Drinking baking soda dissolved in water can help with occasional heartburn and acid indigestion, and it’s FDA-approved for that purpose. But it’s not a daily health tonic. Half a teaspoon contains 630 mg of sodium, roughly a quarter of the recommended daily limit, and overdoing it can cause serious problems ranging from dangerously high blood pH to, in rare cases, stomach rupture.
How It Works for Heartburn
Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate, a basic compound that neutralizes acid on contact. When it reaches your stomach, it reacts with hydrochloric acid and converts it into water and carbon dioxide (the gas you’ll burp up). This raises the pH in your stomach quickly, which is why it provides fast relief from heartburn and acid indigestion.
The FDA-approved dose for adults under 60 is half a level teaspoon dissolved in four ounces of water, taken every two hours as needed, with a maximum of six half-teaspoon doses in 24 hours. If you’re over 60, the limit drops to three half-teaspoon doses per day. It’s not approved for children under 12. This is meant as an occasional remedy, not a long-term antacid strategy.
Sodium Content Adds Up Fast
The biggest everyday concern with drinking baking soda water is sodium. A single half-teaspoon dose delivers 630 mg of sodium. The U.S. Dietary Guidelines cap daily sodium at 2,300 mg, so even one dose accounts for about 27% of that limit before you’ve eaten anything. If you’re taking multiple doses throughout the day for heartburn, you could easily blow past your sodium budget.
That extra sodium matters if you have high blood pressure, heart disease, kidney disease, liver disease, or any condition that causes fluid retention. Sodium bicarbonate can cause your body to hold onto water, worsening swelling in your feet and legs and putting additional strain on your cardiovascular system.
What Happens If You Take Too Much
One teaspoon of baking soda contains roughly 59 milliequivalents of sodium bicarbonate. The FDA considers 200 mEq per day the safe ceiling for younger adults and 100 mEq for those over 60. Exceeding those limits can push your blood pH dangerously high, a condition called metabolic alkalosis.
In one documented case, a man who consumed about 20 grams of baking soda (roughly four teaspoons) developed severe metabolic alkalosis with a blood pH of 7.61, well above the normal range. He arrived at the hospital confused and agitated, with acute kidney injury and liver damage. Published case reports describe a range of symptoms from this kind of overdose: confusion, dizziness, loss of consciousness, muscle twitching, tingling in the hands and feet, and in extreme cases, seizures or coma.
There’s also a physical risk to your stomach. Because baking soda generates carbon dioxide gas rapidly, taking it on a very full stomach can produce enough pressure to cause gastric rupture. This is rare but has been documented in medical literature and typically requires emergency surgery.
Legitimate Medical Uses Beyond Heartburn
Baking soda isn’t just a folk remedy. It has a real role in managing chronic kidney disease under medical supervision. When kidneys lose function, they struggle to clear acid from the blood, leading to a buildup called metabolic acidosis. This accelerates further kidney damage and breaks down muscle tissue.
In a landmark study of 134 patients with advanced kidney disease, those given oral sodium bicarbonate to keep their blood bicarbonate levels at or above 23 mEq/L experienced slower loss of kidney function and were less likely to progress to dialysis. A separate five-year study found that patients taking sodium bicarbonate lost kidney function at a rate of 1.47 mL/min per year, compared to 2.13 mL/min per year for those on placebo. After 12 months, patients also showed improvements in muscle mass and nutritional markers. Half a teaspoon of baking soda dissolved in half a cup of water provides 26.8 mEq of bicarbonate and is sometimes used as a cheaper alternative to prescription tablets for these patients.
This is a supervised medical treatment, though, not something to try on your own. The doses are carefully titrated based on blood tests.
Athletic Performance Benefits
Athletes in high-intensity sports sometimes use sodium bicarbonate as a performance aid. The idea is that buffering acid in the blood helps muscles work harder before fatigue sets in. The International Society of Sports Nutrition considers 0.3 grams per kilogram of body weight the optimal dose, taken 60 to 180 minutes before exercise. For a 70 kg (154-pound) person, that works out to about 21 grams, a substantial amount.
The minimum effective dose is 0.2 g/kg, and going higher than 0.3 g/kg doesn’t improve performance but does increase side effects, primarily gastrointestinal distress: nausea, bloating, and diarrhea. Individual timing matters too, since some people tolerate it better with a longer lead time before exercise. This is a targeted sports nutrition strategy, not a reason to drink baking soda water daily.
Drug Interactions to Watch For
Baking soda changes the pH of your stomach and urine, which can alter how your body absorbs and eliminates certain medications. The Mayo Clinic lists over 30 drugs that interact with sodium bicarbonate, including some seizure medications, antifungals, certain HIV treatments, heart medications like digoxin, and thyroid hormone replacements like levothyroxine. If you take prescription medications regularly, even occasional use of baking soda water is worth mentioning to your pharmacist.
Timing matters as well. Taking baking soda close to meals or alongside other medications can change how those drugs work in your system, either reducing their effectiveness or intensifying side effects.
The Bottom Line on Daily Use
For occasional heartburn, a half teaspoon of baking soda in water is a cheap, fast, FDA-recognized remedy. But “occasional” is the key word. The sodium load alone makes daily use a poor choice for most people, and the risks of overconsumption, from metabolic alkalosis to dangerous drug interactions, are real. If you find yourself reaching for baking soda regularly, that’s a sign the underlying problem needs attention rather than repeated neutralization.