Why You Need Stomach Acid

Disclaimer: We do not know your personal situation. We are not doctors. We do not give medical advice.

Protein Digestion

Abnormal gut flora is highly correlated with hypochlorhydria, or low stomach acid. Where there is not sufficient acid production, digestion will not happen normally.

Protein digestion begins in the stomach, where the hydrochloric acid produced by the stomach walls activates protein-digesting enzymes, such as pepsin, which start breaking down the complex structure of dietary proteins into peptides and amino acids. Pepsin ideally requires a pH of no higher than 3 to perform its function of breaking down proteins. This environment does not exist in hypochlorhydric stomachs.

Without sufficient stomach acid, proteins are absorbed only partially digested, causing problems in the body. Two of these proteins, casein and gluten, are converted - in GAPS people - into opiate-like substances called casomorphin and gliadomorphin. These, in turn, end up in - and interfere with - the nervous system (Campbell-McBride¹).

The Intestines

Continuing down into the small intestine, the protein is handed off to the intestinal wall and pancreatic enzymes, where it needs to receive the protein in a properly digested form in order to do its job.

The intestinal wall produces the hormone secretin, which causes the pancreas to produce alkalizing bicarbonate solution, needed for the neutralization of the acid in the food arriving from the stomach. The digestion of the proteins, fats, and carbohydrates by the pancreatic enzymes and the bile require this more alkaline pH.

Another hormone produced by the duodenum, cholecystokinin, is needed for the stomach to stop its activity when it is time, and causes the arrival of bile into the duodenum from the gallbladder. And without cholecystokinin the pancreas will not produce the alkalizing bicarbonate solution effectively to begin with (Campbell-McBride¹).

Consequences of Low Stomach Acid

When a person has hypochlorhydria, the food that leaves his stomach has too high of a pH to bring about the production of secretin and cholecystokinin. The result of undigested food in the digestive tract is that it rots there, poisoning the rest of the body.

With the low production of alkalizing bicarbonate solution, the proteins form plugs which calcify over time, turning into pancreatic stones, which obstruct the flow of the pancreatic fluids, causing pancreatic enzymes to build up behind the stones. This damages the pancreas and causes pancreatic insufficiency and pancreatitis. In time, this situation can lead to diabetes mellitus or (and?) pancreatic cancer.

Under normal conditions, the stomach has only a marginal susceptibility to being populated by microbes, but when an individual has low stomach acid, the microbes which enter the body with the consumption of food and drink can not only get past the stomach and into the intestines, but they can populate the stomach itself. A variety of bacteria and fungi can be found growing on the hypochlorhydric stomach wall, including Helicobacter pylori, Enterobacteria, Candida, Salmonella, and E. coli (Campbell-McBride¹).

Some Clinical Data Points

In the majority of patients (over 90%), low stomach acid causes acid indigestion, acid reflux, GERD, heartburn, and dyspepsia. Stomach acid is never the cause of of acid reflux or of digestive issues in general. However, when a parylized lower esophegeal sphincter (LES) allows the stomach acid to get to the wrong place in the body, then issues begin.

This paralysis of the LES is the real cause of acid reflux, and can be healed naturally quite often.

What a person should not do when dealing with digestive issues is to take things like acid-suppressing drugs, PPIs, acid neutralizers, baking soda, tums, and acid reducers: These can lead to dangerous health problems.

Low stomach acid can even be related to starvation, as it does not allow for the proper absorption of nutrients, minerals, and vitamins, and is correlated with various diseases, including:

• Addison’s disease
• Celiac disease
• Childhood asthma
• Chronic autoimmune hepatitis
• Diabetes (type I-Juvenile)
• Graves’ disease (hyperthyroid)
• Myasthenia gravis
• Pernicious anemia
• Polymyalgia rheumatica
• Scleroderma
• Sjögren’s syndrome
• Ulcerative colitis
• Vitiligo

These diseases cluster more frequently in the HLA types DR3, DR4, and B8, meaning that even though they appear quite different superficially, this is not the case genetically or molecularly. What all of these diseases have in common is a dysfunction of the upper GI tract.

Moreover, low stomach acid causes allergies, food sensitivities, and leaky gut (Wright and Lenard²).

What can I do?

Test for Low Stomach Acid

There a a couple different ways to test for low stomach acid.

NCM recommends testing for low stomach acid using beetroot. To test this way, have one slice of cooked beetroot. Check to see if there is red in your stool or urine. The presence of red is an indication of low stomach acid.

You can also use baking soda to perform the test. In the morning - before having any food or drink - you would drink 4 oz room temperature water with 1/4 t of baking soda (bicarbonate of soda) dissolved into it. Low stomach is indicated by it taking longer than two minutes to burp.

Check for Ulcers

Before supplementing with HCl, you will want check for ulcers. So, in the morning - before consuming any food or drink - put 2 T apple cider vinegar into 4 oz room-temperature water and consume it. If this causes any burning, do not supplement with HCl.

Taking Hydrochloric Acid

Stomach acid primarily consists of hydrochloric acid (HCl), and direct supplementation is often needed. Choose a Betaine HCl supplement with added pepsin and do not take it with probiotics. Take the supplement at the beginning of each meal.

To find your dose, begin with just one capsule. Do not open it to ingest. It’s acid, remember? If, from taking just the one capsule, you feel a warmth in your stomach or a feeling like heartburn, you should use food to raise your stomach acid instead. If you do not feel the warmth, add a second capsule in a couple days. If you now feel the warmth, then reduce your dosage back to the original single capsule. Otherwise, continue going up by one capsule every two days and once you feel the warmth, go back down by one capsule.

Once you find your dose, stay at that dosage until you feel the warmth in your stomach at every meal. At that point you will know your stomach acid is increasing! Now you can begin to decrease your dose - by one capsule per week - until your are off HCl completely.

Going forward, continue using the foods that stimulate stomach acid production.

Foods for Stomach Acid Production

You can promote stomach acid production with sauerkraut juice, meat stock, and bitter herbs (artichoke, dandelion, gentian, blessed thistle, wormwood).

Have small cups of meat stock throughout the day, eat only foods that are predigested (ferments) or puréed (liver pâté), meat or fish that has gone through the food processor with lots of good fats, and raw egg yolks. Drink the kraut brine throughout the day.

A great way to make inexpensive bitters is to juice arugula or other bitter leaves like dandelion and place a few drops on the tongue before meals. You can freeze the liquid in ice trays, but only put a few drops of the juice in each square so as to make a proper dose for each meal.

Cited by Wright and Lenard, Kerry Bone explains² that bitters need to produce a strong taste of bitterness in order to be effective. Different people have differing levels of sensitivity to bitters, prompting Bone to note³ that those with a low sensitivity to bitters could be at a health disadvantage, but tasting multiple bitter herbs - such as gentian and wormwood - will help overcome the low sensitivity by triggering a wider ranger of our bitter taste receptors.

Use ox bile before meals if you have issues digesting fats.

Pancreatin

You can consider taking pancreatin in conjunction with HCl if you are still experiencing indigestion or gas an hour or more after meals.

Pancreatin can be taken before meals. The directions will say to take before meals, but taking them after a meal allows the food to go through the adequate acid phase of digestion, according to Wright and Lenard².

Extra Tips

Strong ginger tea is especially helpful if you feel any stomach upset during the day or when lying down at night.

While likely not GAPS-approved, if you have ulcers, Wright and Lenard suggest² deglycyrrhizinated licorice (DGL). DGL works through direct contact with the cells of the gastrointestinal lining, so they recommend that two DGL tablets should be chewed thoroughly without food an hour before or after each meal.

Chamomile tea helps soothe your digestive tract and is anti-inflammatory.

If you have H. pylori, Wright and Lenard note² the effectiveness of mastic in killing the bacteria.

Happy Healing!