Is ACIDITY taking toll on your health?

Acidity occurs when there is excess secretion of acids in our stomach.
Normally the stomach secretes an acid, which is essential for the breakdown and digestion of food, absorption of certain nutrients into the body (iron, calcium, magnesium, selenium, zinc etc.), it is also required for the destruction of infectious organisms entering via food.

When there is excessive secretion of this acid by the stomach it results in acidity.

The common symptoms of acidity are frequent headache, burning sensation in the mouth and stomach, vomiting etc.

Q: What are the causes of acidity???

A: Our lifestyle greatly affects our body metabolism; the consequences are increased acidity, migraine headaches etc.

For e.g. tension, less sleep, smoking, stress etc.

Improper eating habits:

Over eating, starvation, excessive consumption of tea, coffee, spicy, oily and fried food, alcoholic drinks especially beer etc.

• A most important cause for acidity is the irregularity of meals. i.e., because of our hectic work schedules, we tend to compromise on our breakfast, lunch and finally we are so hungry in the evening that we tend to over eat at night.

•  This disturbs our digestive system because, it is the most active in the morning (when we do not supply it with the required amount of food) and by the end of the day, its activity goes on decreasing; being the least at night (when we over load it with food).

• This totally confuses the acid secretion machinery in our stomach. It secretes the normal amount of acid in the morning, but doesn’t get enough amount of food and hence the acid is not completely utilized.

• Further in the evening, after having a full heavy meal, when actually the acid production has decreased, there is a drastic increase again in the acid production, because of the amount of food consumed.

• This accumulated acid then becomes harmful to our body!!!

What is the remedy for acidity?????

Just pop a pill of antacid!!!!!!!!! U will be relieved within 15 minutes!!!!

This is in fact the most dangerous form of treatment for acidity!

Antacids are basically alkaline substances in pill form that directly neutralize the acid in the stomach.

When stomach acid is removed by neutralizing it the body experiences a gradual decline in health due to malabsorption of nutrients, as we have seen earlier.

Long-term use of antacids often misguides the body to compensate and it rebounds by producing even more amount of acid.

In fact it is also seen that, repetitive use of antacids often causes deficiency of certain nutrients like folic acid, vitamins A, thiamin (B₁), riboflavin (B₆), riboflavin (B₆), and E.

• Note: ALL of these vitamins are required for the proper functioning of the digestive system and also play a role in protection of the wall of the stomach from the acid produced by it.

 Some more information about antacids:

They are usually of 4 types-Calcium, magnesium, sodium bicarbonate and aluminum based antacids.

The side effects of consuming antacids include-

Constipation (severe and continuing) Loss of appetite (continuing) Weight loss Excess aluminum predisposition to Alzheimer disease Excess sodium a risk for people suffering from  high B.P.

What SHOULD be done then???? 1.       Eat small frequent meals in a day. Small amount of food each time would exert less workload on the stomach and therefore requires less acid secretion for its digestion. 2.       Avoid high-fat meals such as those from the fast food chains. High fat foods will remain in the stomach longer in which more acid is secreted to digest them. 3.       Maintain upright position during and at least 45 minutes after eating. 4.       Try elevating the head of bed 6 - 8 inches when lying down. 5.       Include banana, watermelon and cucumber in your daily diet. Watermelon juice is great for curing acidity. 6.       Nariyal paani is known to soothe the system if you are suffering from acidity. 7.       Drink a glass of milk - everyday. Instead of using sugar (which contributes to acidity), add natural sweeteners like honey or a paste of dates (khajur) soaked in water. 8.       Jaggery, lemon, banana, almonds, clove, ginger and yogurt all give instant relief from acidity. 9.       Licorice, commonly known as Jyeshthamadh, is an excellent natural antacid which gives instant relief from acidity and also helps in its prevention by improving the digestive mechanism. 10.   Our traditional Indian preparation ‘moravla’ when consumed daily in the morning also helps to prevent the recurrences of acidity. 11.   Consuming citrus fruits is thought to be contributing to acidity. But it has been proven that, the vitamin C present in them along with other nutrients helps to neutralize the excess acidity. Hence consuming citrus fruits daily prevents excess acidity and keeps our stomach healthy. 12.   Along with all this, regular exercise, yoga, meditation helps to relieve us from the stress further reducing the incidence of acidity. Our digestive system is at the very core of our well-being. Every part of our body is affected by what we eat and how the digestive system absorbs the nutrients from our food; as is rightly said, YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT!