Baking Soda?
 

I've noticed that when I use baking soda in recipes...they taste very bitter to me. Dh and the kids don't seem to mind, though dh says he can tell there's a difference between BS pancakes and BSfree pancakes. I'm wondering if its just not good for me right now? Or could it actually be slightly off? (In other words...should I bother buying new baking soda, or has anyone noticed a similar issue? Maybe its because I'm having trouble with acids, so there's nothing to temper it?)

I found this about bitter taste of baking soda.
http://chemistry.about.com/cs/foodch...f/blbaking.htm

Anne

Too much baking soda or baking powder usually results in a too salty and maybe bitter to some kind of taste.
When using GF flours, extra BS is usually in the recipes to help make it fluffy. I've seen alternatives that include a mixture of powdered egg replacer, cream of tarter, BS and Baking Powder with Xanthan gum.
A note on Baking Powder, but sure to get the non-aluminum kind, the aluminum kind does give a horrible flavor not to mention all the bad stuff about aluminum.

Thanks...so I do need to find an acid if I want to use BS. Hmmm.

Unfortunately (Or perhaps, fortunately?) most baking powder contains cornstarch, another allergen of mine, so I have to make my own by mixing BS with cream of tartar. :) No aluminum there...I hope!

I don't think BS works without the presence of acid. At least, I think that's how Alton Brown explained it.

The FAQ has some BS info: http://www.goodeatsfanpage.com/FAQ/FAQ400s.htm

And this talks a bit about how baking soda lowers the acidity of things:
http://www.goodeatsfanpage.com/Seaso...Transcript.htm

And this explains even more: http://chemistry.about.com/cs/foodch...f/blbaking.htm

baking soda making PD symptons worse
 

I have been wondering about baking soda and baking powders in general...
I have noticed that whenever I eat baked goods, bread, cakes, etc. my PD suddenly starts to act up and I get dystonia and tremors, despite being on levadopa. In other words, while I don't experience this with other non-protein foods, I invariably do with foods that contain some kind of artificial yeast.
Is that just me or has anyone else noticed it?

Hi Teretxu,

Are you sure it isn't the wheat in baked goods you are reacting to? Have you ever been tested for gluten sensitivity? Antigliadin antibodies? If you haven't been, I would ask your doctor for this test. In fact, the entire celiac panel should be run.

Yeast can also be a factor for some people, contributing to neurological symptoms, so you could be on to something there.

You might also want to keep a food journal and experiment in a systematic way. Others here have more experience with an elimination diet, but it might be worth doing to see if you notice any significant improvements.

Celiac Disease provides us with such a good model of how food sensitivity can cause neurological disease through both immunological and nutritional factors. I think it is worth at least considering whether it might have any influence at all in other neurological disease, or if it might co-exist with another condition that already exists..worsening symptoms.

Have you looked into any "alternative" treatments for PD? I don't really know anything in any depth about PD, but here are a couple of "alternative/ complementary medicine" sites you could look through. I've found the Nutritional Healing site seems to do a good job of pulling together all that is available on the net in regard to alternative treatment for many conditions, including book recommendations. They have an entry for Parkinson's Disease.

Nutritional Healing
http://www.nutritional-healing.com.a...on%27s+Disease

LEF
http://www.lef.org/protocols/neurolo...disease_01.htm


Cara

P.S. I just stumbled upon this on another forum...someone who was originally dx'd with PD, and later with CD. You can enter the forum as guest just to read:
http://forums.delphiforums.com/celia...es?msg=56214.6