Dr. Tabatha Barber describes a baking soda test for low stomach acid: mix 1/4 teaspoon baking soda in 4-6 ounces cold water, drink on an empty stomach first thing in the morning, and time until you burp. No burp within 3-5 minutes suggests low acid. She links low stomach acid to gut dysbiosis, H. pylori, and recurrent yeast infections.
Questions this video answers
A quarter teaspoon (≈1/4 tsp) of baking soda.
4–6 ounces of cold water.
First thing in the morning on an empty stomach, before eating or drinking anything else.
Wait up to five minutes; a significant burp within about 3–5 minutes indicates sufficient acid.
Repeat at least two to three mornings.
Chapters
There's a really easy way to check for low stomach acid that you can do at home. So what you can do is you can get baking soda and do like a quarter teaspoon of baking soda and 4 to 6 ounces of cold water. First thing in the morning before you eat or drink anything else, you drink this baking soda and water and see how long it takes for you to have a really good burp or a belch and wait up to five minutes. If you haven't burped in five minutes, that is a sign of insufficient stomach acid production. Because baking soda is bicarbonate, sodium bicarb, it's very basic on the ph scale. And semic acid is hydrochloric acid. It's very acidic. And so they're supposed to balance each other out. And so if you don't burp or belch, you haven't created that chemical reaction necessary. And so I would say do this at least two or three times, two or three mornings to see, am I really not burping within three, five minutes? And don't confuse that with the little burps or feelings that you would get just from drinking it that, you know, once you first drink it, you might feel little burps of swallowed air, that type of thing you're looking for, like a real burp or belch, you know, in three to five minutes. So that is your poor man's test or woman's test of how you can see if you have sufficient stomach acid. So that's really important to know. With my patients, I often see low stomach acid look like gut dysbiosis on stool tests. So major H. Pylori, overgrowth, staph, strep, bacillus. All these species that are supposed to be at lower levels, like they get out of control because there's no acid to kill them off. Same with yeast or candida. So that's another thing to look for is if you're having recurrent yeast infections and that type of thing, then it could very well be low stomach acid.
