by Marc R. Rose
The last thing you need is antacid tablets or acid-blocking pills. You may experience temporary relief, but your stomach is likely to produce another surge of acid an hour later so that you have to take more antacids. Antacids are not the harmless drugs the advertisements would have you believe they are.
They cause acid rebound, they block the absorption of nutrients, they interact with several prescription drugs (including some antibiotics, aspirin, and the heart drugs Cardioquin and Quinalan), they slow digestion, and they can cause diarrhea or constipation. People who take a lot of antacids tend to have more urinary tract infections.
The myth that Turns are a good source of calcium is not only irresponsible but dangerous to women who think they’re boosting their calcium levels and preventing osteoporosis. Antacids actually block calcium absorption, so at best the calcium in them is supplementing what is depleted by the antacid.
The Real Cause of Stomach Ulcers
Your stomach has a thick mucous lining to protect it from acid; when a bacterial infection known as H. pylori (short for Helicobacter pylori) erodes this lining and exposes the stomach wall to the acid environment inside it, stomach ulcer results. Low stomach acid may make the stomach more susceptible to an H. pylori infection.
No matter how low your acid secretion is, it is powerful enough to burn a hole in exposed stomach lining. The fact that stomach ulcers are caused by bacteria rather than overproduction of stomach acid is a fairly new discovery. It’s no coincidence that H2 blockers (another name for stomach acid-blocking drugs such as Tagamet, Zantac, and Pepcid) went over-the-counter as heartburn medicines at about the same time this discovery was made: these drugs were originally prescribed for treatment of ulcers.
H. pylori bacteria are found in 70 to 80 percent of cases of stomach ulcer, and 90 percent of cases of duodenal ulcer. (The duodenum is the first part of your small intestine, just outside the stomach.) In 50 percent of people who suffer not from ulcer but from heartburn, stomach distress, or indigestion, H. pylori is the cause. If you have indigestion, ask your doctor to test you for an H. pylori infection. If you do have this bacteria in your gastrointestinal tract, it needs to be eradicated before you can enjoy good digestion. A course of antibiotics (usually tetracycline and amoxicillin) and a bismuth preparation (such as Pepto-Bismol) should do the trick.
If you want to try a natural remedy for banishing H. pylori, Dr. Earl Mindell recommends degly-cyrrhizinated licorice lozenges (chewable) between meals, and odorless garlic capsules with meals for at least three weeks and as many as six weeks.
If you’re one of those people who suffer regularly from heartburn and the remedies we’ve suggested here don’t work, be sure to get a checkup from your doctor. Sometimes heartburn can be a symptom of undiagnosed heart disease.
Increasing Stomach Acid
You have many choices when it comes to enhancing your stomach acid safely and naturally:
Eat a balanced diet of unprocessed, organic whole foods. Try to have a green salad with raw vegetables once a day, so you can reap the benefits of live enzymes that are disabled by cooking and processing.
Chew your food thoroughly.
Drink a glass of lukewarm water thirty minutes before meals. Very hot or cold liquids interfere with secretion of acids and enzymes. You may want to try mixing a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in with a cup of the premeal water. Vinegar is acidic, making it a good digestive aid.
Try tinctures of bitters like goldenseal or gentian. Mix in a one-to-seven ratio with water.
Try a stomach acid supplement sold in health food stores called betaine hydrochloride (HCl). Some brands also contain pepsin for better protein digestion. Try a 250–300 mg tablet with food, and gradually increase the dose to two or three tablets a meal. If your stomach burns, you’ve taken too much. Be sure to take it with a meal.
The Small Intestine, Pancreas, and Liver
Let’s continue along the digestive tract. Once partly digested food (chyme) has been churned around in your stomach for about thirty minutes, it moves in small amounts through another sphincter that leads to your small intestine. Most of the work of digestion and absorption of food is done in the ten-foot-long small intestine. The pancreas and liver secrete enzymes into the first section of the small intestine (the duodenum) that are crucial for good digestion. These enzymes include more amylase for digestion of starches, protease for protein breakdown, and lipase for fat digestion. They also neutralize the acid in the chyme as it passes so it won’t harm the rest of your digestive tract. Aging people make enzymes less effectively, and those who have depended on antacids for years are likely to make even fewer enzymes than predicted for their age. If you have gas and bloating after meals, it can’t hurt to try a digestive enzyme supplement with amylase, protease, and lipase. Some also include enzymes for digestion of lactose (milk sugar) and cellulose (the insoluble fiber in plant foods that can cause flatulence after eating beans).
The liver is truly an amazing organ. It’s the largest gland in the body. It makes and stores its own natural antioxidants like glutathione, coenzyme Q10, and superoxide dismutase. It metabolizes proteins, carbohydrates, and fat; it neutralizes toxins and drugs; and it produces a half-liter of bile a day, which is stored in the gallbladder for secretion into the duodenum when food comes through. Bile is 97 percent water and contains bile salts made from cholesterol. These salts work on fats in the chyme, breaking it into small particles that are easily digested by lipase (a fat-digesting enzyme). The bile salts then are recycled back to the liver to be used again. Without enough bile, fat digestion is poor and the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins such as A, E, and D is limited.
Taking too many prescription or over-the-counter drugs can hurt your liver over the long run. Acetaminophen (Tylenol, for example) is one of the worst offenders. Alcohol, fatty foods, and exposure to chemical toxins like gasoline and pesticides can stress your liver and make it less able to perform all its functions, including the manufacture of bile. Under ideal circumstances, the liver can clear blood of toxins without any problem. If it’s overloaded with drugs, alcohol, unhealthy foods, environmental toxins, or any combination of these, it can’t keep up. The overflow of toxins is allowed to leak into the circulation to wreak havoc elsewhere.
Gallstones are a fairly common occurrence in Americans. Blockage of the flow of bile by these stonelike deposits can cause fat and fat-soluble vitamins to pass through the system undigested. Gallstones are created when there’s too much cholesterol and not enough lecithin, another component of bile. The typical American diet that’s low in fiber and high in fat and sugar is to blame. Supplemental lecithin can be bought at your health food store to help insure you against gallstones. It’s also used as a natural cholesterol-lowering agent.
Keeping your liver healthy and happy is an important part of good health. Following the Ten Steps in Chapter 1 will help keep your liver healthy.
If you know your liver is going to be stressed, you can use the herb milk thistle. Its active ingredient, silymarin, directly supports the liver by protecting cell membranes from breakdown, and helps in the formation of new liver cells and production of bile. The bioflavonoid catechin, vitamin C, alpha lipoic acid, and N-acetyl cysteine (a precursor to glutathione) are other substances you can use in supplement form to keep your liver healthy.
Leaky Gut Syndrome and Food Allergy
The chyme that once was a turkey burger continues along, now mixed with pancreatic enzymes and bile that busily work to break down large molecules into small ones. Contractions of the muscular walls of the small intestine pump chyme along. In a healthy gut, the protein, carbohydrate, and fat molecules that are the end result of digestion seep through the intestinal walls to the liver, and then into the circulation. Transport systems for these molecules through the membranes that line the inside of the small intestine are varied and complex, designed to let out only what the body can use and to retain all else for eventual excretion in the feces.
If your n
utrition is poor or you have taken antibiotics, the gut membranes can become more permeable than they should be. Large molecules not meant to travel in the bloodstream escape through “leaks” in the gut. Food allergies are the result of the body’s immune response to these molecules, which it sees as hostile invaders. Over time, the food allergies cause more irritation to the gut, creating a vicious cycle of inflammatory reactions throughout the body and chronic digestive problems.
Food allergies generally go undiagnosed in mainstream medicine, but we have seen a world of problems clear up when people eliminate offending foods from their diet. Strictly speaking, these types of reactions to food are “sensitivities,” not allergies in the sense that hives or hay fever are, but for the sake of simplicity we use the generic term of allergy to describe the problem.
Gordon is a good example of someone with undiagnosed food allergies. He hasn’t been feeling well lately and says that it’s been literally years since he really felt good. “I have to lie down for an hour at the office after lunch,” he confides. “My head feels fuzzy after I eat. And the cramps I get in my guts are excruciating.”
“What does your doctor say?”
“Not much. I go in there with a list of complaints as long as my arm. Rashes, hemorrhoids, gas, you name it. They’ve run thousands of dollars’ worth of tests and found nothing. I’m taking Tagamet and antacids, but they help only for a little while. I guess I’ve pretty much resigned myself to being like this for the rest of my life.”
It sounds to me as though Gordon has some food allergies. I ask him to try eliminating wheat and dairy products, the two most common offenders, to see if he feels better. “What’ll I eat?” he asks in a panic. “I can’t give up pizza!”
I persuade him to try it for two weeks. He reluctantly agrees, but in that time his skin clears, and his gas and bloating disappear. When he eats wheat again, his symptoms don’t return, but when he drinks a glass of milk for the first time in two weeks, he has terrible stomach cramps, bloating, and gas, an indication that he has a sensitivity to milk, and probably dairy products in general. Gordon feels that giving up dairy products is a small price to pay for relief of his symptoms.
How do you know if you have a food allergy? It isn’t easy to tell because food allergy symptoms can crop up in any system of the body. Many patients we talk to who later discover they have a food allergy are always feeling a little “off” with nasal allergies, asthma symptoms, rashes, a general feeling of depression or exhaustion, and gastrointestinal complaints, and they have been frustrated by doctors who can’t find any specific ailment.
Although wheat and dairy products are the most common culprits, others include citrus fruit, nightshade family plants (tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant), and food additives, preservatives, and dyes. Some children seem to be particularly sensitive to dairy products and food dyes.
If you think you might have food allergies, try an elimination diet. This involves systematically eliminating the foods you eat daily or almost daily for ten to fourteen days, then adding them back into your diet one at a time. Keep a diary of how you feel throughout. Once you’ve gone without an allergenic food for a few days, the allergic response to it will be much more pronounced when you reintroduce it.
It’s interesting to note that the foods you’re allergic to are usually the ones you crave. That’s because your body’s response to the allergen can make you feel a little “high.” Your adrenals kick out hormones that raise your pulse and make you more alert as your body prepares to defend itself against the unwelcome invader. Those with food allergy usually can name a food (or two or three) they absolutely couldn’t do without, which are the most likely to be those you’re allergic to.
If you do have an allergy to your favorite food, don’t despair. You don’t have to give it up completely. After you have avoided it for a few months, you may be able to enjoy it once or twice a week without ill effects. As soon as you go back to daily consumption, though, symptoms are likely to recur.
Lack of stomach acid and digestive enzymes, bacterial infections, systemic yeast infections (candidiasis), chemotherapy, trauma, or excessive stress all can contribute to leaky gut syndrome. If you’re interested in learning more about food allergy, refer to the excellent book Optimal Wellness, by Ralph Golan, M.D. His chapter on this topic goes into great depth and is a wonderful resource.
Following my supplement recommendations and eating well will do a lot for a leaky gut.
Colon Health, Friendly Bacteria, and Yeast
If all goes well along the length of the small intestine, the majority of digested matter left to enter the large intestine or colon is waste and water. Bile pigments and insoluble fiber are concentrated, as excess water is reabsorbed into the body through the walls of the large intestine. Propelled by muscular contractions, feces move to the descending colon, where they give the body the signal that it’s time to eliminate.
Constipation is epidemic among those who eat the typical American high-fat, low-nutrition diet. Following our Ten Steps in Chapter 1 carefully should spare you the discomfort of hard, difficult-to-pass bowel movements.
Did you know that there are four hundred different microorganisms residing in your small intestine and colon? These friendly bacteria (also called flora), including Lactobacillus acidophilus and Lactobacillus bifidus, feed on carbohydrates that come into your gut. Fruits, vegetables, grains, and milk sugar (lactose) are their daily fare. In return for room and board, friendly bacteria fight unfriendly bacteria. Breakdown of carbohydrates by friendly bacteria produces lactic acid and other substances that make the intestinal environment unpleasant for harmful organisms. Intestinal flora are also important sources of B vitamins and vitamin K.
The bacteria Candida albicans, or yeast, also resides in the healthy gastrointestinal tract. It is harmless when there are plenty of good bacteria around to keep it under control. This is the same yeast that causes vaginal yeast infections. If balance isn’t achieved, yeast can become overgrown and cause problems throughout the body.
One of the most common ways to get a yeast overgrowth is to take antibiotics. Antibiotic medications kill off friendly bacteria along with whatever bacteria was causing the illness. Without the resistance of your friendly bacteria, or probiotics, yeast can become overgrown. Steroid medications and other drugs that suppress the immune system also allow yeast to thrive. Sucrose, or refined sugar, is yeast’s favorite food, and those who eat a lot of it are at risk for intestinal yeast infection. If you aren’t making enough digestive enzymes or stomach acid, it’s more likely that undigested food will reach the lower small intestine and colon, giving yeast more nourishment to grow and multiply.
How can you tell if you have yeast overgrowth? As in food allergy, which affects many systems of the body at once, there are often multiple symptoms and a feeling of general unwellness. If you must take antibiotics or steroids, or if you have frequent vaginal yeast infections, you can try supplementing your intestinal flora to keep yeast overgrowth at bay.
Probiotics for Intestinal Health
Whether or not you have a yeast problem, irritable bowel symptoms such as intermittent constipation and diarrhea with bloating and gas may indicate a shortage of friendly bacteria. Avoid antibiotics unless absolutely necessary. Eating foods rich in fiber and snacking on yogurt containing live bacteria (and no added sugar) should boost populations of lactobacilli. You also can use probiotic supplements, sold as acidophilus or probiotics in the refrigerator at your health food store. These might include Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus bulgaricus, and Bifidobacterium bifidum. You need to refrigerate them whether they are liquid or in capsules. Take them according to the directions on the bottle.
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IN SHORT…
1. If you have problems with heartburn or slow digestion, you may not be making enough stomach acid.
2. To aid digestion, eat whole foods and chew well.
3. To enhance stomach acidity, drink a glass of lukewarm water
thirty minutes before meals. Add a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar to the water if needed.
4. To enhance stomach acidity, try supplements such as tinctures of gentian or goldenseal, 1 part to 7 parts water, or betaine hydrochloride tablets (HCl), starting with 300 mg with meals and increasing as needed.
5. Don’t overeat or eat “on the run.”
6. Manage chronic stress.
7. Enzymes produced in your salivary glands, stomach, pancreas, and small intestine are important players in digestion. If you tend to have indigestion often you can try supplementing with amylase, protease, and lipase at meals. If it’s beans or vegetables that cause you problems, try cellulase, which is sold commonly as Beano; if milk upsets your gut, you can use lactase, sold under the brand name of Lactaid. Other brands should be available at your health food store, and you may find an enzyme supplement that contains all of these enzymes.
8. H. pylori infection is a common cause of heartburn, indigestion, and stomach ulcer. Your doctor can easily see if you have this bacteria in your system and can cure it with antibiotics and a bismuth preparation such as Pepto-Bismol. If you want to avoid antibiotics, try garlic and licorice.
9. The liver secretes bile to break down fats for energy. This breaking-down also frees up essential fat-soluble vitamins. Drugs and other toxins can overwhelm the liver to the point where it can’t do a good job. Milk thistle is an effective liver-supporting herb.
10. Food allergy is a common consequence of leaky gut syndrome. Try an elimination diet if you suspect you suffer from food allergy.
11. Your colon plays host to four hundred different strains of friendly bacteria. These probiotics perform important functions and should be maintained. Lack of friendly bacteria can lead to yeast overgrowth in the intestines. Avoid antibiotics whenever possible and eat unsweetened “live” yogurt. Supplements containing probiotics can be used as well, and should always be used for the two weeks following a course of antibiotics.