Re: Acid, was GAPS vs BED?

[Guest guest]

Bile does not neutralize the acidic chyme - pancreatic juices do. Bile's job is to emulsify fats so that they can be absorbed through the small intestinal lining.

Most people are HCl deficient. Diet, over the long-term can definitely change the acid level in the stomach. It should be at around a 2 on the pH scale. When an individual does not eat much protein (this is a general principal and does not apply to just one meal), the stomach does not produce much HCl, which is primary designed to break down fibrous proteins.

This is not all that is affected though. When the stomach is not sufficiently acidic, our first line of defense is gone. We can no longer 'burn out' that parasite that might slip in. Digestion is a north-to-south affair; when the north is skewed, it remains skewed throughout the tube.

Anne

[ ] Acid, was GAPS vs BED?

Yes, you make a good point...I'm not sure why our HCl and bile wouldn't be able to neutralize our food (acidic or not). Perhaps those with gut issues are not producing the correct amounts of bile and HCl or perhaps too much acidic food can alter our stomach and intestinal pH.

From what I'm reading online, too much acidic food will cause the body to over-react and produce even more acid.

Weiner <skweinergmail> wrote:

Wouldn't the regulation mechanisms of HCl in the stomach and the bilekeep a pretty constant pH, regardless of the pH of the food that isprovided?

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[Guest guest]

The GAPS book has a whole chapter about stomach acids.

It's the chapter entitled "Digestive Enzymes". It explains

how the stomach should be acidic and the intestines

should not. Our body has an elaborate system to make

each part the correct ph for digestion. But in a person

with digestive problems, this system is often impaired.

She explains that in Hypochlorhydria (low stomach acid)

the whole "assembly line" of digestion gets messed up

because the first "worker" didn't do it's job properly.

Therese