How I managed? is a series of blogs dedicated to real life cases where I, Dr Rachana Jasani; will be penning down a few of my patients journeys and how I modified their diet which helped them avoid complications. Todays first episode of this series is dedictated to dietary restrictions for chronic kidney disease i.e. for ones on a renal diet
During my routine patient consultation session, one of my patient’s wife asked me, ‘why are you asking me to stop adding soda bi carbonate to my husbands daily diet when the kidney doctor has himself given mediciations containing soda bi carbonate. This lady was used to adding baking soda to most of vegetables and pulses in order to maintain their colour and texture. She also used to add it fermented recipes like dhoklas, idlis, breads, etc to add flufiness or sponginess. To this, I explained what is exactly soda bi carbonate, when and why is it used and how it affects the ones who are on a renal diet
What is soda bi carbonate ?
Sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3), also known as baking soda, is used both as a kitchen ingredient. This kitchen ingredient is manufactured, packed, stored as per guidelines for kitchen grade. On the other hand, it is also used as a medicine mainly to lower stomach acids or to correct acid-alkaline imbalance in the body. In kidney failure, this medicine is specifically precribed to lower metabolic acidosis (formation of acids in the body). These medicines are manufactured, packed, stored as per pharmaceutical grade guidelines. Now the difference between food grade soda bi carbonate and pharma grade soda bi carbonate is as discussed below:
Food Grade Soda Bi Carbonate (kitchen soda):
- It is mainly used for adding flufinnes to fermented foods
- It is also used as a leavening agent for baking breads, cakes, biscuits, puffs, etc
- This kitchen soda is typically 100% soda and is undiluted
Pharmaceutical Grade Soda Bi Carbonate (medicinal soda):
- It is mainly used to treat metabolic acidosis by replenishing bicarbonate stores and correcting pH imbalance especially seen in kidney patients
- It is usually available in various strengths (e.g., 8.4% solution, 1 mEq/mL) and is also diluted
- Its dose is precise as per patients medical condition (stage of kidney disease, etc)
What are the key differences in food grade soda bi carbonate and pharma grade soda bi carbonate?
- Concentration: Medicinal sodium bicarbonate is often diluted to specific concentrations for IV administration
- Dosage and Administration: Its dose is precisely administered as per patients health condition as against this kitchen grade baking soda is concentrated and the dose is as per the requirement of the recipe and not as per the patients health condition
- Purity: Pharma grade baking soda undergoes stricter quality control measures as compared to the kitchen grade baking soda
With the above background I explained my patron to avoid using kitchen grade soda bi carbonate for day to day cooking and this way my patients wife stopped adding soda daily to all vegetables. As he was on a renal diet, so i asked her to use either curd or buttermilk to make fermented foods soft rather than adding baking soda
For the ones reading this blog and on a renal diet, I also have 1 more message for you:
Do not attempt to use kitchen-grade sodium bicarbonate as a substitute for medicinal sodium bicarbonate, as this can lead to serious health consequences
At NutriKonnect, we have one-to-one diet consultation sessions for kidney diets. We also maintain comprehensive follow ups to keep your parameters in check. If you are on a kidney diet and need innvovative kidney friendly recipes, you can avail our advance or premium nutrition consutation sessions.
We also have comprehensive recipe courses for ones on a kidney diet. For tasty and healthy kidney – friendly lunch and dinner menus with desserts, you can avail our recipe course, click here to gain access
