Determination of pregnancy with soda - folk misconceptions

Of course, folk recipes are based largely on folk wisdom, life experience, but there are some recipes that, to put it mildly, are wrong. Once, perhaps, they were taken seriously, but with the development of science, universal access to education, they lost their power. One of such popular recipes is the determination of pregnancy with soda. The people say that if a woman is pregnant, then soda, peppered in urine, will precipitate. Sizzling soda, speaks of the absence of pregnancy. Of course, this folk method does not do without additional advice and recommendations: urine should only be morning, collected in clean dishes and at least half a glass. Specialized folk medicine men say that morning urine has the lowest level of ph, which guarantees a more accurate determination of pregnancy with soda.

Disputes around this method of determining pregnancy are huge. Someone sincerely believes in the veracity of this test. And someone who has good grades in chemistry and biology at school, says that all this is stupid. By and large, the pregnancy test with soda is not dangerous for health, so by virtue of your curiosity, you can hold it. But do not rush to the children's store for a stroller or crib, if suddenly your urine precipitated.

So, everything in our life is subject to the laws of chemistry, and our body is not an exception. A definition of pregnancy with soda is a simple chemical reaction. Sodium, or sodium bicarbonate NaHCO₃ in reaction with acids, for example HCl, is converted to the NaCl salt and carbonic acid H₂CO₃, which in turn decomposes into carbon dioxide CO₂ and water H₂O. Each woman performed a similar chemical reaction when she quenched soda with vinegar or citric acid while kneading the dough. That is, soda hisses if it combines with acid and precipitates when it interacts with alkali.

From the school course of biology we all know that urine is a product of the vital activity of our body. With urine, unnecessary substances are released that dissolve in water. It is clear that these substances enter the body with food.

Strangely enough, the pH level, known to most of the commercials of soap and shampoo, is in urine. This very level shows how acidic or alkaline urine is. The urine of a healthy person has a neutral pH level or a weakly acid level, i.e. PH is within the range of 4.5-8. A variety of reasons and factors can change this indicator. A higher pH level indicates a more alkaline urine, while an underestimate indicates an acidic urine. The pH of the urine is directly related to the pH of the blood, as well as the foods that feed the person. Even body temperature affects this indicator, and the health of the urinary system has the most direct effect on it.

Increase the pH, and therefore, make urine more alkaline can various fruits and vegetables present in the human diet. Diarrhea, repeated vomiting, infections in the urinary tract, Milkman's syndrome, Fanconi syndrome, kidney failure and many other factors can also increase this figure.

Protein foods of animal origin, cranberries in large quantities, fasting, diabetes, fever and many other reasons can lower the pH of urine and make it thereby more acidic. Bacteria with which the urinary tract can be infected are able to change this level both to a smaller and larger side. This phenomenon is often found in pregnant women, but pregnancy itself does not affect the pH of urine. From this it follows that soda during pregnancy in women leading a different lifestyle can give cardinally opposite reactions, but none of them will indicate pregnancy.

I hope the arguments given in this article convinced you that the definition of pregnancy with soda does not have anything to do with pregnancy. It is much more reliable and more correct to purchase special tests in the pharmacy, which react not to the acidity of urine, but to the presence of the hormone hCG in it.