Quick bread leavening agents include a weak base, such as baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) plus a weak acid, such as cream of tartar, lemon juice, or cultured buttermilk, to create an acid–base reaction that releases carbon dioxide. (Quick bread leavened specifically with baking soda is often called "soda bread".) Baking powder contains both an acid and a base in dry powdered form, and simply needs a liquid medium in which to react. Other alternative leavening agents are egg whites mechanically beaten to form stiff peaks, as in the case of many waffle recipes, or steam, in the case of cream puffs. Nevertheless,
Sodium bicarbonate from incendiary bullets inside an afflicted soldier's wounds. Antacid (such as baking soda) solutions have been prepared and used by protesters to alleviate the effects of exposure to tear gas during protests. In a recent study published in the "Journal of Immunology", oral baking soda was found to activate a splenic anti-inflammatory pathway that seems to reduce the destructive inflammation of autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. Proinflammatory molecules were reduced and anti-inflammatory molecules were released. Similarly to its use in baking, sodium bicarbonate is used together with a mild acid such as tartaric acid as the excipient in effervescent