Natural Acid Reflux Treatments

Drugs are not always the answer when dealing with acid reflux. Most people have forgotten that the drug "Propulsid" was pulled off the market several years ago after causing many deaths. Propulsid was used in the treatment of acid reflux. Even President Clinton used this drug.

Rather than rely on drugs to alleviate your acid reflux symptoms, using a natural methods are what this article will focus on.
Drinking about a gallon of filtered water daily along with high doses of quality probiotics is a good start in restoring the normal stomach functions for most people. Ideally, you should drink enough water to keep your urine a light shade of yellow. If you suffer from acid reflux, you may need to drink more water in order to dilute the acid and get the pH level normalized in your stomach.

Now, what are probiotics? Probiotics are dietary supplements containing potentially helpful bacteria or yeast. Lactic acid bacteria are the common microbe used in these supplements. Lactic acid bacteria, has been used in the food industry for years because they convert sugars and other carbohydrates into lactic acid. This provides the sour taste in fermented dairy products such as yogurt. It also acts as a preservative by lowering the pH and thus causing fewer chances for organisms that cause spoilage to grow.

Probiotic bacteria cultures assist the human body's naturally occurring microorganisms, ccalled gut flora that normally live in the digestive tract. Sometimes, these Probiotics are recommended to patients by doctors and by nutritionists after taking antibiotics or as part of a treatment for stomach infections. Many people believe that probiotics strengthen the body's immune system. Maintaining healthy gut flora is dependant on plenty of factors especially on the quality of food eaten.

Other natural acid reflux treatments are the wormwood herb Artemisia asiatica or garlic. Artemisia asiatica supports healthy fungal and microbial balance. Garlic is a food that you should be eating everyday. Garlic has the ability to optimize bowel flora and kill pathogenic organisms such as H. pylori. This particular organism is the only bacterial organism in the stomach that stomach acid cannot kill.

However, the garlic must be fresh. Before eating it, you must chew or crush it with a spoon. If you swallow the cloves whole you will not convert the allicin in the garlic to its active ingredient. Allicin is a very powerful antibacterial and anti fungal agent found in garlic. Although allicin is not present in garlic in its natural state, when garlic is 'damaged' by cutting or crushing, the enzyme alliinase acts on the chemical alliin thus converting it into allicin. Allicin is not a very stable compound as it degrades slowly upon standing. Cooking destroys allicin quickly.

In conclusion, in order to get the true effects of allicin in garlic, you must chew or crush it right before consuming it.