Baking Soda

Why baking soda is rated low

Baking soda is low FODMAP at Any typical portion. It is sodium bicarbonate, a single mineral salt, with no carbohydrate in it at all. FODMAPs are carbohydrates, so a product that contains none of them has nothing that can ferment, and no subgroup is recorded for baking soda. This rating comes from knowing what the powder is made of rather than from a weighed tested serving, which is why the ladder here is worded rather than measured. In baking it does its work as a raising agent and then largely reacts away, so the useful thing to understand is that it never changes the FODMAP load of a recipe in either direction. The flour, the sweetener and the fruit in the bowl are doing all of that.

What changes your risk

• The flour, not the raising agent In any cake, soda bread or cookie, the wheat flour is what carries the fructans. Swapping to a gluten free flour blend or using oats, rice flour or buckwheat is what moves the recipe, and the spoon of baking soda is neutral either way.
• The sweetener in the bowl Honey, agave syrup and high fructose corn syrup all raise the load of a bake considerably. Table sugar, maple syrup and rice malt syrup fill the same role without doing that.
• The fruit and the add ins Dried fruit is the classic trap in a bake, because drying removes water and concentrates everything left behind, so a sprinkle of sultanas or dried apple counts for far more than the fresh fruit would. Blueberries, raspberries and strawberries are safer fillings.
• Hidden raising blends Baking soda that arrives inside a boxed cake mix, a pancake shake or a self raising wheat flour comes with the rest of that product attached, and the wheat is the part that matters. Reading the whole ingredient list rather than the front of the box is the move.
• It is not a treatment Baking soda stirred into water is a folk remedy for indigestion rather than part of a low FODMAP diet. Keep it as the baking ingredient it is, and take any question about swallowing it beyond ordinary recipe amounts to a doctor or pharmacist.

What else works

Nothing here needs replacing, so the useful list is the other pantry staples that sit alongside it without adding anything fermentable: table sugar, salt, cocoa powder, vanilla extract, plain rice flour, cornflour and oats. The lookalikes worth separating out are the products that contain a raising agent rather than being one. Self raising wheat flour is mostly wheat, boxed cake and pancake mixes are mostly wheat and sweetener, and a ready made soda bread is a wheat bread whatever the raising agent in it was. Inulin or chicory root fibre sometimes appears in low sugar baking mixes, and that one is worth avoiding in a bake regardless of what raised it.

How to keep it low

Buy plain baking soda rather than a mix, which keeps you in control of the flour and the sweetener. Store it sealed and dry, since it loses its lift over time, and test an old tub by dropping a little into vinegar to see whether it still fizzes. Use exactly what the recipe asks for, because more of it will not help the rise and leaves a soapy taste, and then spend the attention on the rest of the bowl: a gluten free flour blend, table sugar or maple syrup rather than honey, and fresh berries rather than dried fruit. If you are converting a favourite recipe, changing only the flour and the sweetener usually gets you there, and the raising agent can stay exactly as written.

Common questions

is baking soda low fodmap

Yes. Baking soda is low FODMAP at Any typical portion, because it is sodium bicarbonate and contains no carbohydrate for fermentation to act on.

does baking soda have any fodmaps in it

No subgroup is recorded for it. It is a single mineral salt, so there is nothing in it that belongs to any of the six FODMAP groups.

is bicarbonate of soda the same as baking soda

Yes, they are two names for the same thing, sodium bicarbonate. The rating on this page applies to both.

does baking soda make a cake low fodmap

No. It is neutral, so it neither adds nor removes anything. The flour, the sweetener and any dried fruit decide whether the cake is low FODMAP.