Acid reflux, also known as GERD (Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease), occurs when the muscle that connects the esophagus to the upper portion of the stomach does not close properly. This muscle acts as a gate, opening and closing at just the right moments.  When it malfunctions, stomach contents can leak back, or reflux, into the esophagus.   Hydrochloric acid (HCl), enters the esophagus and damages its delicate lining causing much discomfort.

Causes of Acid Reflux

Poor lifestyle and nutritional habits are a major cause of acid reflux.  Overeating and not chewing our food properly stresses our digestive track by distending our stomach and forcing food back up the esophagus. Sugary, fatty, fried, and spicy foods, as well as caffeinated, carbonated, and alcoholic beverages, all make reflux worse.  Other foods to avoid when trying to control reflux are chocolate, peppermint, tomato-based foods, citrus, raw onions, garlic, and vinegar.  In addition, taking anti-inflammatory drugs such as aspirin or ibuprofen, as well as other medications that relax the muscles or irritate the gut, contribute to reflux.

Reflux is more often caused by a deficiency or lack of HCl than by too much of it.  Virtually all drugs that treat acid reflux neutralize or suppress HCl.  This is cause for concern in more ways than one.  HCL is one of our greatest natural antibiotics.  It not only digests and allows us to properly metabolize our food; its acidic nature acts to protect us from bacteria and viruses that enter our bodies through food, making it a major player for our immune system.

Pharmaceutical and OTC drugs

For those with reflux, pharmaceuticals and OTC drugs are both a blessing and a concern. They can often bring rapid recovery to uncomfortable symptoms, but act only as a band-aid, ultimately making symptoms worse.  When you take antacids like Prilosec, Zantac, or Tums, your body thinks it is lacking acid, and then produces large amounts of a hormone called gastrin, which stimulates stomach acid.  When you try to stop taking antacids, your stomach continues to make large amounts of acid.  Many people become addicted to these drugs that were originally intended to only be taken short term.

Supportive Natural Alternatives

Several lifestyle practices can put your reflux at ease and help you feel more comfortable.  Eat smaller meals several times throughout the day, and avoid lying down for 3-4 hours after eating to prevent gravity from forcing food back up.  Drink as little as possible during a meal, no more than half of a cup at room temperature; liquids dilute digestive juices.

Eat whole foods.  An alkalizing diet of vegetables and fruits keeps our pH in check, preventing us from becoming overly acidic.  Licensed nutritionist Darlene Kvist, founder of Nutritional Weight and Wellness in St Paul, says that many people are sensitive to grain type carbohydrates, and that eating them can make reflux worse.  She recommends eating lots of vegetables and adding bifido bacteria, good intestinal flora for the digestive tract, to your regime.  “Try choosing vegetables for your carbohydrate source in place of grains for three weeks and see if it makes a difference.  Also, many people lack good bacteria, making them more susceptible to reflux.  Taking bifido bacteria helps the body get rid of reflux by supporting digestion on many levels,” claims Darlene.  Eat food rich in probiotics, such as yogurt, kefir, miso, natto, and raw sauerkraut.    

For low levels of stomach acid, take one or two capsules of betaine HCl before meals.  If you feel a burning sensation, you are probably not deficient in acid, and should discontinue taking HCl. 

Take a probiotic, such as acidophilus or bifidus, a half an hour before meals to support digestion.  In addition, supplement with one or two enzyme capsules, containing protease, amylase, and lipase, before and after meals.

L-glutamine is an amino acid that plays a very important role in eliminating excess acid from the body.  It also helps the body heal and regenerate cells in gastrointestinal tract.  Recommended dosages are 5,000 to 10,000 mg of L-glutamine on an empty stomach. 

If your gut is irritated, try chewing deglycyrrhizinated licorce (DGL), or drinking about 5 ounces of aloe vera juice diluted with water between meals.  To reduce inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract, take essential fatty acids like Omega-3. 

Natural alternatives can help reduce your need for medications and control the discomfort of acid reflux.  Making changes in diet and eating routines, along with the support of supplements, can make a big difference in how you feel. 

Resources:

Gut Solutions, by Brenda Watson and Leonard Smith, Renew Life Press, 2003.

“The Importance of Nutrition in Fatigue and Pain:  Part 4-Enzymes and how to get off Prescription Antacids Naturally”, Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, by Jacob Teitelbaum, M.D., June, 2003.

Darlene Kvist, M.S., C.N.S., L.N., founder of Nutritional Weight and Wellness
708 South Cleveland Ave
St Paul, MN, 55116
www.weightandwellness.com
651-699-3438

Korean kimchi pots

“The science and art of fermentation is…the basis of human culture: without culturing, there is no culture.”¹

This point is illustrated when one recognizes that consumption of beneficial bacteria through food and drink has been part of humans’ diet for as long as humans have existed.  A traditional diet used fermentation to preserve vegetables and milk and to make wine, naturally infusing these foods with beneficial bacteria.  However, as manufactured and preservative laden foods take over many Westerner’s diets, the ingestion of friendly bacteria falls by the wayside.  Not only are we ingesting less beneficial bacteria, but also the growth of harmful bacteria and yeasts are increasing due to diets high in refined carbohydrates and sugars.

Beneficial bacteria are known as probiotic bacteria, and billions of them live in our mouths and small intestines with hundreds of trillions more in our large intestines.  Think of probiotics as the opposite of antibiotics.  The word probiotic breaks down to “pro” meaning “for” and “biotic” meaning “life” as compared to “anti” or “against” life.  If antibiotics kill life (which they do, wiping out all bacteria- harmful and beneficial alike), then probiotics promote it.  We can recognize that there are times when antibiotics are significantly helpful, but we need also to recognize the true importance of health-promoting probiotics.

We have ten times the amount of bacteria in our intestinal tract than cells in our body, and the balance between good and bad bacteria is delicate and of essential importance.  Beneficial bacteria help stop the growth of harmful bacteria, acting as natural antibiotics.  They do this by lowering the pH of the gastrointestinal tract through the production of lactic acid.  Probiotics increase immune function by preventing harmful microbes from leaving the intestinal tract and entering into the bloodstream.  They improve overall digestion, and are often used to treat digestive maladies such as diarrhea, constipation and irritable bowel syndrome.  They also manufacture some B vitamins (which help the body cope with stress), short chain fatty acids, antioxidants, amino acids, and vitamin K.  Probiotic bacteria produce enzymes that help us digest our food and better absorb its nutrients.  In fact, nutrients in foods fermented with bacterial cultures (such as yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, kimchi, miso and tempeh) are more readily absorbed than the nutrients in their non-fermented counterparts: milk, cabbage and soy.

Only living bacteria can provide these proven health benefits.  However, they have a short life span, so eating fermented foods or ingesting supplemental probiotics on regular basis is necessary to maintain their existence.  Additionally, a diet high in whole grains, beans, fruits and vegetables will provide the probiotics with their favorite food: fructooligosaccharides (FOS).  Antibiotics, antacids, synthetic estrogens (in birth control pills and hormone replacement therapies), stress and disease have a negative impact on beneficial intestinal bacteria, discouraging their growth or killing them altogether.

Whether you choose to incorporate fermented foods into your diet or to use probiotic supplements, it is important to consider some factors regarding quality.  Fermented foods or supplements should state that they are live, active, unpasteurized, raw or cultured, a necessity if you want those bacteria alive and active in your intestinal tract.  Pasteurization kills beneficial bacteria, so read labels carefully and call the company directly if you are unsure if the bacteria are still active.  One must also consider bacterial species.  There are 400-500 species of bacteria in the human intestinal tract, with different species more commonly found in the small versus the large intestine.  Lactobacillus acidophilus are bacteria that live in the upper intestinal tract or small intestine.  Bifidobacteria are those in your large intestine, and Lactobacillus bulgaricus are traveling or transient bacteria.  These species, along with Streptococcus thermophilus, have been used to make yogurt for thousands of years.  The beneficial effects of these species have been well established through scientific study and longstanding traditional use.  The quality of probiotics in the supplemental form versus the whole food form is exponentially more complicated.  Each supplement company uses different bacterial species, strains and quantities and uses different delivery systems and manufacturing processes.

As our culture becomes more aware of the benefits probiotics have imparted on other cultures for thousands of years, the food industry is recognizing the potential for increased revenue with probiotic products.  Some companies have gone so far as to put a trademark on specific species.  One company is using a celebrity to market that their yogurt “can help regulate your digestive system by helping reduce long intestinal transit time”².  The bacteria in true natural yogurts, most notably L. acidophilus, have decades worth of scientific studies, not to mention thousands of years of traditional use, showing this same effect- relief from constipation and improved digestion with regular consumption.  The tricky part of the marketing of this new yogurt is that it uses research that compares their yogurt’s benefits to those of yogurt with dead or absent bacteria.  The studies do not compare the trademarked bacterial strain to consumption of “traditional” yogurt.  Unlike this new yogurt, most natural yogurt companies don’t feel the need to trademark a species and sell it as a new food.

With much of today’s society overly dependent on antibiotics and strong preservative systems in our foods, let us consider reincorporating beneficial bacteria through whole, fermented foods and probiotics.  “How ironic that the road to culture in our germophobic technological society requires, first and foremost, that we enter into an alchemical relationship with bacteria and fungi, and that we bring to our tables foods and beverages prepared by the magicians, not machines.”¹

¹ Katz, SE., Wild Fermentation. Vermont: Chelsea Green Publishing Company, 2003.
² Scientific Summary for Health Care Professionals.” Activia® by Dannon™. 2008. Dannon™. 26 May 2008.
http://www.activia.us.com/pdf/Act_scientific_summary.pdf