Replied by Bill (San Fernando, Philippines) on 08/29/2016

There are several scenarios that must first be appreciated if you are having digestion or reflux problems.

The first scenario is if you have just low stomach acid causing your digestion problems. Another different scenario is if you have low bicarbonates in your pancreatic juices which can also cause major digestion problems in Main Stage Digestion in the duodenum. And the third, more complex scenario, is if you have both a low stomach acid problem and a low pancreatic bicarbonates problem.

Low Stomach Acid

If you just have low stomach acid this can cause major digestion issues as well as other long term autoimmune problems. I also regard this problem as a BIG problem because it so hugely weakens the the local immune system in the intestines. We all think we know what the stomach acid does but as far as I'm concerned it does one very important and major task. It's major function is to disinfect and kill all dangerous pathogens incoming with your food. So if you have low or insufficient stomach acid, these food pathogens -- bacteria, viruses, parasites, fungus, mycoplasma etc -- will not be killed and, instead, they will travel through into your intestines which is the perfect hiding place and breeding ground for their spread throughout your body. Hence their connection with auto-immune diseases like arthritis, Heart disease, diabetes etc.

To fix the low stomach acid problem, many people take ACV. But ACV is not the cure for stomach acid problems. It just cures the symptoms by increasing the acidity of the stomach acid. But to actually cure this condition you need to take some form of chloride like Hydrochloric acid(as Ted recommends) or Betaine Hydrochloride or Sea Salt(Sodium Chloride) or Magnesium Chloride. Taking these chlorides will fix and replenish the hydrochloric acid stores in your stomach and bring them back to proper acidic pH levels again.

Notably, if your stomach acid is too low, then there will also be no hormonal stimulus to trigger the alkaline pancreatic juices + enzymes for main stage digestion in the duodenum. The hormone that stimulates the production of the pancreatic juices in the duodenum will therefore not be triggered and so your undigested food remains undigested and just rots in the intestines. This, again, further serves to create the perfect breeding ground for pathogens and their spread throughout the human body.

Low Pancreatic Bicarbonates

When the chyme or food + stomach acid enters the duodenum, the pancreas should exude pancreatic juices + enzymes into the duodenum in order to set the proper alkaline pH conditions to achieve main stage digestion.

If there is insufficient pancreatic bicarbonates to neutralize the stomach acid in the duodenum then the duodenal environment will remain acidic and so main stage digestion will not occur. As an example of the importance of the pancreatic bicarbonates and pH, chemotrypsin -- a major digestion enzyme that breaks down and digests protein -- can only work properly as an enzyme if the duodenal pH is 8.5(highly alkaline). That's also why the duodenal pH MUST be alkaline so that proper main stage digestion can occur. And so if you lack sufficient pancreatic bicarbonates(perhaps due to acid blood) to create the required alkaline pH in the duodenum then main stage digestion will fail completely and the food just stagnates and creates further long term pathogen-related problems in the intestines.

Generally speaking, people who have low stores of pancreatic bicarbonates will have an acid body where most if not all the pancreatic bicarbonates have been used up while desperately trying to neutralize the acid blood in the body.

Similarly, if such a condition is allowed to persist over a longer period of time where the human body cannot digest food then this condition deteriorates into an acidic wasting condition where the body starts robbing its bones and tissues of minerals and proteins in order to raise the pH and help keep the body alive. This condition is also characteristic in stage 4 auto-immune diseases like cancer, hepatitis and diabetes etc. where, at the end stage, the body simply cannot cope and there is also a complete lack of appetite and so the body just becomes thinner and weaker.

Low Stomach Acid + Low Pancreatic Bicarbonates

This is perhaps the worst condition or scenario and the most difficult one to understand or cure. This is when you must take the full course of minerals and vitamins as well as betaine hydrochloride and protease enzymes as well -- this protocol is shown here. This is also where taking the sodium bicarbonate one hour after meals is also urgently required and essential for main stage digestion to succeed.

Just to also add that for myself, I have been taking Ted from Bangkok's advice whereby I now take sodium bicarbonate several times a day one hour after meals. Been doing this for many years and I never have any digestion problems(I'm 66 y. o.). I simply look on this alkalizing protocol as a welcome aid to main stage digestion. Sometimes I take the Arm & Hammer SB mixed with water and sometimes I just take the SB pills you can cheaply buy from any chemist for convenience. I also eat smaller meals in the evening now because the body goes into another mode at 6 pm -- this is when it prepares to recover the bodies pH and other homeostasis conditions while you sleep. This has been wonderful advice for sure from Ted. This hopefully all makes sense because we can only produce so much stomach acid per meal and so if we eat huge meals all the time without enough stomach acid to disinfect the food then digestion problems will quite naturally occur and multiply over time.

I am also a little surprised why people think that taking Sodium Bicarbonate one hour after meals is bad for stomach acid. Here are some interesting points I learned from my study of digestion:

* Taking sodium bicarbonate one hour after meals promotes and maintains proper main stage digestion. From my own experience.

* An hour after finishing your meal your stomach will have fulfilled its task -- initial digestion of proteins, physically breaking up the food proteins and disinfecting the food is finished. This is when the stomach must then try and safely reabsorb the residual hydrochloric acid and store it for the next meal.

* Believe it or not bicarbonates are actually required by the stomach's parietal cells to both help them to reabsorb the residual hydrochloric acid safely and to help promote and produce mucus to cover and protect the stomach's parietal cells from the caustic effects of the hydrochloric acid. So SB also helps to prevent stomach ulcers.

*Taking SB one hour after meals also helps to replenish bicarbonate stores in the pancreas and therefore helps to keep the pancreas healthy. Interestingly, the pancreatic bicarbonates are produced in the Beta cells of the pancreas. The Beta cells also produce insulin. So is there perhaps a direct link or connection between body acidity, insulin(diabetes?) and supplementing sodium bicarbonate for health?

*Taking SB also helps to alkalize the blood.

From your point of view, you seem to be worried about how long the food sits in your stomach. Forgive me for saying that this aspect is perhaps irrelevant because the stomach has already done its job and finished. Eventually the food or chyme will move into the duodenum to be digested. This is the important or critical part. If the condition is low stomach acid then the pancreatic juices will not be triggered. And if there is a lack of pancreatic bicarbonates then the acid cannot be neutralized in the duodenum and therefore digestion will not happen and so the acid food stagnates and rots in the intestines. In both scenarios this allows and encourages the free influx of pathogens into the intestines with their eventual spread into the body causing serious disease and illness over time.

Replied by Lyndal (Auckland) on 08/29/2016

Thanks so much for answering my questions/concerns in such an in depth way. I think I will give the Betaine HCL and bicarbonate thing a go and see if this helps. I suppose the fact that I take mainly potassium bicarbonate with a bit of sodium bicarbonate is ok as its all still bicarbonate, right??

Thanks again. Much appreciated.

Replied by Lyndal (Auckland) on 08/30/2016

I have another question that someone might be able to help me with.

I seem to be very low in potassium and no matter how much high potassium foods I eat or potassium tablets I take, I'm still low.

Could this have something to do with low stomach acid?? And if so, why?

Many thanks, Lyndal