Why Stomach Acid is Good for you by Johnathan Write and Lane Lenard

               The big idea of the book, Why Stomach Acid is good for you, by Johnathan Write and Lane Lenard is to teach people how to cure heartburn by increasing and improving the amount of stomach acid that is secreted into the stomach.  They also went on to explain how it can help cure other diseases such an autoimmune diseases, rosacea, depression, asthma, and many more.   The book explains the role of stomach acid in the body and how when the body lacks stomach acid how harmful it can be on your digestive tract.   Without stomach acid the enzyme, pepsin, is not released and proteins are not broken down into amino acids.  The body then ends ups becoming deficient of essential and non-essential amino acids.  When stomach acid becomes too low it also leads to overgrowth of fungi and bacteria and people become more susceptible to food borne illnesses.   Little stomach acid also leads to low iron, calcium, folic acid, and vitamin B12.  In order for these minerals and vitamins to be properly absorbed the ph of the stomach has to be acidic.

            Three of the most interesting things I learned in this book were that iron in animal protein is absorbed regardless of the ph of the stomach, low stomach acid can cause depression, and that low stomach acid causes rheumatoid arthritis.   When we eat animal protein that contains iron the ph is the stomach does not have to be a certain ph in order to be absorbed.  When people ingest iron from non-animal protein sources such as vegetables and grains the ph in the stomach has to be less 4.0.   “Neurotransmitters are the molecules that carry messages from one nerve cell to another” (Wright, 2001).  Neurotransmitters are made up of amino acids broken down by proteins we ingest.  If the stomach acid is not low enough pepsin is not released and proteins are not broken down to form amino acids, and neurotransmitters are not made.  The neurotransmitters involved in depression are serotonin and norepinephrine when these are not present the patient becomes depressed.  Low stomach acid can cause rheumatoid arthritis because it begins with leaky gut.  Foreign objects slip through the intestinal lining and enter the blood stream.  Antibodies are then released to kill off the pathogen and this causes inflammation, which then leads to rheumatoid arthritis. 

            Overall I though this book was very informative.  I learned what causes acid reflux and GERD and how a lot of diseases can be reversed with an increase in stomach acid.  I thought it was helpful how they broke the book down into sections explaining what acid reflux was, the importance of acid in your stomach, and what deficiencies and diseases occur when stomach acid is low. 
         The majority of American's suffer from low stomach acid.   I would highly suggest everyone drink warm water with one tablespoon of apple cider vinegar or one tablespoon of lemon juice before each meal.  The reason you would drink it with warm water is because warm beverages bring blood to the digestive system which helps aid in digestion.  Warm water is also known to be very calming; when you eat food you should always eat in a relaxed state in order to properly digest you food.