Category: Digestion

Why Do We Need Strong Stomach Acid? 

• Essential in absorbing certain nutrients, such as protein, vitamin B-12, and minerals 
• Kills bacteria and other pathogens in the stomach to prevent infection 
• Acid blocking medication increases risk of osteoporosis and fractures, pneumonia, Clostridium difficile and other gastrointestinal infections, vitamin B12 deficiency anemia, chronic kidney disease, and dementia.   

Five steps to fixing your heartburn:   

1. Manage symptoms 
2. Identify causes of heartburn 
3. Change diet and lifestyle factors 
4. Repair stomach lining, look for infection, and support a healthy microbiome 
5. Wean medication slowly 

Step 1 – Manage symptoms 

At first, if you are on an acid blocking medicine stay on the lowest dose you can tolerate.  To treat occasional breakthrough heartburn symptoms, choose one at time from this list:  

• Chew 2 DGL wafers (this black licorice wafer also helps heal stomach so its good to chew 2 three times a day regardless of symptoms) 
• Chew two Tums 
• Drink 2 dissolved Alka-Seltzer 
• Drink baking soda in water (1 teaspoon baking soda in 4 ounces of room temperature water) or plain seltzer water 

Step 2 – Identify causes of heartburn 

1. Hiatal hernia (diaphragm dysfunction, belly fat) 
2. Infection – H. Pylori 
3. Gastric acid over-secretion and under-secretion both can create heartburn 
4. Hypersensitivity to a normal amount of acid (lack of mucus in stomach) 
5. Pancreatic insufficiency (digestive enzymes) 
6. SIBO – Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth 
7. Stress, improper breathing, posture, spinal alignment 
8. Diet and Lifestyle – see step 3 

Step 3 – Change diet and lifestyle 

Start with “low hanging fruit” – things that are relatively easy. Eliminate as many of these as you can.   

• Acid foods such as citrus and tomatoes 
• Alcohol  
• Caffeinated products 
• Chocolate 
• Dehydration 
• Eating quickly and unconsciously, not chewing 
• Eating too close to bedtime  
• Fatty foods 
• Food sensitivities – Consider testing (wheat & dairy?) 
• Overeating 
• Raw vegetables in excessive amounts 
• Smoking 
• Spicy foods 
• Sugar are refined carbohydrates 
• Tannins in black tea 
• Wearing restrictive clothing 

Step 4 – Repair the stomach lining, look for infection, support a healthy microbiome 

Your doctor will create an individualized protocol based on your symptoms, history, and lab testing.   

Step 5 – Weaning medication slowly 

Go slow – this process will take weeks or months and depends a lot on steps 1 – 4.  Stopping your medication abruptly can cause rebound acid hypersecretion.   

If you are on a PPI, in collaboration with your doctor, you will wean the dose and frequency of the PPI first, then you’ll switch to an H2 blocker then wean it slowly.   

When your digestive enzymes and/or hydrochloric acid are low 

Heartburn symptoms can happen from having low digestive juices – both hydrochloric acid from your stomach, digestive enzymes from your small intestines and pancreas, and bile from the gallbladder.  People low in digestive juices can have not only heartburn but often bloating, feeling overly full, abdominal pain, and other digestive symptoms.   

Your doctor can test for and explore the use of digestive enzymes, bile, hydrochloric acid capsules, and the proper use of apple cider vinegar and digestive bitters.   

Relaxation Therapy with Deep Breathing Reduces Heartburn Symptoms 

Do not underestimate the impact of stress on your digestive tract! 

Your Lower Esophageal Sphincter (LES), the muscle at the top of the stomach that closes when the stomach is digesting is affected by stress.  When it doesn’t close at the right time (during digestion), it allows acid to reflux up into the esophagus.  In a study, deep breathing exercises decreased severity and frequency of reflux episodes.  

The LES, and the rest of your digestion, is controlled by the vagus nerve, an important part of the gut-brain connection.  The vagus nerve controls the rest-and-digest side of your nervous system which in turn balances the flight-and-flight part of our nervous system.   

Take many moments each day to check in with your breathing.  Work on only breathing through your nose.  Practice a slightly slower exhale to calm your vagus nerve.  Check in with your posture’s effect on your breathing and diaphragm.  Get up, stretch your ribs and back.  Do a few twists or even better take a yoga class!   

Read more about heartburn from Dr. Haynes: 

Proton pump inhibitors, or PPIs, are a common heartburn relief medicine.  Some examples are Omeprazole (Prilosec), Famotidine (Pepcid) and Pantoprazole (Protonix). While they can be helpful in the short-term, long-term use can throw a wrench in the digestive process. PPIs don’t correct the original problem but mask it while the underlying destructive processes continues.

New Link with Dementia

And now, a new study^[1] found that people who used proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) for more than 4.4 cumulative years were at a 33% higher risk of developing dementia than those reporting no use.

Previous studies showed mixed results in regards to PPIs and dementia but didn’t study cumulative use. This study used 5,712 dementia-free participants (58% were women) and the median follow up was 5.5 years and studied cumulative use. There were no significant associations for shorter times of PPI use.

While we need more studies to understand what the relationship is between dementia and cumulative PPI use, it is important to heal your gut now and help prevent this occurring to you or a loved one that may be on chronic PPI use.

What are Some Causes of Heartburn?

Naturopathic medicine shines at correcting underlying issues and can help you address the cause of your symptoms.

Eating an improper diet, having a hiatal hernia which allows acid to be where it’s not meant to be, stress, lack of optimal GI health (lack of enzymes, acid, chewing food, etc.), etc.

Read More

Here is another article on our web page from with helpful information:

Heartburn -Get relief with naturopathic medicine on our web page.

Feel free to contact Boise Natural Health for a free 15 min consult or to set up your appointment with Dr. Nicole Maxwell.   

^[1] Northuis C, Bell E, Lutsey P, George KM, Gottesman RF, Mosley TH, Whitsel EA, Lakshminarayan K. Cumulative Use of Proton Pump Inhibitors and Risk of Dementia: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study. Neurology. 2023 Aug 9:10.1212/WNL.0000000000207747. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000207747. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 37558503.

It has been estimated that 60-70% of people diagnosed with IBS instead have SIBO (Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth). Common symptoms of SIBO are bloating, gas, constipation, diarrhea, restless leg syndrome, interstitial cystitis, brain fog, increasing food sensitivities, hair loss, and anemia.  Sometimes we think of SIBO when patients report that the more fiber and healthy foods they eat, the worse their bloating and gas is or if they try to eat onions or garlic, its like a bomb went off.

What is SIBO?

Simply put, Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth is a chronic bacterial infection of the small intestine. The bacteria that normally reside in the large intestine have abnormally grown in the small intestine.

Why is Overgrowth Bad?

The small intestine is made to absorb our nutrients and food but is not made to tolerate bacteria. As bacteria grow in the small intestine, they cause inflammation to the small intestine lining as well as they get first dibs on all our nutrients before we can absorb them. The bacteria also emit gas as they feed on our nutrients. This leads to increasing food sensitivities, deficiencies of iron and B12, increased gas and bloating, and changes in your bowel movements.

What causes SIBO?

We aren’t completely sure of the cause of SIBO; however, we do know that certain conditions are likely to result in SIBO. Any condition that slows the movement of the GI system (constipation, hypothyroid, surgeries, antibiotics, etc) can make the conditions ripe for SIBO to occur. Another common cause is food poisoning.

How do we Test?

In the past, testing was not as reliable or complete as it is now. There are 3 types of SIBO: hydrogen, methane, or hydrogen sulfide. You can have only one type, or up to all three! There is now a test that can look for all 3 types of SIBO, called TrioSmart. You drink a lactulose solution and then blow into small bags every 15-20 minutes for 2 hours. TrioSmart then measures the amount of the 3 gasses in your breath and gives us results.

How do we Treat?

SIBO is treated by in a stepwise fashion: kill the bacteria in the small intestine, ensure motility of the GI system and do our best to prevent relapse, and then repopulate if needed.

Oftentimes a combination of a unique antibiotic (Rifaximin) plus herbs has the best outcomes. Some herbs often used are oil of oregano, garlic extract, berberines, and multiple others. Treatment protocols usually last 1-3 months, depending on severity and how long these symptoms have been present. Then we shift to relapse prevention and motility via herbs and diet.

Info from siboinfo.com, triosmartbreath.com, 2020 Advanced Application in Medical Practice conference

Every day we carry around 10 times more microbial cells than our own.  As Dr. George Weinstock, professor of microbial genomics says, “You’re not just a human, you’re a kind of super organism because you’re a community of all these things that are with you your whole life”.

Our microbial partners carry out a number of metabolic reactions that are necessary for human health like:

• harvest energy from foods
• improve gut motility and function
• reinforce our gut barrier
• protect against pathogens
• synthesize vitamins, hormones, and amino acids
• influence our brain, liver, kidney, skin and vaginal tract function
• and much more!

Due to innovations in testing, we can now identify the microbial communities, their genes, and use that information in helping people return to health.  At Boise Natural Health we can test for over 50 different microbes that inhabit your GI tract and review them with you.

https://boisenaturalhealth.com/test-your-gut-microbiome-with-a-simple-stool-sample/.

Here are two easy ways you can start feeding your good gut bugs now and keep that super organism that is you functioning optimally!

1. Feed your bugs resistant starches.  Resistant starches increase our beneficial population and increases short chain fatty acids – food for the good gut bugs.

• Oats. Oats are one of the most convenient ways to add resistant starch to your diet.
• Cooked and cooled rice. Resistant starch amount increases over time.
• Beans and legumes. Soaked and heated.
• Raw potato starch. 1 tbsp a day in smoothie or overnight oats. Don’t heat.
• Cooked and cooled potatoes. Don’t reheat – think salad.
• Green bananas. Replaced with simple sugars as they ripen.

2. Eat a phytonutrient rich diet!  In other words, like mom said, eat your vegetables.  Go for a rainbow of colors at two of your meals. If you’re an omnivore, consider going vegan for two nights of the week or more.  Check out the recipe section on our website or these other websites:  https://www.whfoods.com/foodstoc.php and https://nourishingmeals.com/about

For more help keeping your super organism healthy, feel free to schedule a free 15-minute consult at Boise Natural Health Clinic.