Chapter 10: Acids and alkalis · Part 1: Alkalis
Sodium bicarbonate
No badge
The worst fact: in very rare cases, taken as an antacid after a big meal, it has burst the stomach: the carbon dioxide it releases adds to an already overfull stomach. A review found 36 reported cases of spontaneous stomach rupture from any cause; 10 involved bicarb, and 41.6% of all 36 patients died.
Why brands use it: it's a mild alkali and a gentle scrubbing powder.
Take care if: you use it as an antacid often or in large doses. Overuse can upset the body's acid balance, raise blood sodium and blood pressure, and lower potassium.
Comes from: washing soda (sodium carbonate) reacted with carbon dioxide.
Myth check: "Bicarb and vinegar together make a powerful cleaner": no. They react into water, a salt and fizz, and the salt left behind is an even weaker cleaner than bicarb. In a popular oven-cleaner recipe (1½ cups bicarb to ¼ cup vinegar), a chemist calculated that over 99% of the bicarb is still there after the fizz, doing the real work with your scrubbing. The fizz can help a little in a blocked drain.
Contaminants: nil.
Fair to say: despite wide use, little harm is recorded.
We use this ingredient. It's in our Laundry Powder. You scoop it into the machine and it's rinsed out with the wash.
Correct as of November 2026. What the badges mean
Sources
- Australian Government. Poisons Standard October 2026 (SUSMP), F2026L01327: sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, alkaline salts, monoethanolamine, sulfamic acid, hydrochloric acid, acetic acid; Appendix B (sodium bicarbonate).
- Safe Work Australia. Hazardous Chemical Information System (HCIS): classifications for each chemical, and for ethylene oxide, carbon monoxide and acetaldehyde.
- HSDB (US National Library of Medicine), via PubChem: production and impurity data for each chemical.
- Han et al. Gastric rupture after sodium bicarbonate: case reports and review. J Eat Disord 2022;10:157.
- Kilah N. Cleaning with vinegar and baking soda. The Conversation, 2024.
The full source list is at the end of Chapter 10.