s t o m a c h a c i d

(from link below)
If you need it, it is very important because higher acid levels not only are important for digestion, but they help keep the yeast and bacteria levels down. Also, there is something called the digestive cascade --- stomach acid triggers the pancreas to release its enzymes and bicarbonates, and it also triggers the release of bile. Without the trigger of enough stomach acid, the whole digestive system suffers.

At Dr. Mercola’s site, he describes a simple test to determine if you need stomach acid. Feel for a tender spot on your rib near the stomach area. The spot is about one inch across from your midline. If tender, there is a good chance you need extra acid. This is his article:
http://www.mercola.com/article/mercury/detox_protocol.htm



(Note, with the challenge test, a person ingests one hydrochloric acid tablet, and if they don’t feel any warmth or a peppery feeling in their chest and/or their throat after a few minutes, they add another tablet. They continue adding hydrochloric acid (HCL) tablets in this manner until some warmth is felt. If too much is taken, some baking soda or milk can be used to neutralize the acid.)
Linda in Virginia: I tried the challenge test last night using Twin Lab Betaine HCL, which contains ten grains per capsule. It took ten capsules (100 grains) before I felt anything. No wonder I am having problems. I have been taking hydrochloric acid (HCL), but not near enough. I have been fearful of taking too much and burning a hole in my stomach or something. This means I will have to take 9 capsules per meal. I’m still shaking my head


Marilyn found an article at http://www.drdebe.com/BAKESODA.htm
that describes a safer test for stomach acid. Remember those old Science classes where you mixed vinegar and baking soda and watched it bubble? When baking soda comes in contact with vinegar or any acid, then carbon dioxide gas is released. If you ingest baking soda on an empty stomach, and the baking soda comes in contact with sufficient stomach acid, you may burp up the gas. Dr. Joseph A. Debé suggests putting a quarter teaspoon of baking soda in 8 ounces of water and then drinking it first thing in the morning, before eating anything. Then check how long it takes before you belch. If it is longer than 2 or 3 minutes before you produce a belch, then perhaps you are not producing enough stomach acid. A lot of immediate repeated belching might indicate excess stomach acid.


Once the food leaves the stomach, the pancreas dumps bicarbonates and pancreatic enzymes into the first part of the small intestine. The bicarbonates are necessary in order to neutralize the acid mixture. Otherwise, the pancreatic enzymes won’t work in such a high acidic environment. The stomach dumps its contents usually about an hour and a half after eating. One could try using some bicarbonates at this time to support the role of the pancreas.

http://www.healthyawareness.com/articles/about-digestion/how-to-test-your-stomach-acid-level.aspx



(from link below)
HCl's important functions include:

Breaking down proteins into the essential amino acids and nutrients your body needs in order to stay healthy.
Stimulating your pancreas and small intestines to produce the digestive enzymes and bile necessary to further breakdown the carbohydrates, proteins and fats you eat.
Preventing disease by killing pathogenic bacteria and yeast normally present in food.

As you age, your stomach acid tends to decrease anyway. Add a poor diet of processed foods and you may find that you have both digestive and immune problems.


There are two main consequences of low stomach acid:

You become protein malnourished. When your stomach acid is low, you are not able to digest protein.
Improper digestion of protein creates toxins in your intestines that can set the stage for illness and disease.
Improper digestion of protein also creates acidic blood, since protein is by nature acidic.
You become mineral deficient. As your blood becomes more acidic, it will look for minerals from anywhere in your body, in order to get your blood to its more ideal alkaline state. Acidic blood robs your body of minerals, even taking minerals from your bones (which is important to know if you want to prevent osteoporosis).

Low stomach acid eventually creates a vicious cycle: low stomach acid = low minerals = acidic blood. This cycle continues because acidic blood further creates low minerals and low stomach acid.


You could eat plenty of protein and still be protein malnourished. This raises cortisol levels (stress or death hormone), thereby raising your blood glucose (blood sugar levels). Elevated cortisol adversely affects your behavior and temperment.
Eventually, your adrenals become depleted (adrenal fatigue) and DHEA, the youth hormone, is suppressed, leading to premature aging.

Low DHEA and high cortisol affect your brain and behavior, but that's not all. The vicious cycle of low stomach acid affects your inner ecosystem too. Low stomach acid can lead to more bad guys (pathogenic bacteria, candida and viruses) than good guys (healthy microflora), thus lowering your immunity.


Here are some of the common symptoms and disorders caused by low stomach acid1,3:

Bloating, belching, and flatulence immediately after meals
Heartburn (often thought to be caused by too much stomach acid)
Indigestion, diarrhea, or constipation
Undigested food in stools
Acne
Rectal itching
Chronic candida
Hair loss in women
Multiple food allergies
Iron deficiency
Weak, peeling, or cracked fingernails
Chronic fatigue
Adrenal fatigue
Dry skin
Various autoimmune diseases


http://bodyecology.com/articles/low_stomach_acid_symptoms.php



(from link below)
Low Acid Symptoms

Bacterial/fungal overgrowth
Bad breath
Belching
Bloating
Diarrhea and constipation
Distension
Fatigue
Food sensitivities
A feeling of fullness
Gas
Headaches
Heartburn
Increased incidence of parasitic infections
Indigestion
Malabsorption problems
Nausea
Nutritional deficiency
Rectal itching
Stomach pain and distress
Unexplained hunger
Vomiting
Weakened hair, nails, and skin
yeast infections, and a host of other ailments.


Without HCL, the digestion of protein, carbohydrates, and fat cannot be properly completed. The stomach needs hydrochloric acid in order to protect the stomach from bacterial and fungal overgrowth (bacteria and fungus cannot thrive in an acidic environment). Hydrochloric acid also helps the body to properly absorb essential vitamins and minerals.
The presence of undigested food in the small intestine and colon can wreak digestive havoc by causing an overgrowth of harmful bacteria, which in turn produces toxins that are absorbed by the liver. This internal warfare puts a terrible strain on one of our most vital organs, forcing the liver to work twice as hard in order to detoxify itself.
There is often a long transit time with low stomach acid, and we know that the longer bacteria sits inside us, the more rapidly they reproduce. Toxins are produced and then absorbed by the liver.
Regardless of how well you eat, poor digestion and malabsorption of nutrients is the end result of low stomach acid. Without adequate nourishment, you will be a target for infectious and degenerative diseases.
In addition, a toxic condition known as dysbiosis can result, leaving the sufferer with fatigue, gas, headaches, hypertension, insomnia, irritation, muscle aches and pain, personality changes, and many other problems.


A lot of what we eat contains bacteria. Normally, stomach acid kills harmful bacteria, working to keep diseases at bay. People with low stomach acid have a higher than average incidence of illness because harmful bacteria ends up in their small intestine, rather than being killed off by HCL in their stomachs.


Conditions Linked to Low Stomach Acid include:

Allergies
Asthma
Autoimmune diseases
Chronic candida
Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS)
Chronic hepatitis
Chronic hives
Dry skin
Eczema
Gallbladder disease
Gastrointestinal (GI) infections and parasites
Hypoglycemia
Lupus
Osteoporosis
Psoriasis
Reduced night vision
Rheumatic arthritis
Rosacea
Thyroid disorders
Type I and II diabetes
Vitiligo (a skin disorder characterized by white patches or spots)
Weakened hair, nails, and skin


What Causes Low Stomach Acid?
Aging is one of the primary causes of low stomach acid. However, adrenal fatigue, alcohol consumption, bacterial infection, and chronic stress are also associated with this condition.

http://www.puristat.com/coloncleansing/lowstomachacid.aspx



(from link below)
Persons with blood type A produce less acid than other blood types and often do not digest their food fully, especially eating meat, poultry, dairy, and eggs.

In China, the next step is fasting. Cancer patients in China will fast for up to four weeks, depending on the strength of the cancer patient. Personally, I've met a man who (after detoxing) fasted (on raw, organic juices) for a period of 30 days, and at the end of this period, he passed a tumor weighing nearly a pound.

Juice fasting is wonderful for the colon, and for the entire digestion system as a whole, because it gives the digestive system a vacation, while nearly acting as a blood transfusion, forcing vitamins and minerals into the blood stream within fifteen minutes of their consumption. During a fast (and to help detox, coffee enemas are often recommended. The coffee enema is described in Cleaning House.) Top

There are hundreds of studies on Aloe Vera and the colon. Unless you are a blood type O (according to Dr Peter J D'Adamo in his book Eat Right 4 Your Type; you are free to agree with him or not, for it is just a theory, see Digestion Part I), there is nothing better for your colon than pure, cold processed Aloe Vera juice. In an article by Dr Bruce Eric Hedendal, D.C., Ph.D., he states that, "Aloe promoted a more favorable balance of gastrointestinal symbiotic bacteria and decreased yeast populations. All subjects who had indigestion, irritable bowel syndrome, colitis, and gastritis reported symptomatic relief after this short, seven-day research study," and that, "Urinary indican values decreased, indicating lowered bowel bacterial conversion of tryptophan and possible improved protein digestion and absorption, as well as reduced bowel putrefaction. This change, by itself, could help prevent colon cancer."

http://www.mnwelldir.org/docs/cancer2/colon.htm


(from link below)
Do you suffer from one or more of the following:

acid indigestion
intolerance to certain foods (get gassy when eating certain foods)
frequent belching, feeling full and feeling like the food just isn’t moving along after eating
Gastro-Esophageal Reflux Disease (GERD)
H. pylori infection
frequently take antacid drugs
fingernails crack easily
vitiligo
acne rosacea
gum inflammation and receding gums (periodontitis)
increased risk of heart attack


loss of appetite for high protein foods
“acid stomach” relieved by eating
bad breath and body odor
gas shortly after eating
indigestion 30 minutes to an hour after eating that lasts up to 4 hours,
frequent visible undigested food in the stools
difficulty digesting fruits or vegetables
acid and spicy foods cause stomach upset


Just about all foods we eat have a small amount of foreign bacteria. Unless the bacteria are enough to cause symptoms, we often don’t even notice it because the HCL kills the foreign bacteria. Some foreign bacteria are more harmful than others. Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is one of those more harmful. It is the causative agent of stomach ulcers. If H. Pylori remains in the stomach for long enough, it is directly implicated as causing stomach cancer. H. Pylori also lowers stomach acid. Low stomach acid predisposes to H. Pylori infection and other GI bacterial, yeast and parasitic infections 1. Stomach HCL also prevents pathogens from getting down farther into the small and large intestines.
According to Dr. Wright, “it’s been my clinical observation that calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc, copper, chromium, selenium, manganese, vanadium, molybdenum, cobalt, and many other “micro-trace” elements are not nearly as well-absorbed in those with poor stomach acid as it is in those whose acid levels are normal.”


The stomach also produces digestive enzymes to help break down proteins into amino acids. Pepsinogen is released in coordination with HCL, which helps change pepsinogen into the enzyme pepsin. Pepsin is the gastric digestive enzyme.
Special cells in the stomach working properly are also necessary for vitamin B12 absorption. These special cells require HCL to work properly. Low vitamin B12 is associated with elevated blood cholesterol and homocysteine levels.
Gastrin is a hormone produced in the stomach that stimulates movement of food through the stomach. Chronic antacid use hinders both HCL and gastrin secretion, predisposing to low tissue amino acids. Since immunoglobulins are made from amino acids, low tissue amino acids impairs the immune system. Low tissue amino acids also causes muscle wasting, often seen in the aged or physically debilitated.


Low stomach acid is associated with the development and progression of systemic inflammation and receeding gums, called periodontitis 2. Periodontitis is associated with increased incidence of heart attacks due to systemic inflammation 3 4.


http://www.holistichealthbayarea.com/blog/low-stomach-acid-the-underlying-cause-of-common-digestive-problems/


(from link below)
In your stomach, pepsin is the primary digestive enzyme—the others play a much bigger role later, when the food moves on to your small intestine. You make pepsin in your stomach lining, but it starts out in a preliminary form called pepsinogen.
The acid connection: Only when pepsinogen encounters sufficient stomach acid does it get converted to pepsin so it can do its job. Not enough acid in your stomach can prevent you from digesting protein, or anything else, well.



Low stomach acid can lead to trouble with gas and heartburn from incomplete breakdown of protein and other nutrients in the stomach.



The B connection: Animal protein is most people’s major dietary source of B vitamins. When you don’t digest it well, the B’s aren’t released to be absorbed—
so you can start to run low on these vitamins. Serious consequences include anemia, poor healing, low resistance to illness and memory problems that can even resemble dementia.



http://www.preretirementlife.com/articles/The-Power-of-Enzymes-For-Better-Digestion-252.cfm

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