Replied by Ted (Bangkok, Thailand)
Generally any drinks where the pH is between 7 to 7.5 are healing in nature since the parameters of those drinks are close to that of the body's normal blood pH which is about 7.35. People get sick usually from eating excessively acid forming (e.g. sour) foods where pH regularly are about 4 - 5, and those might impair kidney functions as acidic nature of certain food eats up or digest the kidney. Hence alkalinity helps reduce swelling, especially if they are close to the body's own natural pH.
Therefore baking soda and lime (or lemon) should be helpful as its pH is about 7.4 - 7.5.