Low Stomach Acid and It’s Effects on the Body
Thinning hair and chipped nails:The serious health threat lurking behind these so-called “cosmetic” conditions
By Jonathan V. Wright, M.D.
Thinning hair may not seem like something many women need to worry about, but it’s much more common than you might think. I’m not writing about the relatively rare condition known as alopecia, where a woman loses large patches-or in some cases ALL-of her hair. I’m referring to the much-less-technical “too much hair in the bathtub drain” syndrome. Most women who encounter this problem realize it when they pull their hair back into a ponytail-and notice that the ponytail keeps getting skinnier and skinnier.
One of the other, even more common complaints I hear from women is that their fingernails just aren’t strong and healthy. No matter what they do-gelatin, calcium, etc.-their nails continue to chip, peel, break, crack, or layer back. While both of these conditions seem cosmetic, the truth is that they both signal another issue going on inside the body-one that can “snowball” into many more serious problems if it’s left untended.
Before I tell you about that underlying cause and how to correct it naturally, there is one other interesting sidenote you should know.
Surprisingly, even though both of the problems I described above have the same underlying cause, I’ve very rarely heard-in 37 years of natural medicine practice-from one woman who has both problems at the same time. It’s either hair loss or poor nail quality, but a woman almost never has both problems simultaneously. As one woman said to me years ago: “It’s just as well! Who needs badly thinning hair and lousy fingernails both at once?”
But back to what’s causing these all-too-common problems for so many pre-menopausal women…
Recent research-on the right track, but not quite there
Recent research has established a link between low levels of iron and female scalp hair loss. That’s progress, but low levels of iron actually tend to have the same underlying cause as do the hair loss and poor quality nails. For pre-menopausal women (and many women after menopause, too) that cause is “gastric hypochlorhydria,” or, in plain English, low stomach acid.
If stomach acid is low, protein isn’t efficiently digested into its component amino acids and peptides (two or more “linked” amino acids), and then blood levels of one (or usually more) essential amino acids become low. But our bodies use amino acids to build every bodily protein we have, and hair and nails are mostly protein-a very specialized protein, but protein all the same. However, our bodies know that we can live without hair or nail proteins, but we can’t live without heart muscle proteins or other important body proteins. So if there aren’t enough amino acids available to build and repair all body proteins, the hair or nails are the “first to go.”
Also if stomach acid is low, most minerals (including iron) aren’t adequately “separated out” from the foods in which they’re present. In some cases-including iron-the “electrical state” (for the technically inclined, the “valance state”) of the mineral needs to be changed by stomach acid for the mineral to be optimally absorbed. Which explains why low iron levels are “linked” with female hair loss. But your hair, nails, and iron levels aren’t the only things that suffer when your body isn’t producing enough stomach acid…
When stomach acid is low, folate is also poorly absorbed, and the factor which aids in vitamin B12 absorption is often inadequately produced as well.
Putting it all together, low stomach acid results in a variable combination of inadequate levels of any one or more of the eight essential amino acids, over a dozen potential minerals, as well as folate and vitamin B12. No wonder a woman’s hair falls out, or her nails just aren’t strong and healthy!
But you can correct the problem, keep your hair firmly on your head where it belongs, and have nails that are a manicurist’s dream (not to mention protect your body from the myriad problems associated with nutrient deficiencies). There are just a few specific-but simple-steps you’ll need to follow.
The high-tech test
Low stomach acid production is one of the very first things we check for at the Tahoma Clinic, and your to-do-list should certainly start there.
The test for stomach function is definitely high-tech. It’s sometimes called “gastric analysis by radiotelemetry,” but the more common name is the “Heidelberg capsule test” since the test capsules were originally manufactured by a company in Heidelberg, Germany.
Each capsule is approximately the size of a large multiple vitamin-mineral capsule and is rounded so that it sort of resembles a supplement capsule. But it’s made of non-digestible plastic and contains a miniature radio transmitter and pH sensor. The capsule is ordinarily attached to a very thin string to keep it in the stomach during the test, but just as importantly for individuals with ulcerative colitis, Crohns disease, diverticulosis, or other intestinal disease, the string is attached to keep the capsule from getting stuck further down the intestinal tract. (The string attached to the capsule does hang out of the person’s mouth throughout the test, but it’s not overly uncomfortable: Most people say it feels like having a hair in their mouth.)
Although the test is always taken on an empty stomach, you do swallow the capsule with a little bit of water-just enough to get it down. Once it gets into the stomach, the local fluids are released, which activate the capsule: The pH sensor measures any acidity present, and the tiny radio transmitter sends a signal to a receiver, which in turn sends it to a computer for graphic display.
Unfortunately, I hear about a lot of instances where doctors or technicians stop the test at this point, with no challenge. But doing the test like that is like doing a resting electrocardiogram with no treadmill exercise to measure the before-and-after difference in heart rate. An accurate test must determine how much acid the stomach can make, and how rapidly, in response to a digestive challenge.
Since food allergies and sensitivities are so common and since most people don’t realize that they even are sensitive to some foods, it’s not really possible to have the person being tested eat something to test how his or her stomach produces acid in response. Some people make more acid when presented with a food to which they’re allergic, and some people make less. So there’s no way to pick a food that we can be sure will produce a standardized result, and standardization is necessary for accurate test interpretation.
Fortunately, a group of Canadian researchers came up with an answer back in the 1970s. They used bicarbonate, which is not only very alkaline, but also a natural substance found in everyone’s bodies, which means it’s extremely unlikely to trigger an allergic response that would affect acid production. So after the patient swallows the Heidelberg capsule and the technician takes the initial measurements, the person being tested is given a carefully measured amount of bicarbonate. Of course, the pH goes way up (usually to pH 7 or 8). A normal stomach rapidly makes acid to overcome the alkalinity, and the pH returns to normal (pH 1.8-2.3). A normal stomach can overcome a bicarbonate challenge in 20 minutes or less, five times in a row. But an underfunctioning stomach takes much longer, or, in more serious cases, never returns to normal.
Most stomach function tests take around 100 minutes or a little longer: The patient undergoes five different 20-minute challenges. At the end of the test, youre given the option to have the capsule removed by pulling the string out, or letting it pass through your system naturally.
Unfortunately, the Heidelberg test is only available in a minority of these United States. But you can get a list of the doctors in those states who perform it from the company that manufactures the testing equipment, Electro-medical Devices of Atlanta, Georgia (706-745-9698, www.phcapsule.com). If you decide to have the test done, make absolutely sure that the doctor is going to follow the bicarbonate challenge procedure described above BEFORE you swallow the capsule. Otherwise, you may not have get an accurate test result for your time, money, and (slight) discomfort.
The simple solution
If testing shows that your stomach acid is low, taking hydrochloric acid in conjunction with pepsin usually gives the best results in treating the condition.
The amount of hydrochloric acid that’s usually effective for adults is at least 40 to 70 grains of betaine hydrochloride (or glutamic-acid hydrochloride) with pepsin per meal. That’s about four to seven 10-grain capsules per meal.
To minimize even minor side effects, I always start with just one capsule (5, 7.5, or 10 grains) taken just before meals. After two or three days, if there are no problems, I suggest increasing the dosage to two capsules before meals for another two or three days and then to three capsules. The dose is gradually increased in this fashion until the recommended amount is reached.
Keep in mind, though, that while side effects are rare, they are possible. Hydrochloric acid should never be used at the same time as aspirin, Butazolidin, Inodicin, Motrin, or any other anti-inflammatory medications. These medications themselves can cause stomach bleeding and ulcers, so using hydrochloric acid with them increases the risk.
With all of this in mind, it’s important to work closely with a physician skilled in natural medicine whenever you’re supplementing with hydrochloric acid and pepsin. To locate such a physician in your area, contact the American College for Advancement in Medicine.
For a brief review of low stomach acid and related problems, you might want to refer to my recently published (and relatively short) book Stomach (Praktikos Books, Mt. Vernon, Virginia, 2009) or the older, more comprehensive book Why Stomach Acid is Good for You (M. Evans & Company, New York, 2001) written by Lane Lenard, Ph.D., and me. Both books are available from the Tahoma Clinic Dispensary. JVW
Two more factors to consider for women 60 and older
You may have noticed earlier that I referred to these problems in pre-menopausal women. All of this frequently applies to post-menopausal women too, but there are often additional factors to consider in these instances. One of them is DHEA, an “adrenal androgen” that reaches its highest levels at age 30, and naturally declines after that. Many women in their late 60s and older who aren’t using bio-identical hormones (BHRT) have extremely low levels of DHEA, and find that restoring more youthful levels in their bodies using BHRT can slow hair loss-and even promote a little hair growth.
Similarly, weak thyroid can contribute to hair loss. And while it’s true that weak thyroid function can affect women at any age (especially those whose iodine and iodide intake is low, and have a long history of drinking chlorinated and/or fluoridated water), it’s more common in older age groups.
JVW
