Almost everyone has experienced heartburn. It can feel like a dull ache, a steady burning or even a sharp pain that can be very uncomfortable. Twenty percent of the population regularly gets heartburn symptoms¹, and they can be more than just a nuisance. It can be dangerous; people with severe reflux have are 40 times more likely to develop cancer of the esophagus.² It can also be frightening - emergency rooms around the world are very familiar with heartburn that can mimic a heart attack.

What is Acid Reflux?

The esophagus is the tube connecting your mouth to your stomach. The pain you feel is caused by acid leaking out of the stomach and rising up into that tube. Normally, this is prevented by a muscular valve or sphincter that is sealed tight, opening only when food needs to get into the stomach. Every doctor knows that heartburn or acid reflux is caused by relaxation of this sphincter allowing acid to leak out of the stomach.

What no doctor can tell you is why this happens. The standard treatment for this is simple � get rid of the acid. There is a family of drugs called proton pump inhibitors that block your body's acid production. No acid, no leakage, no hearburn, no problem. This approach is very effective at getting rid of heartburn, and has been clinically proven to prevent cancer of the esophagus.

Why Suppress Acid?

Sadly, it makes no sense. Your stomach makes acid for a reason. You need the acid to break down your food; many studies have linked acid-suppressing drugs to several vitamin deficiencies, including calcium and vitamin B12. A recent large trial suggests that this harms your bones, increasing your risk of osteoporosis.³ Stomach acid also kills harmful bacteria, protecting you from infections. That is why many studies have linked these drugs to pneumonia, diarrhea and other serious infections.

You may be surprised to hear this, but it is possible that the reason for your heartburn may be that you do not produce enough stomach acid. Many of our patients have seen their heartburn disappear completely by taking a supplement that actually contains acid - hydrochloric acid, to be precise. While this is the exact opposite of the regular approach to treatment, it is absolutely effective for some patients. What's more, while there is no explanation yet for how it works, it does not contradict our current scientific knowledge at all.

Here�s why: we know that relaxation of the esophageal sphincter causes acid reflux � but we do not know why this happens. The most likely reason is that the acidity of your stomach (described as its pH) somehow sends a signal to the sphincter, making sure it stays closed. Without acid, this signal is missing, the sphincter relaxes, acid leaks upwards and you feel the burn.

While it is important to emphasize that not everyone has this problem, it is seen in almost a third of patients with acid reflux. The stomach produces less acid as we get older, and acid deficiency is extremely common in many illnesses - such as irritable bowel, diabetes, fibromyalgia and many others.

Find out the cause of your acid reflux

If you suffer from acid reflux, you should find out how much acid your stomach is producing. This is done by measuring the pH of your stomach, and the Seekers Centre is the only medical facility in Canada that offers this kind of pH testing.

The test is done after an eight-hour fast. Patients swallow a small capsule that measures pH and transmits the information wirelessly to a specialized laptop computer. A small amount of baking soda solution is ingested to challenge your stomach�s ability to produce acid. The test is completely painless and without risk, takes approximately an hour and a half and provides a definitive result. The cost is $350.

Acid-suppressing pills get rid of heartburn, but they do not address the cause of the problem. For many people, the problem is not too much acid, but rather not enough. If you have heartburn or other digestive problems, it is very important to find out if you are one of them.

1. G.R. Locke, N.J. Talley, S.L. Fett, A.R. Zinsmeister, and J. Melton. 1997. Prevalence and clinical spectrum of gastroesophageal reflux: A population-based study in Olmsted County, Minnesota Gastroenterlogy 112: 1448-1456.
2. Lagergren J, Bergstrom R, Lindgren A, Nyren O. Symptomatic gastroesophageal reflux as a risk factor for esophageal adenocarcinoma. N Engl J Med. Mar 18 1999;340(11):825-31.
3. Yu-Xiao Yang, et al "Long-term Proton Pump Inhibitor Therapy and Risk of Hip Fracture" JAMA 2006; 296:2947-2953