Alkali Therapy for Viral Infections

February 13, 2022

Alkali Therapy for Viral Infections


In 1918 and 1919, during the Great Influenza Pandemic, it was brought to the attention of the US Public Health Service those who naturally took bicarbonate of soda rarely contracted the disease, and if they did, had only mild cases. It wasn't until 1990 that the effect of pH was studied on coronaviruses where it was documented that they were very stable for 24 hours at pH 6 (slightly acidic) but at pH 8, were degraded within 30 minutes. But that is about the sum of the literature out there directly looking at pH and alkali therapy. A hint, from 1919, that bicarb helped people survive an illness in which many were described to succumb within 12 hours to an overwhelming cytokine storm.

Can we paint a picture of what is going on? The clue might come from an exploration of connexins. This is basic human physiology. Every cell in your body, except muscle and red blood cells, have connexin channels. There are 6 proteins in connexins that make a donut shape that links to a similar donut on the cell next to them. That allows the two cells to talk to each other by passing back and forth small molecules that act as signaling agents. There are a raft of molecules that affect many functions of the cell such as cyclic-AMP(cAMP) that are routinely passed back and forth. But our cells also communicate with short chains of messenger RNA through connexin channels. Guess what happens when your cells get stressed? They start running on lactate, become more acidic and connexin channels slam shut.

Bingo, there it is. When you are under physiological stress, your body is frantically trying to mount a defense of the invading organism. COVID virus is known to be extremely efficient at hijacking your energy production to divert it to the manufacture of new lipid coating for new viral particles. The virus has only one action in mind, to replicate and move on. We can't measure the pH inside the cell and we certainly aren't to the point of examing how those connexins work with COVID-19. (Should we now be calling it COVID-22?)

We do know that the human diet has shifted its overall alkali intake from positive 80 meq a day to negative 38 meq. That means from a net alkali diet, to a net acid diet. That's the engine driving our pandemic of osteoporosis. Our blood pH really doesn't change at all in response to alkali-acid intake, but our buffering systems do and our cells and connexins certainly can read that effect.


Hence, we can only offer a hypothesis that is supported by observation but lacking in bench science. Alkali therapy works in viral infections. It increases your cell to cell communication and you end up with a milder form of disease.


www.What will Work for me. For now that has to be good enough. If you get COVID-19, or any other virus, consider taking 2 tablets of Alkaselzer Gold twice a day. That's it. That's all it takes. Some oral bicarb will do too. You can buy Arm and Hammer and take a tablespoon twice a day. That is the same chemical quantity of bicarb we have changed in our paleolithic change of food in the shift to modern food. Potassium citrate will have the same effect. If you are taking that to rebuild your bones, you can probably rest with a slightly smug smile that you are as protected from COVID as you biologically can be, short of turning your immune system on with vaccination or infection.


References: JEBCAMed, Jr Virology,J Physiology, FEBS Letter, Mol Med Rep, Proc Nutr Soc.,


Pop Quiz

1. Through most of mammalian history, we had a predominantly alkaline diet? T or F. Answer: True

2. In the Great Flu Pandemic of 1919, folks were observed to not get the flu when they ate what? Answer: Bicarb of soda. (Strongly alkalizing)

3. Every cell in our bodies (except muscles and red cells) talk to each other by what means? Answer: Connexin proteins that make connecting pores.

4. What happens to those pores when you are "acidic" or under stress and filled with lactate? Answer: Connexin pores shut with acid.

5. How much bicarb does it take to make you effectively alkalized? Answer: Two tablets of Alkaselzer Gold, twice a day. Try it. See if it works for you with your next bout of flu or a cold.


This column is written by Dr. John E Whitcomb, MD,Brookfield Longevity, Brookfield, WI. (262-784-5300)


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