What medicine should I take for insufficient stomach acid?

Most of the causes of insufficient gastric acid are caused by reduced gastric motility. When gastric acid occurs, not only will the stomach feel uncomfortable, but it may also affect the normal digestive function. Therefore, when gastric acid is insufficient, you can take some medicines that can promote gastric acid secretion, and you need to supplement your diet with some high-protein foods, such as fish, tofu, etc. So what medicine is effective for insufficient gastric acid?

Medicines for reducing gastric acid secretion

1. You can supplement with high-protein foods, such as fish, meat, beans, eggs, and milk, or directly supplement with protein powder to promote gastric acid secretion

2. Drinking soup before meals can also promote gastric acid secretion

3. Too little gastric acid secretion will lead to iron and B12 deficiency, which can easily cause anemia. Therefore, eat more red foods such as red radish, and you can also directly supplement iron and B vitamins.

4. Eat some desserts, sugars and other foods containing monosaccharides and disaccharides. They will promote gastric acid secretion, but eating too much will easily make you fat.

Function of gastric acid

Pepsinogen in the stomach must first be activated by gastric acid and converted into pepsin and parapepsin. The most appropriate activation pH value for pepsinogen is about 2.0. If the pH value drops from 7.0 to 2.0, its hydrogen ion concentration increases by about 50 times. Under such a high acid concentration, pepsin will be activated and then digest and decompose protein. In addition, in order for procarboxypeptidase in the intestinal pancreatic juice protein digestion system to be converted into carboxypeptidase that can digest protein, pepsin is also required for its activation. Therefore, if gastric acid secretion is insufficient, pepsin cannot be produced. In addition to affecting the digestion of protein in the stomach, it will also affect the further digestion of protein in the intestine and the absorption and utilization of amino acids.

The amount of gastric acid cannot be too much or too little and must be controlled within a certain range, otherwise hyperacidity and hypoacidity will occur.

When there is too much stomach acid, pathological symptoms such as "coughing up acid", "heartburn", and "stomach discomfort" will appear. In severe cases, it will reduce appetite and cause indigestion, and then cause various forms of stomach diseases such as gastric ulcers. Excessive gastric acid is common in duodenal ulcer, gastrinoma, chronic gastritis, acute gastritis, reflux esophagitis, cholecystitis, etc.

Too little stomach acid means lack of hydrochloric acid in the stomach, that is, insufficient secretion of gastric juice, which is unable to undertake the work of digestion and preservation and fermentation, affecting the digestion and absorption function, making it easy to suffer from gastrointestinal diseases, and also leading to obstacles in the digestion and absorption of nutrients. Many minerals and vitamins require adequate stomach acid for optimal absorption, such as iron, zinc, and B vitamins. Patients with gastric acid deficiency or insufficient gastric acid may have multiple nutritional deficiencies, which will lead to many health problems and seriously affect people's physical health. When there is too little or no gastric acid, bacteria can easily multiply in the stomach. This is more common in chronic atrophic gastritis and can manifest as upper abdominal discomfort, poor appetite, and indigestion. The main symptoms of hypochlorhydria are stomach indigestion, belching and burning pain in the chest. Low concentration of gastric acid in gastric juice may be caused by pernicious anemia, tropical steatorrhea, or chronic gastritis.

Gastric acid is a double-edged sword. When it is secreted too little or lacking, it can cause indigestion phenomena such as abdominal distension and diarrhea. Excessive secretion can invade the gastric and duodenal mucosa, while increasing the ulcer-causing effectiveness of pepsin, directly leading to ulcer formation and complications such as ulcer perforation and bleeding. Moreover, high stomach acid can affect platelet aggregation and coagulation factor activity, making the blood difficult to coagulate, leading to bleeding and re-bleeding.