Heartburn and Indigestion: Is too much Stomach Acid the Cause?

Have you ever experienced the discomfort of heartburn or indigestion? Most people would assume that gastric acid is the cause and immediately resort to antacids, but this may not be the right thing to do.

To understand the cause of your heartburn or discomfort, it’s important to know what is happening within your stomach. Gastric juice is secreted from tiny glands lining your stomach’s walls. The main component of this gastric juice is hydrochloric acid (HCl) that fulfills two important roles:

      1. HCl acts as the first line of defense against food-borne pathogens (e.g. bacteria, fungi, and parasites)

      2. It activates pepsin, the enzyme responsible for breaking down food proteins into peptides.

Your gastric juices normally have a pH of at least 1 to 2. These juices are very acidic (the pH scale is from 0 to 14), but your gastric fluid needs to be this acidic so as to destroy food and water-borne bacteria and other harmful pathogens, such as Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori).

It should be noted that most peptic ulcer disease is attributable to H. pylori, a common stomach bug that thrives in less acidic environments.

Other components of your gastric juices also play an important role when it comes to the protection of your stomach and your health in general. For example, pepsin works in conjunction with HCl to ward off infections (including H. pylori and E. coli).

In order for you to attain optimal stomach health, you need to strive for a gastric juice pH of below 2.5. This will give you maximum protection against common threats posed by pathogenic (disease causing) micro-organisms that can make you ill.

The antacid industry is booming. Most people start popping antacids when they get heartburn or indigestion. But is this the right thing to do?

Prolonged use of antacids could have serious implication for your stomach health. Antacids neutralize the acid in your stomach and this will affect your levels of HCl and pepsin, both of which are essential to your health. Clearly, antacids are not the solution to the problem.

Most people do not know this, but very often the heartburn and indigestion you have is the result of dehydration. Quite often, the pain you experience is your body’s cry for help. It needs water. You should be drinking water on a regular basis throughout the day.

If your increased water intake is not the solution to the cause of your heartburn or indigestion problem, then you should consider taking natural supplements that will help optimize the pH of your stomach. Talk to your local health to see what they recommend.

But remember this: Many of the digestive problems that you have do not stem from an excess of HCl, but rather a deficiency of HCl. Popping more antacids is not the solution to your heartburn and indigestion problems, and you do not want to unnecessarily be adding any more toxins to your body.

Click on the link to read more articles on healthy living.