Special Medical Section
Consumer Wellness Monograph
events, but not acidic enough to kill bacteria, absorb nutrients, and breakdown half-chewed, over-processed nutrient-lacking “food”. In truth, since the majority of those suffering chronic illness in the US today also suffer from acid-based conditions (poor diet, poor digestion, IBS, Crohn’s disease, Celiac disease, hypertriglyceridemenia, alkaline liver, diabetes type 2, neuropathy, arRighting What’s Upside Down thritis, cancer, etc.). Hydrochloria, or low stomach acids, contributes mightily to these conditions, and causes many sufferers to also suffer frequent food poisoning because of lack of acid barriMax Stanley Chartrand. Ph.D. (Behavioral Medicine) er. These episodes are mistaken for “stomach flu”, which is actually a rare form of flu, indeed! The reason so many think they have too much stomach acid is because the food stays in their stomach for 2-4 hours where it Introduction: If I was speaking to a never really digests properly. This lack of breakdown of the food room full of adults and asked those prohibits the pancreas from doing one of its chief tasks, secrewho suffer from acid reflux to raise their hands, about a third of the hands tion of high pH bicarbonate into the duodenum so that the pyloric sphincter can open. The lack of proper digestion (from low or would reach for the sky. If I was to ask them if the problem is too imbalanced stomach acids and lack of bicarbonate secretions much or too little acid, like a Gregorian Chant I would hear “too into the duodenum) causes a “stenosis” at the top of the duodemuch”. And my reply would be, “Oh, really? Welcome to the Twilight Zone.” For in today’s dietary world, too little, not too much acid is the num. This prevents the stomach from emptying and the food, problem for at least 95% of sufferers of GERD/GORD/GRD with nowhere to go, refluxes back up into the esophagus, espe(gastroesophageal/gastro-oesophageal/gastric reflux disease). Lost in cially when lying down. As stated earlier, the acid & partly brothe world of microwaved, genetically modified, synthetically fortified, ken down food is strong enough to burn the esophagus, even degerminated, chemically preserved, and artificially colored & flathe pharynx/larynx, yet it is nowhere near acidic enough to vored food, is that nothing about the recent changes to the food we break down the food enough so that nutrition can be extracted eat is good for the human body. Nothing. Our children are not develby the time is reaches the upper intestine. oping, as increasingly more suffer from developmental disorders.
Overcoming
ACID REFLUX
Even our pets get chronic health rarely seen in the wild and die early Are the Reflux Meds All You Need? deaths when fed what modern humans eat. So, now we ask those What does the research say about taking the acid reflux mediwho raised their hands to read on. Learn how to change your life—the cations of our day? Let us summarize their findings: ® SIRCLE way!
Yes, you see, the healthy stomach has an acid-alkaline bal ance of pH 1.2-2.0 (on a logarithmic scale of 1.0-14.0). It was meant to be a veritable caldron of acid so that we can: 1) create an “acid barrier” to kill the bacteria & viruses we ingest each day, without which we would become ill with the slightest amount of same, 2) help us absorb vital nutrients, such as iron, copper, zinc, calcium, folic acid, B-12, and various proteins, and 3) break down food components to a fine puree (created from sufficient HCL, citric acid, pepsin, and bicarbonate) so that it can be emptied through a pencil-sized pyloric splincter into the duodenum within 25-minutes of entering the stomach. In the duodenum, bile acids are sprayed onto fatty lipids to maximize HDL, minimize LDL for their specialized purposes in your body. When food reaches the small intestine, food-to-nutrition differentiation then occurs to sort out energy, nutrients, and waste (food-to-nutrition synthesis) until we achieve that balanced state called homeostasis. Satiation, or the feeling of fullness when we’ve eaten enough, is closely connected to our ability to absorb these nutrients. If we do not get enough nutrients, we often will not experience satiation until it is too late. Weight gain by nutrition starvation is arguably America’s number one health problem today!
Not Enough Acid, You Say?
Description of the Reflux Cascade
The reality is that today’s modern stomach boasts a puny pH 2.5-3.0, acidic enough to scar the esophagus during reflux 82
GOLDEN GOLDENCORRID CORRID OR ORLILI VV ING INGSUMMER SUMMER202016 16
Increased bone loss and fractures Anemia (deficiency in iron and other vital nutrients) Depression, other cognitive disorders Increased risk of pancreatitis and diabetes Vitamin B12, folic acid deficiencies
Functional Review of Human Digestion • Vision/Smell/Taste/Tactile • Bolus down esophagus • HCL Acid/Churning • Chyme via Pyloric Sphincter
• Duodenal Process • Food-to-Nutrition Synthesis • Hydration & Bile Recapature at the Transverse Colon • Waste/Water Cycling • Elimination
THE THE MEDICAL MEDICALEDITION EDITION