(There’s a Test to Find Out) It takes more than eating organically grown whole foods to stay young and healthy. You must also have good digestion and assimilation. Foods we eat have to be broken down before they can be absorbed, and the pH balance of the stomach plays an important role in how we break down and process nutrients. If the acidity of the stomach is imbalanced, then normal digestion and assimilation cannot occur. The normal stomach contains hydrochloric acid, pepsin, mucin, and the intrinsic factor. The hydrochloric acid and pepsin initiate digestion and the mucin coats the wall of the stomach. Stomach acid helps pepsin break down proteins such as meats, cheeses, fish, and other foods into amino acids. Your body uses the amino acids to build and repair all of your internal protein structures including muscles, hair, and fingernails. If the stomach does not produce enough hydrochloric acid, then it also does not produce enough pepsin and intrinsic factor (the substance necessary for vitamin B12 absorption). Many essential nutrients including B12, iron, calcium, zinc, folic acid, and vitamin C are all poorly absorbed when stomach acid is low. Overall, nutrients from food are under-digested and eventually mal-absorbed by individuals with poor stomach function. The consequences of this mal-absorption are monumental. Low stomach acid leads to alterations of your intestinal microflora. Friendly intestinal microorganisms are dependent on the natural intestinal pH balance that results when all the digestive organs are working well. Lack of stomach acidity allows unfriendly and dangerous microorganisms, such as Candida albicans and the disease-causing bacteria Clostridium difficile, to enter and overpopulate the gastrointestinal tract. Low stomach acid may also cause problems outside the GI tract: 1. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association demonstrated that people on acid blockers have a significantly higher risk of hip fractures caused by poor absorption of calcium. 2. Likewise, low stomach acid causes a four-fold increase in the risk of pneumonias 3. Low stomach acid increases the risk of age-related macular degeneration due to decreased absorption of protective vitamins and minerals. Many people have little or no hydrochloric acid in their stomach. Very often, the main cause of poor digestion and assimilation is a low level of stomach acid (hypochlorhydria). According to a research study conducted in the early 1900’s, fifty percent of people over the age of sixty had significantly low stomach acid. Many who have symptoms of hyperacidity, such as reflux, may actually have low stomach acid. Doctors don’t usually recognize the seriousness of this problem and make the problem worse by prescribing medications that suppress stomach acid production. This practice makes acid blocking drugs among the most prescribed medicines in the United States. Rarely is stomach acid measured before acid blocking drugs are prescribed, and once prescribed, patients often remain on them for many years. These drugs can make patients feel better temporarily, but turning off the stomach’s acid production results in poor digestion and assimilation of nutrients that are vital for the body’s ultimate health.