On my journey towards healing my gut I have focused a lot on probiotics. By now most people know about probiotics. They are the good bacteria in your gut and help digestion. So I’ve been taking those for quite some time. And thought that was enough. But it wasn’t until I read GAPS that I heard about the impact of digestive enzymes and stomach acid on gut health. If you have abnormal gut flora, chances are you have low stomach acid. Which makes it hard/impossible for your body to break down/digest proteins properly. The solution? Bump up the acid! Sounds counterintiutive in our culture where everyone is popping antacids like candy. So here’s a short explanation.

Pepsin, a protein-digesting enzyme, breaks down proteins into peptides and amino acids. The acid in the stomach is what activates the pepsin. The pH in the stomach needs to be 3 or less to do this. So if the stomach acid is insufficient, the digestive process goes wrong from step 1…which only leads to more trouble as the process continues. Maldigested proteins pass through the small intestine. The intestinal wall and pancreatic enzymes then don’t get the proteins in the form they expect…and can’t do their job properly (step 2 gone bad). Food coming from the stomach should have a pH of 2 or less to stimulate the production of the hormones secretin and cholecystokinin. Secretin stimulates the liver to produce bile…to continue the digestive process. More importantly it stimulates the pancreas to produce alkalising bicarbonate solution to reduce the acid in the food (a more alkaline environment), which the small intestine needs. It is critical for pancreatic enzymes to digest protein, carbohydrates and fat. And these enzymes are only produced if cholecystokinin is first produced. It tells the pancreas to make the enzymes necessary to digest the food. Without these 2 hormones digestion does not happen.

So what does that mean…if food is not digested? Maldigestion and malabsorption. Partially digested food “leaks” through the intestinal wall. Maldigested proteins cause allergies and autoimmune reactions. Maldigested carbohydrates get converted into toxins. Nutritional deficiencies are a big problem when this happens. Vitamins, amino acids and minerals are not absorbed. Fat soluble vitamins like A, D, E, K and essential fatty acids are not absorbed since fat is not digested. And the undigested food rots in the digestive tract, becoming toxic. Doesn’t sound too good to me. But wait, that’s not all.

Stomach acid is also critical for killing microbes that you ingest from food. If stomach acid is too low the microbes can survive and colonise in the intestines and even the stomach. This can cause stomach cancer, ulcers and gastritis.

These microbes particularly feed on carbohydrates. When stomach acid is too low, microbes start fermenting carbohydrates. This produces toxins and causes excess gas. Also, some pathogens grow around the sphinchter muscle, which can paralyze it and cause reflux. Sadly antacids are usually prescribed for this. Although it does stop the immediate burn from the acid in the throat, in the long run it just perpetuates the problem.

Finally, the solution…take a supplement that bumps the stomach acid back up. This is called Betaine HCI with added pepsin. You take it with the first bite of each meal. Thankfully this is a short term problem. And can usually be fixed by taking the supplement for a couple months.

There are a couple other simple steps you can take. Chewing your food very thoroughly will kick off the digestive process and make less work for stomach. Also eating sauerkraut and drinking its juice just before a meal will help. Drinking broth with a meal will also help in digestion.

There are also other digestive enzymes you can take. But usually once stomach acid is restored to normal levels the body produces them naturally. So they aren’t usually necessary.

What does this mean for me? I’m guessing that I, like other people with messed up guts, have low stomach acid. So I just started taking the Betaine HCI supplement. I started with 1 pill a day (with dinner). This week I will bump it up to 2 meals a day, and all 3 next week. I can’t report on the impact yet, since I just started. But hopefully it will be very helpful. Especially in reducing gas…my biggest problem since starting this journey many years ago. It makes so much sense now why I had such extreme amounts of gas and bloating when I was living on bread and sugar 😛  I was told to avoid fat and eat bland/starchy food. The complete opposite of what I really needed. I need to avoid carbohydrates/sugar and get my stomach acid levels up. What a concept now to truly be digesting my food for once and not having it ferment in my gut 😛  I’m also hoping it will help Abram with his reflux and gas (by me taking it). Only time will tell. But I’m hopeful.

So if you struggle with reflux or gas…increase your stomach acid! Don’t neutralize it. Without enough stomach acid you can’t digest your food.