Baking Soda and Apple Cider Vinegar Drink: One Glass

One measured glass of baking soda and apple cider vinegar: the neutralization math, about 315 mg of sodium, and what the vinegar-only studies do and do not show.

Vinegar, water and a level spoon of baking soda: that's the whole drink. This page gives you a measured glass instead of a guess.

Our glass is untested. We haven't tasted it for this page, so you won't find a flavor review or a result here. What you will find is the math, the sodium in milligrams and the real studies. If weight loss is what brought you here, our baking soda recipe for weight loss compares the options in more detail.

The Food Science / Lab Kitchen Note

Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO₃), a base. Vinegar is sour because of acetic acid (CH₃COOH). They react one to one: NaHCO₃ + CH₃COOH gives sodium acetate, water and carbon dioxide (CO₂). The CO₂ is the fizz. What's left in the glass is a mild salt solution.

The numbers below are our calculation from published figures, not a study. Baking soda has a molar mass of 84.007 g/mol (PubChem). Acetic acid has 60.052 g/mol (NIST WebBook).

• At 5 percent acid (5 g per 100 mL), 1 tbsp (15 mL) of vinegar holds 0.75 g of acetic acid, or 12.5 mmol.
• That much acid is neutralized by about 1.05 g of bicarbonate, about 0.23 tsp.
• A level 1/4 tsp (1.15 g) can cancel about 16 mL of 5 percent vinegar. With 1 tbsp, that leaves about 0.1 g of bicarbonate unreacted.
• At 4 percent, 1 tbsp needs about 0.84 g of bicarbonate.

Why the label matters: the FDA says natural vinegars normally contain more than 4 g of acetic acid per 100 mL, and a diluted vinegar must state its real strength and never fall under 4 percent. Healthline puts apple cider vinegar at 5 to 6 percent. Read your bottle.

The sodium doesn't go anywhere. Neutralizing turns bicarbonate into sodium acetate, and it still counts toward your day. We found no source saying the fizz changes your body's pH, so we make no claim about it.

Sodium in the glass

Using USDA's figure of 27,400 mg of sodium per 100 g of baking soda (FoodData Central), we calculate that 1/4 tsp (1.15 g) is about 315 mg of sodium and 1/2 tsp (2.3 g) about 630 mg. The FDA gives a Daily Value of less than 2,300 mg a day. By our math, 315 mg is about 14 percent of that limit and 630 mg about 27 percent. That sodium lands on top of everything else you eat.

Three versions, compared on sourced data

This compares published data. It is not a taste test. "No sourced data" means we found nothing to compare.

Calories, sugars and potassium for each version: no sourced data.

What the studies say

Kondo 2009. This double-blind randomized trial in obese Japanese adults ran 12 weeks. People drank 500 mL a day containing 15 mL of vinegar (about 750 mg of acetic acid), 30 mL (about 1,500 mg) or no vinegar. Per the abstract, both vinegar groups had significantly lower body weight, BMI, visceral fat area, waist size and triglycerides than the placebo group. The abstract gives no group sizes or effect sizes, and as we read it, it doesn't say the vinegar was apple cider vinegar. It was vinegar alone, with no baking soda.

Khezri 2018. This randomized controlled trial in adults with overweight or obesity gave 30 mL a day of vinegar for 12 weeks, on top of a diet 250 kcal a day below needs. HCPLive reports weight change of -4 kg with vinegar against -2.3 kg for the control group. It's a small trial of about 40 adults, short, and vinegar-only. The diet change is also part of the result.

Neither study tested this drink. Cleveland Clinic calls the weight-loss evidence for apple cider vinegar weak, and says the old idea that acetic acid burns fat is no longer thought to be true. And here's a catch: baking soda uses up the acetic acid. So even the vinegar-only results can't be carried over to the neutralized glass. For more on the viral claims, see baking soda and lemon water and baking soda side effects.

We also found no source for the "makes you poop" claim, for the mix or for either ingredient alone, so we won't make it.

Common mistakes

Adding the soda to straight vinegar. The acid and the base react on contact and release carbon dioxide. Dilute the vinegar in the water first, then add the soda slowly.

Drinking before the fizz stops. Bubbles mean the reaction is still going. At 5 percent, our 1/4 tsp slightly exceeds what 1 tbsp of vinegar needs, but a stronger vinegar needs more soda than that (our calculation). Wait until the bubbles settle.

Ignoring the label. Vinegar strength differs by bottle, which changes the ratio. Check the percentage before you scoop.

Substitutions

Storage and safe use

Mix one glass and drink it. No sourced shelf life exists for the mixed drink, so we give none, and nothing here needs reheating. Skip the pitcher.

MedlinePlus says to dissolve baking soda in at least 4 oz (120 mL) of water. Our 8 fl oz (240 mL) is simply our recipe, not a medical rule. Cleveland Clinic suggests 1 tbsp of vinegar in a mug of warm water and no more than 2 tbsp a day.

Nutrition note

Values on the recipe card are estimates, not measurements. The only figure we list is sodium: about 315 mg per glass, calculated from USDA FoodData Central values for baking soda. We list no calories or other values because we found no sourced figure for the vinegar, and we won't make one up.