DIGESTIVE AIDS: Make our food available

Most traditional nutritionists, in surveying a person’s dietary adequacy, estimate the nutritional content of the foods taken in and start adding up the numbers. Their assumption, that people will absorb whatever they take in, is far from true. In fact, facilitating this absorption may be one of the best strategies in all of nutrition. Food and nutrient absorption is often obstructed, and correcting it can make a big difference.

You will need the help of a nutritionally oriented doctor to find if there are weak links in your digestive chain. If the doctor’s lab tests reveal that your nutrient levels are below what should be expected, there are several digestive aids you might consider.

HYDROCHLORIC АСID

Symptoms such as fullness or flatulence or nausea after taking vitamins may provide you with the first clue that you have a deficiency of hydrochloric acid (HC1), our main stomach acid.

– A lack of stomach acid is commonplace, the result of aging, genetics, use of certain medications and a variety of other factors.

– Up to half of all people older than sixty do not secrete enough HC1, which provides the initial step in the digestion of protein.

An insufficient amount of this acid can cause or aggravate all sorts of problems – including asthma, diabetes, food allergies, osteoporosis, iron-deficiency anaemia, pernicious anaemia and Candida albicans overgrowth. Observations dating back seventy-five years link low HC1 levels to rheumatoid arthritis, intestinal infections, and such skin conditions as psoriasis, vitiligo, hives, eczema, dermatitis, herpetiformis and acne. It also may increase the risk of gastric cancer.

Low HC1 also impairs the absorption of minerals and other nutrients, notably folic acid. If we do not thoroughly digest protein, to which folic acid is bound, we won’t absorb it. The best way to determine your HC1 need is through a Heidelberg test, or gastrogram, in which you will swallow an electrical transmitter (safe, small and disposable) that provides information about how well your stomach makes digestive acid. A magnesium hydrogen breath test also can assess your need for the acid.

Although replenishing HC1 makes for a very valuable treatment, you should do this with a doctor’s supervision. HC1, consumed in excess or when not needed, can irritate the gastrointestinal tract, cause ulcers or allow for a loss of minerals. The most commonly used agent for replacing stomach acid is a compound called betaine-HCl, which if taken just before eating will release enough HC1 to replace a part of what is missing. It carries a risk of an overdose, which if not followed immediately by food can irritate the stomach lining. People with low HC1 output can notice measurable benefits from taking two to four betaine-HCl tablets spaced throughout a meal.