Heartburn

Heartburn is a painful burning in the chest, sometimes accompanied by some acid that comes up from the stomach. At latest count the number of American sufferers of indigestion and heartburn come close to 90 million people. Heatburn, acid reflux disease, esophageal reflux disease and ulcers are a big business for the prescription medicine industry. The products usually work by diminishing, or even blocking the stomach acid that the body needs to accomplish digestion. This is really not a cure, but seems to sometimes alleviate the symptoms. Some people end up with worse indigestion, increased constipation and chronic flatulence. Another approach to heartburn, and the whole array of indigestion problems is to promote better digestion and absorption. To begin a cure, the digestion needs to be boosted, and the gastrointestinal tract needs to be balanced. The gastric acid needs to be returned to its normal state. If it is too high it burns ulcers in the mucosal lining of the stomach or duodenum. Too little stomach and digestive acids allow harmful bacteria to grow along the gastric tract.

Some more effective, although slower, therapies are the probiotic therapies. This type of treatment, combined with dietary changes has a good chance of curing (rather than masking) the heartburn problem. Basically probiotics are the beneficial bacteria normally found in the digestive system. Many different brands of probiotics are available, but the best have a wide variety of the beneficial bacteria, and are “super” strains. Eating a diet made of real foods, such as whole grains and beans, real vegetable and fruit versus processed foods will also help provide a genuine cure from indigestion.