Dr. Pierce's Tip of the Week - Archive

Stomach Acid and Strength Gains - Part 1
November 02, 2004
By Dr. Sonja Petterson N.M.D.

The aphorism, "You are what you eat" needs to be updated to "You are what you assimilate". Assimilation is not just a Borg term for overtaking an entity, it also pertains to how much of your food your body is able to use. In our land of abundance it is hard to imagine that our body's cells could be starving, especially when we consume high quality food in sufficient quantities. Yet many of our habits of affluence prohibit us from properly digesting our food leaving our cells weak from under-nourishment.

It is the role of the stomach's acid to break down the food and chemically alter it so that the body can extract the required nutrients for proper structure and function including muscle maintenance and growth. The acid begins the digestion of protein in the stomach and then triggers the pancreas to secrete its digestive enzymes and the gallbladder to release bile into the small intestine. The acid is also responsible for killing any pathogenic bacteria that enters our bodies via food.

Low stomach acid, or hypochlorhydria, can result from many causes, such as B vitamin deficiency, excess carbohydrate consumption, hypothyroidism, food sensitivities, H. Pylori infection, and aging. Low stomach acid leads to malabsorption of essential nutrients such as zinc, Vitamin B12, manganese, and calcium since the minerals cannot be ionized for proper absorption and the B12 cannot be cleaved from its source (e.g. meat) without a strong acid.

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