What Nutrients Do We Need To Make Stomach Acid?

Introduction

Ever think about why your stomach hurts after eating too much? This is not just annoying; low gastric acid and low levels of stomach acid are crucial for your health and play a significant role in the digestive process! Your stomach needs to have much stomach acid, enough hydrochloric acid to break down food and absorb nutrients. Many people do not have enough stomach acid, which may be due to low gastric acid levels or conditions like inflammatory bowel disease and various risk factors. This can happen for several reasons and can stop you from getting key nutrients from what you eat. 

What is stomach acid and why is it important?

Stomach juice is a strong liquid created by your stomach walls. It helps break down food and keeps your tummy healthy. Here are the main parts and their roles:

Hydrochloric Acid (HCl):

• This is the key part of stomach juice. It makes the juice really sour, with a pH between 1.5 and 3.5.
• It helps to break down food and remove harmful germs.

Pepsin:

• Pepsin is an enzyme found in the stomach. It helps to break down proteins into smaller pieces.

Mucus:

• Mucus protects the stomach lining from harm that stomach juices can cause.

Intrinsic Factor:

This is a glycoprotein that your stomach needs. It helps you take in vitamin B12 from your intestines.

Why is Stomach Acid Important?

The strong liquid in your stomach helps to kill harmful germs, viruses, and tiny living things in your food or drink. It works as a defense system, potentially promoting weight loss by ensuring optimal nutrient absorption.

• Breaking Down Food: Stomach juice makes food softer. This helps digestion work better.
• Activating Enzymes: It changes pepsinogen to pepsin. This enzyme helps break down proteins.
• Preparing Food for Digestion: Food that is partly broken down with stomach juice is called chyme. It moves to the small part of the gut, where digestion continues.

Absorbing Nutrients

• Vitamin B12: Stomach acid helps get vitamin B12 from food. It then joins with a special factor to be taken in by the intestines.
• Minerals: The acid around helps break down minerals like iron, magnesium, and calcium. This makes it easier to get them.

Protecting Against Germs

The strong liquid in your stomach helps to kill harmful germs, viruses, and tiny living things in your food or drink. It works as a defense system, potentially promoting weight loss by ensuring optimal nutrient absorption.

Regulating Digestion

• The juice in your stomach helps make hormones called gastrin. These hormones aid digestion and help keep things moving in your gut.

How is stomach acid produced in the body?

Your stomach makes acid with special cells in its lining, which can be affected by atrophic gastritis and conditions such as peptic ulcer disease. These parietal cells are essential for this process, which begins when it's time to digest food. It includes a mix of hormones and messages from nerves. Here is how it works, step by step:

Getting the Acid Production Started

Stomach acid production starts when:

• Seeing, Smelling, or Tasting Food: When you think about food, your brain tells your stomach to prepare for digestion. This is the first step.
• Food in the Stomach: When food goes into your stomach, it causes it to stretch. This also makes some substances in the food create more juice. This is the second step.

Hormonal and Neural Signals

Several main people help raise acid production:

• Gastrin: This hormone is made by cells in your stomach when you eat. It signals the parietal cells to make more juice.
• Histamine: This hormone attaches to receptors on the parietal cells and boosts juice production.
• Acetylcholine (ACh): ACh is released by the vagus nerve. It directly instructs the parietal cells to produce more juice.

The Role of the Proton Pump

Parietal cells create stomach acid by sending hydrogen ions (H⁺) into the stomach. There’s currently no scientific evidence showing that they use a special helper, known as the proton pump (H⁺/K⁺ ATPase), which is affected by proton pump inhibitors. Additionally, a type of bacteria, such as H. pylori, is known to influence stomach conditions. The baking soda test for low stomach acid, while often mentioned, has no scientific backing. 

Making Hydrogen Ions (H⁺): In the parietal cells, water (H₂O) and carbon dioxide (CO₂) come together. An enzyme named carbonic anhydrase helps make carbonic acid (H₂CO₃). After this, the carbonic acid breaks down into a hydrogen ion (H⁺) and a bicarbonate ion (HCO₃⁻).

• Pumping Hydrogen Ions: The hydrogen ions (H⁺) are moved into the stomach. This exchange happens for potassium ions (K⁺) through a proton pump.
• Moving Chloride Ions (Cl⁻): Chloride ions (Cl⁻) go into the stomach. They mix with the hydrogen ions (H⁺) to form hydrochloric acid (HCl).

This process helps your stomach make the strong liquid needed to break down food. It also helps get rid of harmful germs.

Which key nutrients are essential for stomach acid production?

Here are three important nutrients you should notice: zinc, sodium, and B1, also known as thiamine.

Zinc

Zinc is important for making stomach acid. It helps with important enzymes and processes in cells that create acid. Here’s how:

1. Supports Carbonic Anhydrase Activity - Zinc is important for a special enzyme. This enzyme makes hydrogen ions (H⁺) that are needed for stomach acid. Without enough zinc, the enzyme does not work well. This can lead to low stomach acid levels.
2. Supports Cell Health in the Stomach - Zinc helps the stomach cells grow and fix themselves. These cells create acid. Healthy cells can make more acid.
3. Balances Gut Health - Zinc helps control the mucus in the stomach lining. While it does not directly make acid, it protects the stomach from the acid that is made. This keeps the stomach healthy.
4. Helps Prevent Low Stomach Acid - A lack of zinc can result in low stomach acid levels. This can lead to digestion problems, issues with nutrient absorption, and a higher risk of infections.

Sodium

Sodium helps create stomach acid by aiding the release of hydrogen ions (H⁺) and chloride ions (Cl⁻). This takes place in a roundabout way. Here is how it works:

1. Sodium-Potassium Pump (Na⁺/K⁺ ATPase) - This pump takes sodium out of stomach cells and brings potassium in. It needs energy to work. A good amount of potassium in the cells is important for the proton pump to work well.
2. Proton Pump Function (H⁺/K⁺ ATPase) - The proton pump needs potassium from the sodium-potassium pump. This helps move hydrogen ions into the stomach. If potassium is low, acid levels go down.
3. Chloride Ion Transport - Sodium helps bring chloride ions into the stomach. Chloride then mixes with hydrogen ions to make hydrochloric acid (HCl).
4. Osmotic Balance and Fluid Transport - Sodium helps keep water and ions balanced in the stomach lining. This balance is very important for staying hydrated and making mucus.

Vitamin B1 (Thiamine)

Thiamine is important for making stomach acid. It helps the body use energy. It also works with the nervous system to manage how the stomach produces acid. Here’s how:

1. Supports Stomach Cell Energy Needs - The cells in the stomach that make acid require a lot of energy. Thiamine helps these cells generate energy in the Krebs cycle. Without enough energy, they cannot release hydrochloric acid (HCl).
2. Nervous System Affects Acid Production - Thiamine benefits the nervous system. This includes the vagus nerve, which controls stomach acid production. It helps release a chemical called acetylcholine, which signals the stomach to produce acid.
3. Helps Digestion and Nutrient Absorption - Good levels of stomach acid, supported by thiamine, help break down proteins. They also allow important nutrients like B12, iron, and calcium to be absorbed.
4. Prevents Low Stomach Acid Symptoms - A shortage of thiamine can reduce stomach acid levels. This may cause issues like digestive problems, bloating, and gas. It can also increase the risk of infections. Less acid means less defense.

Conclusion

To keep your stomach healthy, things like zinc, sodium, vitamin B1, and lemon juice are super important. They help the digestive system, especially in making the acid needed for breaking down food. Zinc plays a big role in enzyme creation which helps boost stomach acid production, and sodium assists in moving ions that aid in acid production. Vitamin B1 provides energy to the stomach cells, helping them do their job right. If you don’t get enough of these nutrients, you might experience symptoms of low stomach acid like bad digestion or even acid reflux. You can face issues like bacterial overgrowth or irritable bowel syndrome, which can lead to problems in the small intestine or a helicobacter pylori infection. Conditions like gastroesophageal reflux, acid reflux symptoms, and stomach ulcers might pop up if there's inadequate stomach acid. Over time, this could also cause nutrient deficiencies and small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. Eating foods packed with these nutrients and using home remedies like chewing smaller bites can help maintain a strong digestive tract, keeping your underlying causes like bacterial infections under control. A healthy diet with these nutrients ensures your stomach is robust enough to fend off harmful bacteria and support a well-balanced ph scale, helping prevent high stomach acid or abdominal pain. If you've undergone gastric bypass surgery or stomach surgery, pay even closer attention to these levels. 

Are you wondering if you need more nutrients or if your stomach has enough acid? It’s easy to find out! You can take an HTMA test with us, which, combined with a pH sensor assessment, shows any gaps in nutrients, gut health, hormone balance, blood sugar levels, and how heavy metals can affect you. It’s a good way to see what is going on inside your body! Schedule your HTMA test with us today!