Digestion by Dale Pinnock

Author:Dale Pinnock [Dale Pinnock]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781849496599
Publisher: Quadrille Publishing Ltd
Published: 2015-12-09T16:00:00+00:00

REFLUX

Reflux is a very common condition that is thought to afflict 10–20 per cent of the population. It is also known by other names, such as heart burn or acid indigestion. In short, it involves the movement of acidic stomach secretions that rise from the stomach up into the oesophagus. This causes symptoms of sporadic dull burning that we know so well as heart burn. This can be accompanied by bloating, belching and even small amounts of acidic secretion appearing in the mouth. Unfortunately, the most popular way of dealing with this issue often exacerbates it in the long run. The secretions of the stomach are acidic. They are supposed to be. That’s how we were designed. Reflux does not arise because all of a sudden we start to randomly produce more acid. It is caused by the acid that is meant to exist suddenly getting into an area where it is not supposed to be. However, the common way of dealing with reflux or ‘heart burn’ is to take an antacid. Oh yes, this absolutely will give you relief, there is no question of that. But what happens next may actually make matters worse. As I said, the stomach is meant to be acidic. Like all other systems in the body, it is fully aware of itself and constantly self-monitoring, so that if anything goes wrong it can detect it and rectify the situation as soon as possible. When it comes to stomach acidity, this regulation goes on all the time. In the stomach there are groups of cells that sit side by side throughout its lining. One type of cell secretes acid, whereas the neighbouring cell actually measures acidity. The two cell lines ‘talk’ to each other. If, for whatever reason, the acidity in the stomach goes too high, the cells that are measuring it will talk to the cells that secrete acid and tell them to reduce their output. But, of course, the opposite is true, too. If the level of acid in the stomach goes down, then the acid-secreting cells will be encouraged to secrete more to put it right. Can you guess what’s coming? When we take antacids, we are reducing the acidity of the stomach. So what happens…? The cells that are measuring acidity become aware of this and tell the acid-secreting cells to make much more to correct things. So using antacids can make matters far worse, and is akin to sweeping dirt under the rug.

Potential causes of reflux

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