1. What exactly is the conclusion of the baking soda test? This is best understood by reading the paper. The authors say, “In a small-scale controlled clinical trial, the tumor shrinkage rate of sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) with arterial cannulation chemoembolization (TACE) was 100%, whereas the tumor shrinkage rate of TACE alone was 63.6%, so the addition of sodium bicarbonate can significantly improve the effect of TACE treatment.” The editors of the journal that published the paper were more circumspect in their assessment, “These data suggest that adding sodium bicarbonate to TACE may have a good therapeutic effect in patients whose tumors are too large to be operated on. However, future larger trials are needed to justify the authors’ conclusions.” So, in this trial, it looks like baking soda is beneficial. But note that when it comes to fighting cancer, baking soda is a supporting player and the real star of the show is arterial cannulation chemoembolization (TACE). In other words, baking soda is not ‘pineapple’ but ‘chili powder’. TACE is a common treatment for advanced liver cancer. It mainly does two things: first, it directly injects highly concentrated chemotherapy drugs into the tumor through blood vessels to kill the cancer cells; and second, it blocks the main blood vessels supplying the cancer cells with embolization, so that it will be deprived of oxygen and food, and then starve the cancer cells to death. TACE is effective for small tumors, but not so effective for large ones. This time, Dr. Zhejiang’s attempt is to target large liver cancers with poor results, and in the process of TACE treatment, baking soda is also sent to the tumor to change the local microenvironment of the tumor, to see if it can improve the effect of TACE. As for why baking soda is used, the author has some theories. The author has some theories, but the science behind them is too complicated, so I won’t expand them. All you need to know is that baking soda can’t fight cancer on its own, and it mainly relies on chemotherapy drugs and other treatments. Chili powder may make the pineapple more delicious, but eat the pineapple, not chili. 2, this test in the end how reliable? The results of the trial look really good, not only 100% of the patients’ tumors have shrunk, and some individual patients have survived for more than 3 years, far beyond the average. But this is only an early clinical trial. Due to the small number of patients involved, there is no way to statistically prove how effective it was or whether it prolonged patient survival. This will have to be proved in subsequent larger clinical trials. The reason for this caution is that there are many examples of large-scale trials that have looked effective on a small number of patients but then failed. When the sample is too small, conclusions are easily influenced by luck. For example, if you want to study the music literacy of Tsinghua students, so you go to the entrance of the school and grab 5 random people, it seems to be very random, but in case you meet Li Jian and Gao Xiaosong in the fall, you may come to the wrong conclusion that 40% of Tsinghua students are musical geniuses! A more reliable approach would be to grab 1,000 students at the door, and with more data, you’ll realize the truth: most Tsinghua students are not musically gifted. That’s not to say that the results of small-scale experiments are wrong. It’s always good to have good results, and it means that this trial is worth trying out on more patients. The next phase of the clinical trial is said to be recruiting, and eligible liver cancer patients should find out about it. I encourage patients who don’t have good treatment options to participate in reliable clinical trials, but please remember that any clinical trial carries risks, so get your information from official sources, weigh the pros and cons, and make your own judgment. If you decide to participate, please trust and cooperate with your doctor 100%. 3. Does this prove the theory that “acidity causes cancer” and “soda prevents cancer”? Simply put, it has nothing to do with it! I think the happiest people in this story are the soda vendors. The internet has already seen the use of this article to promote acidity and soda advertising. I’ve said for a long time that acidity and soda for cancer prevention are both complete pseudoscience, and the reason why the ghost is still there is because there is so much commercial interest behind it, and a lot of people take advantage of people’s fear of cancer to make up lies and theories to promote all kinds of products. Natural soda has some benefits for patients with acidosis and excess uric acid. However, there is no theoretical or experimental basis for drinking soda water to prevent cancer. Moreover, soda water is high in sodium, and drinking it in large quantities over a long period of time will increase the risk of high blood pressure, which is not worth the cost. Medical communication needs to be complete, objective and educated Every time there is a research result in China, people love to ask, is this a Nobel Prize-level breakthrough, or is it a flop? Why does it always have to be so extreme? “Baking soda with TACE for liver tumors” is a reliable clinical study conducted by Chinese doctors that deserves our encouragement and attention. Its early results look good, but we still have to wait patiently for more trial results on more patients before we can draw any conclusions. So, it’s neither a Nobel Prize nor a snub. No matter traditional media, or self media, for scientific research results from China, can be neither presumptuous, nor blindly touted. Improving scientific literacy and bringing objective evaluation to the public is the right attitude. The growing conflict between doctors and patients in China is not unrelated to the misinformation brought by exaggerated reports.