Drinking baking soda does not cure cancer

On the internet there are claims that researchers at University of Arizona are planning clinical trials on the use of baking soda as treatment of cancer.

Here is the article that allegedly document this claim. But the article does no such thing. The article reports fundings to biomedical engineers who are working on a method to measure pH inside cancers.

Cancers are often more acidic than the rest of the body. How this comes about is described in this post. This may influence the efficacy of some types of chemotherapy. And it may also influence the cancers ability to spread.

There are two paragraphs in the article that may appear to support what the baking soda supporters claim. We will start taking a look at this one:

Drinking baking soda has been proven to reduce or eliminate the spread of breast cancer to the lungs, brain and bone, but too much baking soda can also damage normal organs.

Suppressed by Scientists and Big Pharma: The Hidden Cancer Cure… But Which One??

Altmeds keep telling us that “they”  (science and “big pharma”) know there is a cure for cancer, but that this knowledge is hidden from us, “so that the multinational pharmaceuticals could continue to make money. Where would they be if diseases like cancer were easily curable?”

Alternative Medicine: Double Corruption

Last year we blogged about Kim Tinkham, who decided to treat her breast cancer with Robert O. Young’s alternative cancer treatment, which he proudly calls the “pH miracle” treatment.

On his website Young proclaimed that his pH miracle treatment had reversed Kim Tinkham’s cancer. Apparently Kim believed him, for she allowed Young to use her in several of his YouTube videos, in which she touted his treatment and stated that it had cured her of her breast cancer.

Quack Victim Kim Tinkham Dies of Breast Cancer

I just read on Orac’s Respectful Insolence that Kim Tinkham has died of breast cancer.

A few years ago Kim Tinkham was diagnosed with breast cancer. Inspired by Australian Rhonda Byrne’s book The Secret, she decided to treat her cancer with alternative therapy only.

An important part of Kim Tinkham’s treatment seems to have been Robert O. Young’s acid based therapy, which claims that cancer is always caused by excess acid in the body and consequently the only way to cure it is by adhering to an “alkaline” diet.

On several occasions, Tim Kinkham publicly claimed she was cured of her breast cancer thanks to alternative therapy. She appeared in several of Robert Young’s promotional videos (most of which have now been removed) and was touted by him as one of his success stories.

Kim Tinkham also appeared on the Oprah Show, where she explained how The Secret’s “law of attraction”, which claims that we attract what we think and feel, had inspired her and led to her cure.

Sadly, it was not to be.

Sodium Bicarbonate Really Works… for H1N1 influenza!

Oh, my. We overlooked something. ‘Respected’ woo-meister Dr Mercola proposes another use for Sodium Bicarbonate! As he believes, it cannot only cure cancer, but is also a good for ….. treating H1N1 influenza!

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.

Miracles do happen!

Sodium Bicarbonate Really Works! :-)

We have spent a lot of energy here to debunk Tullio Simoncini’s baking soda therapy as a cure for cancer.

I am afraid we may have been wrong…

Tullio Simoncini: Of Rodents, Research and Baking Soda

In the stats of this blog I can see from which pages people clicked to get to our blog. Sometimes I take a peek at these pages, as I did last week.

It landed me in a discussion on the ‘cancer therapy’ of Tullio Simoncini, which included some rather opinionated proponents of our Italian friend. A blog member named Byron stated that there was no evidence to prove Simoncini wrong, so I decided to tell them that research showed that sodium bicarbonate does nothing to stop cancer growth and was found even to stimulate it, giving the relevant link on our blog. 

Continued: Simoncini sCAM Murderer?

Tullio Simoncini, a convicted ex medical doctor, ‘discovered’ that cancer is no more than the fungus candida albicans, and claims it can easily be cured with sodium bicarbonate (baking soda). Until now he has failed to deliver any evidence for his ‘discovery.’ 

In November 2008 we posted an email which was sent to Healthfraud, concerning a patient with glioblastoma.

Cancer, Fungus and Sodium Bicarbonate: Tullio Simoncini and How Not To Cure Skin Cancer

Tullio Simoncini, a convicted ex medical doctor, ‘discovered’ that cancer is no more than the fungus candida albicans, and that it can be cured successfully with sodium bicarbonate. Skin cancer is also made of candida albicans, but can only be cured by local application of Iodine – not sodium bicarbonate, like all other cancers. Says Tullio Simoncini.

By the way, there is no scientific evidence whatsoever that cancer is caused by candida albicans or that it can be cured with sodium bicarbonate – or with iodine for that matter.

On his website Simoncini publishes ‘evidence’ of his miracle cures. Most of these stories lack all essential medical information and are therefore virtually meaningless. However, in some cases a minimum of information is given, making it possible to find out what really happened. Invariably, heavy manipulation of data is shown, as in this case of a gentleman from Australia who suffered from skin cancer on his scalp.

Is Cancer a Fungus? Tullio Simoncini and Bladder Cancer – Again

This story is a translation of a post on a French blog that tells of the night shift of a physician – a nephrologist – who is the blog owner and the author of the article. Thanks also to WeWee for this introduction, to which we have added some details about two other patients of Simoncini.

DIY cancer treatment

On the web site of Tullio Simoncini, who claims he can cure cancer with baking soda, there is a page on DIY-treatments: it explains how patients can administer their baking soda infusions themselves in their own home. Simoncini’s Dutch patient Marjolein did this too.

Who in the world would believe such nonsense as DIY-treatment for cancer with baking soda? Well, frightened cancer patients to begin with, desperately frightened of having cancer and of the treatments they may have to undergo to save themselves. But then you hear of a ‘doctor’ who promises a 99,9 % cure, without any of the nasty side effects of conventional treatments! When your fear has made you vulnerable and gullible, it is easy to fall into this trap.