Digestive Health Series Part 2: Stomach Acid

Richmondchironeu • July 1, 2019

Hello again everyone:

As we continue this series, we will answer several questions: what does stomach acid do for us; what are the signs or symptoms that it may be low; what causes low stomach acid.

What does stomach acid do for us? Adequate stomach acid is essential for multiple functions: digestion of protein; absorption of minerals and especially iron, zinc and magnesium; absorption of vitamins, especially B-12; a first layer of defense against infection as the acid kills pathogens; assists in breaking down food to small particles which lowers the risk of food allergies (also known as loss of oral tolerance). When stomach acid is low, it can cause the lower esophageal sphincter muscle to relax and allow acid to go into the esophagus and cause heartburn and/or reflux. Also, when acid is low, food will literally rot…and this can happen incredibly fast. Proteins will putrefy, carbohydrates will ferment, and fats can go rancid…leading to a very nasty situation as they rise up into the esophagus and cause uncomfortable bloating.

Symptoms  such as heartburn, reflux, gas, pain, bloating, loose stools or constipation, digestive discomfort, burping or belching, bad breath, hair loss, intestinal infections, nausea with taking supplements, undigested food in the stool, upset stomach as well as links to skin problems, auto-immune conditions like psoriasis, allergies, anemia, asthma and more.

The above are all signs and symptoms of low acid, and if you were to consult with your primary care physician with those symptoms, you would most likely receive a prescription for an acid blocker. Unfortunately, if you have low stomach acid like most of us, this will only compound the problem as it does nothing for the underlying problems that caused the issue in the first place.

Causes or risk factors:

Here are some of the more common ones: age (sorry); stress; diet; auto-immune family history or personal history or auto-immune disorder(s); a diet low in zinc; gut infection; history of stomach surgery; some medications; food allergies, sensitivities or intolerances, especially gluten issues

Bottom Line:  You can see how stomach acid can play a role in many conditions. In the next newsletter, I will go over what you can try at home. See you next week!

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Health News Update: Pesticides, Cancer & Why Go Organic 6.29.26 Hello everyone: Slowly but surely, despite the health and food industries downplaying the risks, evidence is emerging that the long-term consumption of trace amounts of toxic chemicals can add up to some serious health consequences. “Our process-based model, encompassing 31 key pesticide active ingredients, together with an innovative stratification of cancer cases by developmental lineage, reveals a robust spatial association between environmental pesticide exposure risk and cancer incidence. In pesticide-associated cancer hotspots, exposomic profiling of liver tissue—a primary target of chemical carcinogens—uncovers a distinct transcriptomic signature of pesticide exposure, implicating a non-genotoxic mode of action that disrupts core regulatory circuitries sustaining cell identity. Collectively, these findings strongly support a mechanistic link between pesticide exposure and cancer, challenging assumptions of human non-carcinogenicity derived from reductionist experimental models. This study redefines the exposome as a lineage-conditioned, mechanistically tractable framework and shows how complex pesticide mixtures can contribute to carcinogenic trajectories, with profound and far-reaching implications for global health policy and socio-ecological equity.” https://www.nature.com/articles/s44360-026-00087-0 pesticide exposure & cancer risks Bottom Line: Whenever possible, purchase your food from organic sources including local farmers that use regenerative and organic practices. Not all foods need to be organic, and to decide which ones absolutely need to be, you can access the Environmental Working Group’s yearly list of the Dirty Dozen foods that are the highest in pesticide residues. This will also include the Clean 15 foods that do not need to be organic as they are usually grown without or with very low pesticide levels. https://www.ewg.org/foodnews/dirty-dozen.php dirty dozen food guide Additionally, high quality nutrients support the natural detox processes our bodies use to get rid of any and all toxins. When we consume the Standard American Diet or Westernized Diet, we are low in the nutrients and co-factors needed to support optimal detox cleansing. So always start with food upgrades as they will carry your upgrade the farthest. Remember that most chronic health conditions start 20 years before you even notice them creeping up or becoming diagnosed. What you do now is creating your future. It used to be said that you are what you eat. Another way to say that is we become what we eat…so please take good care and make sure you always put high grade fuel into your Temple.
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