Heartburn = not enough stomach acid!
By Kim Marquardt, MSN, RN, PHN
This blog post is from the Nurse Kim archives of myth busting. I want to share some "alternative" or maybe just lesser known health and wellness viewpoints for you to chew on.
*These posts are not intended as official medical advice.
They ARE meant to be fun, informative, and thought provoking, hopefully sparking an interest for you to do your own research (you can start with the links I provide!) and discover the marvels of the human body, and how it can function at its optimal performance level if we understand how it works and interacts with our environment and our diet.
I have a passion for health and wellness through lifestyle and nutrition and have done thousands of hours of research in addition to being a registered nurse for 24 years. I have done A LOT of self-experimentation in and around diet, lifestyle, body care, and supplementation and have spent a lot of time looking into the science behind it all (or lack thereof!). Check back regularly for the latest post!
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Heartburn: What's really going on?
Most people experiencing heartburn on a regular basis mistakenly
think it is related to an overproduction of stomach acid. In fact, it
may actually be an UNDER
production of stomach acid leading to food not being properly broken down
and putting stress on the closure at the top of the stomach (sciency term:
lower esophageal sphincter, or LES). The LES then malfunctions, allowing what stomach
acid you DO have (along with undigested food particles), to go in the wrong direction,
namely, back into your esophagus, and cause discomfort.
Several studies now suggest that correcting low stomach
acid, or more accurately stated, optimizing stomach acid amounts, to be
the best treatment for chronic heartburn.
This certainly puts a new spin on deciding whether or not
you should take antisecretory medicines, or those that further decrease the amount
of acid in your stomach. When I think about pharmaceuticals in general, I like
to ask the question, “Is _____disease/symptom related to a deficiency in _____medication?”
And the answer of course, is NO. No disease process or symptom of illness is
related to a lack of medication. Diseases and unpleasant symptoms are
related to a root cause, or a bodily system not functioning properly. When we think
about it that way, we can then try to figure out what that root cause it, and correct that
instead of putting a Band-Aid on symptoms with medication.
Unfortunately, our “health” care (really “sick” care) system
is not set up to investigate and treat root causes. Providers in this country
are trained to prescribe pills and do procedures. And that is pretty much it.
Not great news for those of us hoping to optimize health.
Now let’s talk about some actual remedies for heartburn.
The best way to address problems with digestion is to
consider temporarily going on an elimination diet. Likely culprits for causing
a dysfunctional digestive system that you can consider eliminating are gluten
(or processed grain products in general), pasteurized dairy, and nightshade vegetables.
Gluten
Grains/gluten in our country are quite the conundrum. We grow
mostly GMO grains, soak them in pesticides (glyphosate, i.e., Round Up), and
then harvest them before sprouting (which means they retain very high levels of
gluten). All of these things contribute to the destruction
of our digestive system by breaking down the tight junction mucous layer in
the gut. This causes not only inflammation in the gut itself, but in the rest
of the body as the intestinal tract is not able to keep harmful substances from
our food (toxic preservatives, emulsifiers, gums, and chemicals) from escaping
the intestinal lining into the blood stream (leaky gut). There is so much more
to the story on the gluten/glyphosate front. You can click the link in this
paragraph for more details.
Pasteurized Dairy
Pasteurized dairy (as opposed to raw dairy) is heated
to very high temperatures in the pasteurization process. This leads to a denaturing
of the protein in the dairy. Some experts now think that what was once
thought to be lactose intolerance in much of the population is actually
denatured protein intolerance. When we change the way a raw, whole food is
structured, this can lead the body to react to it unpleasantly or not be able
to process it properly. If you love dairy and don’t want to give it up,
consider trying raw milk and cheese (thankfully legal in California) instead of
pasteurized.
Nightshade Vegetables
Nightshade vegetables have long been known to irritate the
gut and create allergy issues in humans. I would actually take it a step
further and say that all plant matter in general can cause gut issues
for many people. The seeds, stems, and leaves of plants are highly defended with
plant toxins because without them, the plant would be unable to survive and reproduce.
While plants do contain some nutritional value, they also come packaged
with many elements that inhibit or disrupt digestion to discourage humans,
animals, and insects from eating the plant. Eliminating nightshades, or most
plants from your diet, at least temporarily, can greatly improve unpleasant
digestive issues. Then you can slowly add plants back in and see which ones you
tolerate best. You can also check out my
post on how I do not prioritize plants in my diet and what I eat instead.
Home Remedies
A couple of other things you can consider when trying to
correct chronic heartburn are a daily dose of apple cider vinegar and/or a
course of probiotics. I recommend apple cider vinegar capsules instead
of drinking the liquid as this can be a lot easier on the mouth and throat (especially
if you suffer from chronic heartburn). You can find numerous options on Amazon.
If you want to drink apple cider vinegar, make sure it is diluted in water (1-2
tbsp in 8 oz of water).
A quality probiotic certainly has its place in optimizing digestive
function, although it should not be a substitute for correcting dietary factors
and should not have to be used long term. I would instead recommend increasing
your general consumption of fermented foods like sauerkraut and kefir.
Well, I hope this helps not only those with heartburn, but
everyone in general think about ways to optimize health instead of living with
chronic symptoms or worse, Band-Aiding those symptoms with medications that in
no way treat the root cause and often make things worse.
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