Heartburn is the uncomfortable result of stomach acids backing up into the esophagus.? While medicines are widely used to treat heartburn, there are a number of inexpensive home remedies that can be tried before rushing out and spending a healthy sum on a month’s supply of medication.

• First of all, try changing your eating routine a bit. Eat smaller more frequent meals instead of a few giant ones. This helps prevent the buildup of acid and pressure in the stomach from too much food. Also, avoid eating before bed. Gravity helps keep acids where they belong, and lying prostrate allows them into the esophagus if the stomach is full.
• Watch your weight. Extra pounds on the chest and abdomen create pressure build up in the stomach causing reflux.
• Try putting a few pillows under your head when you sleep. This will help gravity do its job. In addition, when napping during the day, sleep in a chair or in a semi-upright position.
• Stop smoking. Heartburn is only one of the many health issues caused by smoking.
• Watch what you eat. Certain foods can trigger heartburn. Garlic, caffeine, alcohol, citrus and onion are a few common triggers. Monitor what sets you off and then stay away from that food.
• Don’t wear clothes that are too tight. They put pressure on the abdomen, causing acid to back up into the esophagus.
• Avoid medications known to cause heartburn, like calcium, iron, potassium and NSAID pain relievers such as aspirin and ibuprofen.
• Drink a glass of water. This helps dilute the stomach acids and flush contents through the system.
• Chew gum. Your body responds similarly to drinking water when chewing gum. Excess saliva helps flush your stomach contents and dilute acids.
• Ginger is an effective natural remedy for many stomach conditions, including heartburn. When taken in pill form, as tea, or candied it can help treat and prevent heartburn.
• Fennel or chamomile tea, when sipped warm, can help soothe acid reflux.
• Milk can help absorb stomach acids, but should be used in moderation as it also contains fats that are difficult to digest and causes acid production.
• Papaya contains a helpful digestive enzyme that aides in the breakdown of foods. When taken before meals, it helps prevent the buildup of pressure in the stomach.
• Glutamine, an amino acid, can help heal damage done to the esophagus as a result of frequent acid reflux and eliminate damaged cells.
• Just a few tablespoons of undiluted apple cider vinegar can eliminate heartburn. When diluted in water, it acts as a preventative.
• Just a handful of almonds contain soothing oils that help relieve heartburn.
• Unflavored yogurt has helpful bacteria that aid in the healing process of the esophagus and helps tighten esophageal muscles.

For more ideas on natural heartburn remedies, please see our Reflux Remedy Report.

Stomach acid is created by special cells (parietal) located within the third layer of tissue at the upper part of the stomach. The stomach acid making cells are a vast network produces stomach acid into the lumen of the stomach.

The stomach acid has a very acidic pH of 2 to 3, .01 being the most acidic ph you can get on the scale 6.9 pH is the weakest possible acid. The stomach acid cells also create bicarbonate helping to maintain a higher alkaline blood pH.

The strong stomach acid causes proteins to break down to the molecular level revealing the peptide bonds. Enzymes then interact to further breakdown proteins.

Stomach acid activates the enzyme pepsin to digest the bonds between the sequences of protein building blocks known as amino acids (proteolysis). Stomach acid naturally protects the gut from invasion from infectious bacteria and other harmful organisms, that?s why a proper pH balance is vital.

Stomach acid production takes place in multiple steps. Charged ions of chloride and hydrogen from excess stomach acid (HCL) produced from within the parietal cells are mixed in the secreting cell network within the inner lining of the upper stomach, diluted and released.

Stomach acid is then released into the lumen of specialized glands and gradually reaches surface layer of the stomach lining at a higher pH, slightly less acidic than in the network of secreting cells..

The strongest stomach acid used for digestion (pH 2) is about 3,000,000 times more caustic than anything found in bloodstreams pH. ?The strongest stomach acid produced in your stomach acid cells has a pH of 0.8 and is then ultimately diluted to around pH 2 and 3 in the stomach.

There are three phases of stomach acid production:

1. The cephalic phase: 30% of the stomach?s acid is created by chewing, tasting and smelling foods.

2. The gastric phase: 60% of the excess stomach acid production is triggered from actual food being digested in the stomach

3. The intestinal phase: the remaining 10% of excess stomach acid is produced when chyme enters the small intestine.

Truth is if you?re over 40 years old the probability you have excess stomach acid production is quite low. You lose about 10% to 15% of your stomach acid production every ten years, because of loss of minerals, nutrients and cofactors your body used up digesting cooked and processed foods all those years.

This often gives the symptoms misdiagnosed as an excess of stomach acid production because of all the bloating, acid reflux surges and heartburn.

Bottom line is only about 5% of the people who think they suffer from excess stomach acid production really do. The remaining 95% of people actually need an excess production of digestive acid.

The main cause of acid reflux is improper chewing and from combining the wrong foods. Other cause of acid reflux, heartburn and acid rebound is from taking antacids.

Picture all that undigested food bubbling and rotting inside your stomach pushing acid reflux up into the throat, burning away the lining of your throat, mouth and sinus linings . . .eventually creating a deadly situation.

Don?t take drugs and surgery as the final answer- if they worked 30% of the US population and 60 million people with arthritis, due to a lack of excess stomach acid, wouldn?t be suffering like they are.

You were born to heal,

Todd M. Faass?

Health Ecologist