Sure doesn't hurt to alert people to this danger again. Much discussion of this was lost with all the other information in the braintalk crash.

People, including physicians, are way too quick to assume that a acid reduction is needed, when, in fact, many more times there is too little acid. Too little acid, resulting in poor digestion, can also result in stomach contents backing up into the esophogus. And low acid or not, that is a very unpleasant thing.

Stomach acid aids in proper digestion and protects the stomach. And in fact, lowering stomach acid for a long period of time can damage the stomach and cause or exacerbate low stomach acid. Which in turn can result in overgrowth of bacteria and in some cases eventually loss of intrinsic factor.

Regarding the comments about B12 and homocysteine. Homocysteine doesn't always increase when B12 is low, even when it is very low. And although high homocysteine is a bad sign, that is not what does the neurological damage.

However, homocysteine and methylmalonic acid testing together often uncovers B12 deficiency, unless B12 has already been taken in sufficient quantities to reduce one or both to normal (can happen quite quickly).

I hope that anyone who has not already read my website will do so.

rose