Heartburn is one of the most annoying stomach problems. Pain behind the sternum, burning in the esophagus, nausea are main heartburn symptoms. Heartburn usually occurs when stomach contents back up into the esophagus. Its mucous membrane is delicate, and is not adapted to contact with the aggressive environment of the stomach. Acid burns, the action of pepsin on the esophagus causes pain, burns and inflammation.
What, first of all, do modern doctors do for heartburn? They reduce stomach acidity by chemically binding it, give enveloping agents to protect the mucous membrane of the esophagus and reduce gastric juice secretion. Really, this approach allows us to solve the problem of painful sensations. But this is fundamentally wrong, says Dr. Wright, medical director of the Tahoma Clinic in the United States. (https://nutritionreview.org/2018/11/gastric-balance-heartburn-and-gastritis-not-always-caused-by-excess-acid/). Lowing acidity is a symptomatic solution that does not cure the disease, but only relieves its manifestations!
Even the great Roman doctor Hippocrates taught that it is necessary to treat not the symptoms, but the cause of the disease.
Jonathan Wright about stomach acid
Heartburn, a burning sensation in the chest caused by the regurgitation of bile through the stomach into the lower esophagus, is a frequent symptom of low gastric acid. The traditional approach of treating heartburn is to suppress gastric acid by taking antacids or alkalizers. This approach is the opposite of what should often be done, and in many cases only worsens the problem by suppressing gastric acidity when it is needed and promoting it (rebound phenomenon) when it is unnecessary.
Jonathan Wright, MD, states, “In 24 years of nutritionally oriented practice, I’ve worked with thousands of individuals who’ve found the cause of their heartburn and indigestion to be low stomach acidity. In nearly all of these folks, symptoms have been relieved and digestion improved when they’ve taken supplemental hydrochloric acid and pepsin capsules.”
It would seem that digestion is a well-studied process. The beginning of modern work on digestion was laid by the studies of Beaumont at the beginning of the 19th century, and it was continued by the work of academicians Pavlov, Sechenov, Professor Ugolev.
In their studies, all these scientists proved that for normal digestion, stomach environment must be strongly acidic, and in the intestines, alkaline. As a result, both gastric and intestinal ferments work normally, complex food compounds decompose and are absorbed by the body. And intestines and stomach sphincters open only when it is necessary.
The main cause of heartburn is a flow disorder of food from the esophagus to the stomach and from the stomach to the intestines, the reverse reflux of their contents. Therefore, in order to eliminate the cause of the problem, it is necessary to close and strengthen the sphincters that separate the stomach from the esophagus and intestines. For this, hydrochloric acid is needed in the stomach - special receptors react to it, and close the ring muscles of the stomach sphincters. Hydrochloric acid was routinely prescribed for many symptoms and clinical conditions for over 100 years. Use of HCl by the medical establishment began to decline in the late 1920s. The decline in HCl replacement therapy, according to Jonathan Wright, was due to poorly designed and misinterpreted research that convinced medical practitioners that HCl and pepsin replacement therapy was not necessary.
“Encouraged by the legal drug industry, medical students are not taught that hypochlorhydria (inadequate stomach acid production) is treatable only with unpatentable, natural replacement therapies. Instead, their education concentrates on hyperchlorhydria (excess stomach acid production) and its treatment with patentable acid blocker drugs and highly profitable over-the-counter antacids.”- Dr. Wright states.
Thus, the use of supplements containing hydrochloric acid makes it possible to cope with the causes of heartburn and not only get rid of discomfort, but also improve digestion. Of the domestic ones, “Bolotov Balsam” can be featured. In addition to hydrochloric acid, Bolotov Balsam contains other acids that our body needs. Succinic and pyruvic acids give us strength and energy, sulfuric acid is necessary for the health of joints and blood vessels.
