking powder could cause hypertension to appear earlier. Population studies reveal that the higher the intake of that quality of sodium, the greater the incidence of hypertension in that group.
BAKING POWDER
Baking powder is simply baking soda to which neutralizing substances have been added to make the effects of the alkaline baking soda less objectionable. I have a friend who has a cook book for allergy-problem folks that suggests putting buffered vitamin C in the recipe with the soda as a healthy alternative to yeast usage. May I quote George Ohsawa's gentle admonition from page 29 of Zen Macrobiotics again: "...The soda promotes rapid-rising and expansion in a dough mixture as such, it is too yin (emphasis mine) to be a part of a balanced healthful diet.
Buffered vitamin C is not going to balance the alkaline substance of baking soda to make it any easier on your stomach ph either. The chemicals used to neutralize add their own harmful effects while not reducing the harm from the baking soda.
Those chemicals include three principle types; 1) phosphate: this substance irritates the kidneys to excrete calcium in the urine. The buffer system kicks in pulling calcium from the bones and consequently reducing blood calcium. This domino affect has deep implications that can lead to a "disease label" eventually. 2) Aluminate: nearly half of the baking powder used in the United States contains aluminum. Some studies find aluminum is a possible factor in Alzheimer's disease. It is also detrimental to the skeletal. Further it is a powerful astringent and irritates the stomach. Aluminum-free baking powder does not diminish the effects of the harm of the baking powder. 3) Tartrate: this chemical is also injurious to the kidneys, possibly leading to nephritis (inflammation to the kidneys).
Perhaps you already have a label or two you are working on, using a macrobiotic diet to help the body correct itself. I offer the following as possibilities that could be aggravated from the addition of these poisons to your dietary fare.
With the disturbance of the ph, being swung so wide in an attempt to balance the ph, the liver becomes toxic, The bile output becomes weak. There is a loss of energy; digestion is too rapid and there is a possibility of diarrhea. Arthritis symptoms can be accelerated. If the inside of the stomach can suffer erosion of the lining, there is a possibility there would be some atherosclerosis, collagen disease, or tension in the neck and shoulders.
Those wonderful greens you are purchasing (wonderful free radical fighters) cannot work hard enough to feed your lung energy and impart the necessary elements like calcium and vitamin C because the chemicals in the soda robs it. Nerves would be involved; there would be a tendency toward urethra and bladder inflammation; sinusitis, colitis and diverticulosis.
I really have a deep need to assure you that there is a way to eliminate these chemicals from your pantry and learn to make light and pleasant breads and baked goods without them. Even if you should have to suffer some "humiliations" as Mr. Ohsawa called the cooking boo-boos, just eat them with gratitude and humor and keep studying for the way to make the best for yourself and your family.
When you begin to peruse your cookbooks, checking for recipes without baking soda and baking powder, you may find in some that you have recipes that suggest using vinegar with the soda, or buttermilk with the soda. These products added to the soda do indeed adjust the alkaline of the soda and baking powder in the mixing bowl. However, the harm of the poison of the baking powder is still available to do its derangement to the stomach acid and lining. A food with the ph of 4 to 7 as nature made it is not met with the alarm within the system the way the poisonous substances in question do.
You might find recipes that will call for soy flour or soy powder to use instead of eggs or baking powder/soda. I should like to gently suggest that you keep searching for a better recipe. Hexane gas is used to extract the oil from the soy bean, so that the flour and powder have that poison in the residue that is used to make TVP, soy flour and powder. The simpler the better! I avoid the use of eggs, butter, milk, and plastic fats like margarine also.
A few resources I should like to recommend for recipes to begin this new approach are as follows; Basic Macrobiotic Cooking, Julia Ferre, American Macrobiotic Cuisine, Meredith McCarty (look for other books by Meredith also), Amber Waves of Grain, Alex and Gale Jack; The Self-healing Cookbook, Kristina Turner, Macrobiotic Cuisine Lima Ohsawa; Cooking for Regeneration, Cecile Levin, soon to be released as a revision. Perhaps you already have one or more of these in your library. Make it easy on yourself and use a tested recipe before attempting to adjust one you are already using. Your efforts will be blessed, without "the rising health risk."
NOTES
Zen Macrobiotics, page 29, 1965 edition, edited by Oles and Suehle
Zen Macrobiotics, page 52, 1995 edition, edited by Carl Ferre
The American Journal of Medicine 87.7 July 1989
You Are What You Ate, Dr. Sherry Rogers
Dorcas Teaching at the GOMF Summer Camp 2003
Photo by Gerard Lum
Dorcas Gerace resides in Lake Montezuma, AZ and at present is not taking appointments.
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