Kidney Failure Risk Factor: Serum Bicarbonate

Bicarbonate is a substance called a base, which the body needs to help keep a normal acid-base (pH) balance. This balance prevents your body from becoming too acid, which can cause many health problems. The lungs and kidneys keep a normal blood pH by removing excess acid.

Serum bicarbonate mostly travels throughout the body as carbon dioxide (CO2), a gas that’s dissolved in the blood. That’s why the amount of CO2 in your blood is used to measure serum bicarbonate (base), and to therefore check your acid-base balance. If CO2 is too low in your blood, then that means serum bicarbonate (base) is low, and your body has too much acid. Too much acid in the body is called metabolic acidosis.