GERD

Everyone has had this happen before: you have a late dinner with a little extra spice. An hour later, your stomach is on fire.

If it happens every once in a while, you can live with it.

But did you know that about 19 million people say they battle with this several times each week?

It used to be called heartburn or indigestion. Now its considered a chronic disease called GERD. I won't get in to whether or not I think this should be called an actual disease, but there's no doubt that it's a problem for millions of Americans. There's also no doubt that if we can't get control of it, the esophagus lining could begin to eat away, and that really becomes a serious problem.

Older antacids worked very simply: they neutralized the acid to take the bite out of the heartburn. Nowadays, however, the drugs are designed to actually stop the stomach from making acid at all. We're told that our stomachs are making too much acid and that it builds up and refluxes. In other words, the less acid the better. Dr. Jonathan Wright reminds us, though, that as we age, we tend to make less acid.

Well as it turns out, stomach acid is good for us, and God made no mistakes by putting it there. After food mixes with the enzymes in our saliva, stomach acid is the next step in digestion, and it also helps keep certain microbes at bay.

So what should we do about indigestion? One of the first things is to consider taking extra digestive enzymes. These are inexpensive and really help us break down our food better. Another must-have supplement is probiotics. These are good bacteria that do a number of great things for our health, the first of which is help us break down, digest, and absorb the nutrients from our food. Even without indigestion, this is a must-have product.

My favorite supplement is L-Glutamine. Glutamine is an amino acid that helps heal the stomach and intestinal lining. If we've suffered with candida, then leaky gut syndrome can be adding to the heartburn, and Glutamine really helps repair the damage.

Another incredible nutrient to support the repair process is DGL. DGL is a form of licorice, and it helps increase the number of cells that make up the protective mucous lining of the stomach.

Would you like to learn more about these and other digestive health supplements?Call my office or visit the Digestive Enzymes, L-Glutamine and DGL web pages.

I'm Guy Evans, and now you know!