Tummy troubles?
There are several gastrointestinal (GI) problems that are related to stomach acid, including heartburn and GERD, burping, gas, and bloat.
Heartburn and GERD
A common complaint is heartburn, which isn’t related to the heart; the name refers to the closeness of the pain to the heart. Heartburn is the burning sensation that can be felt somewhere between the stomach and the throat; it sometimes radiates outward through the chest or back. Sometimes a small bit of sour-tasting liquid is regurgitated. The cause is the reflux, or backing up, of stomach acid, which burns the sensitive tissues of the esophagus, the tube leading from the throat to the stomach and which carries food to its destination.
Severe and recurrent heartburn is sometimes called Gastrointestinal Esophageal Reflux Disease, or GERD for short. Prescription-strength antacids are often given for this. But as we’ll see in this article, antacids are probably not the way to go.
Stomach acid: too much… or too little?
Conventional wisdom says that the cause of heartburn is too much stomach acid, and the fact that antacids help, however temporarily, seems to confirm that. But it has been found that the cause of heartburn is often too little stomach acid. To determine which, if either, is your problem, try taking a tablespoon of acidic lemon juice in a glass of water. If it helps relieve the indigestion, you may need HCl (hydrochloric acid) supplementation, such as betaine HCl. If acidic liquid or supplement makes your symptoms worse, you probably already have too much acid.
The esophageal sphincter, or opening from the esophagus to the stomach, opens when food is eaten and closes in response to stomach acid to prevent it from backing up. When there is too little stomach acid, the sphincter is not stimulated to close, allowing acid to back up, i.e. heartburn. This is one of the mechanisms by which antacids can make heartburn worse.
Fermentation from sweet foods and the waste products of microorganisms such as helicobacter pylori are more likely than excess stomach acid to be the problem.
How can you tell if your stomach acid isn’t sufficient?
In addition to the test of drinking lemon juice water, blood tests can indicate low stomach acid. If the chloride level (Cl-) shows up as high on a routine blood test, especially relative to sodium, this may mean that the chloride in the blood is not converting to HCl in the stomach. The mineral copper and vitamin B3 (niacin) can help this conversion to happen. Two other blood tests are for albumin and globulin. If the albumin/globulin (A/G) ration is 2.6 or greater and the globulin is 1.6 or less, the person is probably low in HCl and can probably benefit from supplementation with betaine HCl.
However, not everyone can take betaine. It’s possible to have a raw stomach caused by years of turning carbohydrates to vinegar, and you aren’t ready for HCl in pill form.
Symptoms of low stomach acidity include bloating and fullness after eating, burping, and gas, as well as some less obvious ones like peeling or cracked nails, dilated capillaries in cheeks and nose, acne, and autoimmune problems.
The problems with antacids
If you have a shortage of stomach acid (HCl), antacids will actually make the problem worse in the long run because they neutralize stomach acid by design, which worsens the shortage and causes continuing symptoms.
But why do we need HCl in our stomachs in the first place? Stomach acid is needed for the digestion of food, especially proteins. Interfering with this can lead to nutrient deficiencies and food sensitivities caused by incomplete digestion. Stomach acid also helps to digest and kill harmful parasites that can enter the body in food and water. If you neutralize stomach acid by using antacids, or if you don’t have enough stomach acid in the first place, parasites can gain a foothold in your body and cause all kinds of health problems.
In addition, every over-the-counter or prescription medication has potential for undesirable side effects, and antacids aren’t an exception. Many over-the-counter (OTC) antacids contain aluminum, a toxic metal implicated in Alzheimer’s disease.
What can be done about heartburn?
The first thing is to identify what foods cause heartburn for you, and eliminate them from your diet. The most likely culprits are caffeine, tomatoes, orange juice, fatty foods, and carbonated drinks. Smoking and alcohol use often cause or worsen heartburn.
Avoid lying down for at least three hours after finishing eating, utilizing gravity to keep acid in the stomach. Elevating the head of the bed at least six inches can help. Lying on the side, especially the left side, removes pressure from the esophageal sphincter, helping to keep acid from backing up into the esophagus.
Eating cooling alkaline foods such as celery and cucumber helps.
Burping
Burping, also called belching, can be a social embarrassment but is rarely serious. It can be due to stomach acid deficiency, and also allergies, yeast overgrowth, other microorganisms, gallbladder problems if the burping comes after eating fatty foods, drinking carbonated beverages, lactose intolerance, or swallowing air due to eating or drinking too fast.
Gas
Gas, or flatulence, is similar to burping in that gas is expelled; the difference is at which end of the digestive tract. Causes of gas are usually dietary. A common cause is lactose intolerance. Other foods that cause gas in some people are well-known: beans, cabbage, onions, fiber, and carbonated beverages. Yeast and some other microorganisms can produce gas as part of their life cycle.
Digestive enzymes can help with burping and gas. Activated charcoal tablets can help in severe cases.
Bloating
Bloating is essentially the same as burping or gas as far as possible causes. In the case of bloating, the gas simply hasn’t found an exit at either end of the digestive tract, and so it accumulates visibly and uncomfortably. Foods that ferment in the intestines, such as sugars, fruit, dairy, broccoli, and cabbage can cause the gas that leads to bloating, burping, and/or gas. Microorganisms can also cause bloating.
The bottom line
If you have any of these symptoms, don’t just take antacids or other symptom suppressors, which can worsen the problem. It is important, as with all chronic illnesses and conditions, to get to the root cause. A CAM practitioner will likely put you on an elimination diet to see whether particular foods are the cause of symptoms, and may test for parasites. A review of your blood test results can show whether low stomach acid is a problem.
