Posted 2/17/2013 10:24 PM (GMT 0)
I was passing by this forum and noticed a few posts which frankly shocked me, so let me get this straight:
do you people, at large, believe GERD is caused by excess acid or a mysterious "relaxation" of the esophageal sphincter?
I'm a practitioner of natural medicine and even i am aware of the literature (old and new) showing how in the vast majority of cases GERD is caused by a lack of stomach acid, not an excess. Also, the esophageal sphincter does not "malfunction" without prior structural damage! Finally, GERD is unknown in all hunter-gatherer populations still present in the world.
To make it clear:
In over 90% of cases:
1) Bacterial overgrowth in the gut (due to difficult digestion from poor modern eating habits.)
2) Bacterial overgrowth spreads to the stomach (not only H.Pilori, which is a natural resident there!)
3) Lowered stomach acid as stomach bacteria neutralize acid around them to survive.
4) Low stomach acidity means digestive enzymes aren't activated, thus food arrives partly undigested in the gut.
5) Gas production goes off the chart, as 30 grams of undigested matter in the gut can ferment up to 10 liters of gases between hydrogen and methane.
6) Pressure on the esophageal sphincter, excess belching.
7) Stomach acid is therefore often pushed in the esophagus, causing heartburn, GERD
Do yourself a favor and take a stomach acid level test. I won't be posting the relevant research because the information is out there in heaps, recycled through countless websites and blogs. You can even find betaine HCl supplements from various makers online nowadays. Antacids only worsen the condition in those 90%+ cases. Meanwhile, my clients manage GERD without symptoms or actual medications and are only necessary in long standing cases to attempt healing damage to the esophagus or ulcers, which are now vulnerable to acid. And personally, I have yet to find someone suffering from an actual acid excess or sphincter malfunction.