Acid Reflux: The Rest of the Story

The general public has been told only about half the story when it comes to acid reflux. 

Your body actually requires acid in your stomach to digest your food.  Your body actually produces hydrochloric acid to digest your food.  When the system is working properly, your food is quickly digested by this acid in the stomach and then the food moves on within about 20 minutes to 2 hours into the small intestines.  Meats require more time to digest than fruit and veggies.

When your stomach acid is too low, your food sits in your stomach longer than it should and it actually begins to ferment.  This fermentation process actually forms another acid.  This is the culprit acid in most cases of acid reflux.  Your food and the acid continue to sit in your stomach and then are more likely to come back up, or reflux.

Acid neutralizers, like Tums, can make the reflux not hurt but does nothing to fix the underlying issue.  Acid suppressors, like Prevacid and Protonics, actually suppress your natural hydrochloric acid production.  While this again will make a person more comfortable by lowering overall acid, it again does nothing to fix the underlying issue.  In actuality, both end up making the problem worse.  (Side note:  Tums is NOT a good supply of calcium as it is almost impossible to digest this calcium in a low acid environment.)

There must be sufficient acid in the stomach for the body to be able to absorb both iron and vitamin B12.  If a person has low stomach acid the likelihood of anemia increases.  If a person is anemic, and any ‘leaks’ have been ruled out the next item to consider is low stomach acid and the regular use of acid suppressors or acid neutralizers.

If there is not enough stomach acid to digest food the problems will continue to the rest of the digestion process.  This could lead to constipation, diarrhea, or alternating between the two.  It can cause inflammation in the intestines which might lead to diverticulitis or colitis.  It can also cause ‘leaky gut’ which makes a person more prone to food intolerances.

It is important to find out if low stomach acid is the culprit.  An easy self test would be to try an over-the-counter supplement called Apple Cider Vinegar tablets which will increase stomach acid.  If taken and acid reflux improves, continue taking the vinegar tablets.

If nothing changes, there may still be a low acid condition that the vinegar tablets are not strong enough to help with.  If so, please speak to Dr. Call and she will test to see if you need a stronger, but still natural, supplement. 

If your stomach hurts more after the vinegar tablets, this means that you have an irritation in the stomach that needs to be healed first.  This irritation started because of the fermentation of the food and once the irritation is healed, the low acid condition must be addressed.  Dr. Call can help you find out how to heal this stomach irritation.