This page gives some details about Stomach Acidity and the steps one can take to control it
		- and also exposes the low standards of a Medical Practitioner like Dr. Batra and Times of India, who spread the incorrect / defective news / facts to the public. I suffered much between 1970 to 1975 and also thereafter, on and off, occasionally, due to negligence / smoking / insufficient food intake

 

Stomach Acidity - Scientific / medical facts
The Acid		Stomach produces very dilute Hydrocholoric Acid - the acid that we use for cleaning toilets. The strength is however low - 1 ml diluted to 1000ml / 1 litre. So it is fairly diluted
Purpose		Acid is produced to dissolve, disintegrate, react and disperse the multivarious things that we eat and also help easy removal of the unwanted waste things. Stomach can be regarded as a very slow mixing machine that finally tries to produce a uniform mixture of all that had been put in and discharges it to the intestine for digestion The acid is produced to help digestion. If something is fed into the stomach, the acid will attack that first. And that is the way / one way, to reduce / avoid acidity.  Feed the Hunger. In an empty Stomach, the acid will act with the inner walls / membrane of the stomach. Stomach can bulge and feel thick, even if no food / eatables have been taken for over 4 hours. One can even loose the appetite. [ I failed on this score between 1971 to July 1973 and worsened my acidity problem. Chest pain may spurt at any time. Then medical advice helped to get out of the mess gradually]
duty & hours		Stomach works only when we are awake. It takes about the 3-4 hours for it to transfer its load to the intestine, where the actual digestion takes place. When we sleep, the stomach also goes to sleep. That is why, we can sleep for 7-8 hours at a stretch at night, without feeling hungry. As the stomach is also asleep, there is no acid production
Elementary School science, learnt again more carefully by me. For a year, I was strict with my eating habits.

 

Cause and solution / reduction of the Problem
		For the Stomach acid to get spent / used up, have some eatables like say some biscuits, milk, fruits or any handy eatables or proper food. The cause and the first aid / relief is with us. Acidity trap can lead to chest pain, belching, stomach ulcer and perhaps a bit more. One should consult a doctor as acidity is a medical problem and self medication is not right for long duration.

 

Acidity versus Banana and Milk
Banana and Milk are good for reducing acidity		TV would show that Boris Becker taking Bananas, while fighting for Wimbeldon's cup. He pays a dollar for one. Being a tropical fruit, it has to be imported and preserved for months and then carefully warmed prior to sales in Germany. [ I saw one TV show in Discovery Channel about 15 years back] The rich, pompous, vain and imitative Indians would rather go for the costly Apples than Bananas which is only Rs 10 / 20 cents for a dozen. Bananas contains Potassium, alkali, in a way that can easily be absorbed by the body and can keep Acidity away. 90% of Banana is water. [ Recollections from Mr. Bakru's book and a show in Star Plus ] Milk is one safest food item to resolve / reduce Acidity in my view. But I am not a Doctor.

 

Anta acid tablets
		They normally contain a bit of extra alkaline product to neutralise the stomach acid. This is purely a temporary relief as you can now realise. Eno's fruit Salt, before it converted into an Ayurvedic Product, had only 2 chemicals - about 54%  Sodium Bicarbonate / Baking Soda [ alkali ] and about 45% plus Citric Acid -  [ the acid in Lemon: Body produces Citric Acid routinely and the person who found that out, Tricarboxylic Acid Cycle /TCA cycle, got a Noble Prize - Read in a Bio Chemistry book in 1995 ] [ all major Pharmaceutial and Cosmetic Companies have converted some high volume products into Ayurvedic Preparations. In my opinion, it is not because of sudden interest, safety or expertise but mainly for paying lower taxes ]

 

Alkali forming foods - from a medical book
		Alkali: All fruit juices, all vegetables excluding onion and lentils, all vegetable juices, honey, fresh milk of all types and treated milks like buttermilk are alkali forming foods. They can reduce acidity Acid forming foods: meats of all kind [ with the exception of horse ], fish/all sea foods, onion, walnuts, peanuts, bread, all types of wheat and other cereal flours, all types of pasta, chocolate, eggs and cheese are acid forming foods. They have to be reduced / minimized with Doctor's advice in case of acidity problem / worsening acidity problem

 

Note: I have provided the above general details which I have now. In case of a medical problem and its continuation, even it be just headache for 3 days or more continuously, one should refer to a good medical practitioner and properly express the position. Based on his experience, he makes a scientific assessment / guess / assumption, prescribes a treatment, reviews it again on fresh feedback by the patient, rechecks and then narrows down to the final remedial solution / gives his medical opinion to the patient. Drug Chemistry / Allopathy / Treatment of disease with a chemical compound / molecule was part of M.Sc Organic Chemistry course. The course would deal more with synthesis, structure and other chemical details and less with 'therapeutic' points. Yet, I never indulge in Self Medication except as an emergency, temporary, first aid relief

 

The irresponsiblity of Dr. Batra and Times of India
		Times of India printed an article on ' Acidity ' by Dr. Batra, the self advertised expert on Homeopathy. That is what provoked me to write this page. [ Times of India, perhaps 13-11-2008 ] Newspaper should verify the details and not act as 'photo copying' machine on health matters. They are not reproducing the meaningless blabberings of a Politician.

 

Dr. Batra's advice ?
Homeopathic medicines / tablets are normally diluted with  Lactose / milk sugar - trituration procedure		Milk should be avoided as it contains Lactic acid, is Dr. Batra's comment. I cannot quote verbatim as I do not preserve even Business Newspapers or magazines. Homeopathic tablets are diluted with Lactose / Milk Sugar. What is he blabbering about Lactic Acid and its sugar content ? Every new born baby survives on Milk for nearly a year. Do they suffer from acidity ?  They cannot even speak ! Has any Doctor / any major therapy found out any link between acidity and a baby's milk diet. [ Synthetic Milk / milk powders are inferior to breast milk - WHO's directive around 1970 ] Does it make sense ? One has to think for a minute and does not have to be a Doctor or know any of the details that I have presented above, to rate his standard The present position only makes me feel that his standard is much lower than what I thought earlier. A medical practitioner cannot be so ignorant of basic facts and also be reckless enough to loudmouth a baseless excuse without proper verification and misguide the public through an obliging newspaper And if this his standard and for a change, we accept that every Doctor in his India's largest Homepathic hospital Chain are personally trained by him as claimed, pause for a minute and reflect - on what basis, can you trust his hospitals for hair and diabetes, which is still eluding a meaningful solution in any therapy ?

 

Dietary Acids
		Organic Acids can be about 100,00 or more times weaker compared to inorganic acids. We are concerned about acids / alkali in food / inside the body. Dr. Batra has not kept that difference. His reasoning is despicable. If we accept his line of thinking for a minute, we cannot take Orange, Tomatos and Pine apple for they contain Citric Acid. Apple has to be thrown out as it has maleic acid. To hell with grapes, which has tartaric acid content. You can lie in bed and refuse Ascorbic acid, Nicotinic acid, Folic Acid and Pantothenic acid. In common parlance, they are all Vitamins Do you feel the disgust that I now suffer against practitioner like Dr. Batra ? What is worse is the fact that Times, claiming to be the largest selling daily in India, prints that without scrutiny !

 

Times of India
		Though I am a reader of Times of India from 1960 onwards and regular daily reader from 1974 onwards, I do not rate this paper to be good. [ In 2005, when I spent 6 months in Bangalore, I preferred Deccan Herald and not Times of India ] I repeat what I have written in the annexure to Tips for the Top - Media misguidance. Never take the health articles in Newspapers and magazines to be a well researched / properly verified, as sound advices to follow. A Nutritionist's article in Times of India, Thursday, 20-11-2008 was very different / contradicted Dr. Batra's shallow views. Did Times of India note that ? Did they offer an apology to the public ? Are they not morally guilty of having misled near about 100,000 readers ? They carry on - no one asks ! They have to ensure that they have sufficient stock of semi naked, breast enlarged photos to print in the supplement for at least 2 years ! Media: One observation Times of India, Business Standard, CNBC - TV 18 and other Business TV channels wailed about the eroded wealth of Ambanis, Mittal and other Indian Billionaires - due to US Financial Bungle and the Share Market Crashes. Who shed a tear for the common man, a mason or a small scale unit ? None !

 

Acidity and smoking
		From my personal experience I can say that smoking has nothing to do with Acidity. I am a smoker since July 1965 - 2nd year M.Sc. Smoking on an empty / partly filled stomach, lulls the hunger and dulls the appetite [ unlike animals, we eat to feed our hunger and appetite ] A smoker may eat less than what he should and naturally, acidity results. That is how I worsened my position between 1971 to 1973 and was not far away from getting peptic ulcer. I took medical advice in 1973 and gradually recovered.

 

Acidity and Coffee, Tea - personal experience
		Coffee and Tea, the way we take it in India, with milk, gives a feeling of fullness to the stomach and hunger is dulled but not solved. So it is better to have some eatables with Coffee and Tea, as I do now. The quantity be limited to 50 ml at a time and not a mug. Being thoughtless and spineless imitators, now the so called, educated, pompous, vain, precocious, affluent persons take a 'mug' of coffee / Tea - keeping up with the Jones. 150 to 200 ml at a time. This is not the right dose for anyone for long. 100 ml or less, at a time, is more appropriate. In the early Seventies, I used to light a cigarette after Coffee. Due to factors earlier mentioned, you can realise that this was a wrong step. As a Tamilian, I used to take Filter Coffee which is much stronger with stimulating coffee's aroma unlike instant coffee. I never used to like Colas even when it was available for 20 paise in 1966. Carbonated drinks, I think, can add to acidity, as it is carbon dioxide dissolved in water or carbonic acid

Note: I am not a Doctor. I was provoked to write this page because of the nonsense published by Times of India. I have written what I know / learnt in a hard way. Please consult a Doctor always.

 

For hairloss control, Dandruff Remedy and hair gain:    Site map 1   Hair Consultation   Supply   Contact

Haircare:  Tips for the Top...RUfooled...Social Subjects...spicy shots   Others: Major links are at the top of each page   .

Errors and Omissions exempted.  If there be any unwanted oversights, mistake in content or suggestions for improvements, please e mail us

Main / original content:  2001: Last minor modifications: June 12, 2010:     Personal website of R. Ranganathan M.Sc., [ MBA - IIMA]