Acid reflux (heartburn, GERD, GORD)
What is acid reflux?
Benefits of a very acid stomach
Symptoms of acid reflux
Causes of acid reflux
Remedies for acid reflux
References
What is acid reflux?
Heartburn (also known as acid reflux, gastric reflux, or gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GERD or GORD) ) is a digestive disorder that occurs when the contents in your stomach burp and bubble up into the oesophagus. Heartburn occurs because the lower oesophageal sphincter (LES), a valve controlled by a ring of muscle between the oesophagus and stomach, does not close properly. The LES valve is pH sensitive, and needs to be kept acidic to keep it closed. (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
Strong stomach acidity means good, powerful digestion. Young people have strong stomach acid, and digest their food quickly and effectively. In contrast, with weak stomach acid the food is likely to sit in the stomach for a long time, and tends to burp up into the oesophagus.
A healthy stomach has a pH of 1-3, which is extremely acid. As people age, their stomachs tend to get less acidic.
Benefits of a very acid stomach
- Prevents acid reflux.
- Proteins are digested fully and effectively.
- A wide range of minerals and vitamins are efficiently absorbed from the food you eat. In particular, zinc is absorbed after passing through an acid stomach, but is poorly digested if the stomach is not acid enough. Zinc also helps make the HCl for an acid stomach, so with zinc deficiency there is a negative spiral of insufficient acidity and poor digestion of minerals.
- Protection from harmful microorganisms. Good acidity destroys a wide range of pathogenic bacteria and fungi. Helicobacter pylori is normally present in the stomach, but with insufficient acidity it tends to proliferate out of control and cause stomach ulcers, SIBO and other digestive problems.
- Good stomach acidity stimulates bile from the gallbladder, resulting in good digestion, good elimination, and good liver function. It also protects against gallstones.
- Good stomach acidity stimulates the pancreas to produce digestive enzymes.
Symptoms of acid reflux
- A burning feeling that usually starts in your upper abdomen, and rises up your throat.
- An acid/vomit taste in your mouth.
- Burning of the oesophagus / throat. This can lead to a dry cough (especially at night), and eventually to oesophageal cancer.
- Weak stomach acidity means it takes a long time to digest your food (weak digestion), especially protein foods such as meat, dairy, legumes etc.
- Bloating and indigestion.
- Insomnia.
Causes of acid reflux
- Insufficient stomach acidity. Here is a quick home test (the burp test) you can do to check if your stomach is producing enough acid. Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) reacts with stomach acid to produce gas, which makes you burp. Mix a quarter teaspoon of sodium bicarb with half a cup (125-175 ml) of room-temperature (cool) water. Drink this solution on an empty stomach first thing in the morning, before eating or drinking anything else.
If you start burping within 2-3 minutes, your stomach acid is probably normal. However, if there is no or little burping within five minutes, your stomach is insufficiently acid.
A more accurate test is the Heidelberg stomach acid test, but this needs to be done by a laboratory. - Long-term use of high pH (alkaline) food and drink, especially antacid tablets or alkaline water. Antacid tablets are the exact WRONG medication to take, ever. They may give very short term relief immediately after taking a tablet, but they make the problem much worse by making your stomach less acidic. (10, 11, 12)
- Pharmaceutical drugs. The standard medical treatment is to reduce stomach acidity, usually with a class of drugs known as proton pump inhibitors. These PPIs include aciphex (raberprazole), kapidex (dexlansoprazole), nexium (esomeprazole), prevacid (lansoprazole), prilosec (omeprazole) and protonix (pantoprazole). Whilst they may provide temporary relief, they do the exact opposite of what you need for a healthy stomach and digestive system, by making your stomach less acidic. This is the opposite of what you need to heal, and taking these drugs will keep you locked into a sick digestive system for the rest of your life, along with numerous horrible side-effects and all the other problems which come from not digesting your food properly. (11, 12)
There is a second reason why PPIs are so harmful. Proton pump inhibitors like every other pharmaceutical drug have nasty side-effects. Research (13, 14, 15) has shown that one side-effect is reducing the diversity of intestinal bacteria. This has the effect of reducing the absorption of vitamins and minerals from food to the point where the person taking PPIs suffers nutritional deficiencies. Loss of bone mass or even osteoporosis are just one of several outcomes. Although PPIs cause a loss of bacterial diversity, certain pathogenic bacteria such as Salmonella, Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, Escherichia coli and Clostridium difficile start to proliferate in the gut of someone taking PPIs. (13, 14, 15) - Stress and fatigue. Prolonged stress inhibits the production of stomach acid.
- Zinc deficiency. Zinc is required in the process to produce stomach acid. Zinc deficiency will mean your stomach is not acid enough, which means you cannot properly absorb zinc from your food, and so on in a negative decline.
- Wheat. Wheat grains, flour, and all products made from them. You may find that avoiding wheat will fix your digestion. The Grow Youthful diet recommends avoiding all grains, all legumes, and everything made from them. This will transform your health.
- Over-eating (especially processed foods). Under-chewing. Chew your foods long and thoroughly for better digestion.
- Potassium deficiency. A high carb diet is low in potassium and also reduces the uptake of the little potassium which is available.
- Calcium supplements. Do not take any kind of tablet with calcium in it, and avoid calcium-fortified foods and milk.
- Vitamin B1 (thiamine) deficiency. Vitamin B1 stimulates the vagus nerve to produce hydrochloric acid in the stomach.
- Sliding hiatus hernia syndrome. About 60% of people aged 50 or older have a hiatal hernia, and more than 90% of them show no consistent symptoms. A sliding hiatus hernia may be the cause of reflux when other causes don't seem to apply. Sliding hernias also cause a variety of other ailments that can come and go.
- Pregnancy.
- Alcohol.
- Smoking.
Remedies for acid reflux
- Increase stomach acidity with apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, liquid whey, Swedish bitters, and other similar traditional home remedies.
- Betaine hydrochloride capsules are an alternative to apple cider vinegar. Take one capsule with a meal. With the next meal, take two capsules during the meal. Gradually increase the number of capsules with each meal until you feel a warm feeling in the stomach. The warm feeling is an indication you took too many capsules, so reduce the dose by one. Typically adults need one to six capsules. After a few weeks there should be an improvement in acid reflux / heartburn symptoms and you can reduce or stop taking the capsules.
- Diet. Avoid processed foods, snacking and refined carbohydrates. Eliminate sugar. Use potassium-rich foods which are stomach acid-friendly. The most valuable include beet greens, leafy greens, celery, avocado, lemons (the whole lemon, not just the juice), and kefir.
- Use wholesome, real, traditional and unprocessed foods. Chew thoroughly.
- Zinc sufficiency.
- Vitamin B1 (thiamine) sufficiency. The best food source of vitamin B1 is unfortified nutritional yeast. Other food sources include grass-fed meat, fish and brewer's yeast. Black tea is high in tannin, a compound that binds a variety of micronutrients, particularly vitamin B1, calcium, iron and zinc.
- Avoid antacids, pharmaceutical drugs, sodium bicarbonate, alkaline water and anything else which may reduce stomach acidity.
- Activated charcoal usually gives fast and significant relief for acid reflux. However, it may not heal the cause of the problem, and activated charcoal should only be used for short periods. If you want quick relief, it is a vastly superior alternative to antacid tablets.
- Sea salt. Get sufficient unrefined sea salt or pink himalayan salt in your diet. Avoid refined salt, which is harmful.
- Re-establishing a healthy gut biome by using traditional and living food probiotics.
- Relaxation. Meditation. Stress reduction. Re-think all the ongoing causes of stress in your life.
- Inclined Bed Therapy (IBT).
- Following the food, diet and lifestyle recommended in Grow Youthful.
- See details of remedies recommended by Grow Youthful visitors, and their experience with them.
References
1. When there is sufficient acid, the LES (lower oesophageal sphincter) opens easily with only 5 mm Hg of pressure from above (swallowing) yet 80 mm Hg pressure from below will not force it open. A burp or a lack of acid will cause it to open. It instantly closes again at the first sign of acid.
Dornhurst, A.C., Harrison, K., and Pierce, J.M. Observations on the normal oesophagus and cardia. Lancet 1: 695-98, 1954.
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