This month let's focus on heart burn, acid reflux and the drugs used to treat them. According to Lynn August, a medical doctor, pioneer and leader in nutritional therapies since the 1970's , excess stomach acid is rarely the cause of heart burn or acid reflux. A much more common cause is too little stomach acid.

Here's how it works. Stomach acid has a purpose: to digest your food. It extracts the energy and raw materials that your body needs to be healthy. The lining of your stomach is built to handle acid without sustaining damage. There is a valve at the top of the stomach that keeps the acid from splashing up into the esophagus (or food tube). If this valve leaks, the acid can come up and burn the esophagus.

Poor abdominal muscle tone, chronic overeating, dehydration, sluggish liver, hiatal hernia, improper stomach emptying (often from too little acid), cranial or spinal nerve entrapment, H. Pylori bacteria, even pregnancy can all cause stomach acid leakage. Many chiropractors are trained to treat this condition. In my practice, well over 90% of these cases are cured or dramatically improved often in one visit by fixing the leaky valve.

The traditional medical approach to this problem is to prescribe a proton pump inhibitor such as Prevacid, Nexium, Protonix, and Prilosec. These drugs reduce the amount of stomach acid produced in the stomach. Nexium will reportedly help the lining of the esophagus repair itself if damaged.

Remember, stomach acid is there to digest your food. So what happens when your stomach is producing less acid? Well, you should have less heartburn, but how are you going to digest your food? Not very well, I'm afraid. This all too often leads to chronic malnutrition which in turn allows degenerative disease processes to gain a foothold.

Listed side effects from proton pump inhibitors include: diarrhea, stomach pain (heartburn), nausea, headache, muscle pain, skin rash, drowsiness, increase in hip fractures and decrease in heart function.

Many heartburn and acid reflux patients can get just as effective symptom relief from taking a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar with each meal. This treatment rarely has side effects. Remember, excess stomach acid is almost never the cause of heartburn or acid reflux. It's the stomach acid leaking into the esophagus. This problem usually can be fixed by a qualified practitioner without surgery.

It is this doctor's opinion that proton pump inhibitors are ignoring the basics of human anatomy and physiology in favor of short term symptom relief. The average patient is happy to get quick relief but unaware of the long term damage the treatment may cause.

Americans have more chronic, degenerative and inflammatory illness than any other country. Didn't know that? Don't take my word for it. Look it up at the library or on the Internet. For country statistics visit World Health Organization. For information on Proton Pump Inhibitors visit American Heart Association, Journal of American Medical Association, and Journal Watch. For information on inflammation visit: womentowomen.com or righthealth.com/inflammation.