In my experience, low stomach acid and depleted adrenals are among the top causes for gut infections and overgrowths like SIBO, LIBO (large intestinal bacterial overgrowth), yeast and parasites. Which lead to a leaky gut and rampant inflammation. This what most doctors write off as IBS and send you on your way with meds that don’t help.
By addressing these two root causes you give the body the energy to heal and help your biome recover with better digestion. Good bye bloating!
Why stomach acid & adrenals matter
Stomach acid is the first line of defense against pathogens that enter our body. It also helps us digest our food. Undigested food particles (particularly carbs) become food for yeast, bacteria and parasites, fueling infections and overgrowths.
Adrenals produce cortisol, which tames and balances inflammation and blood sugar levels in the body. When inflammation is rampant, blood sugar’s unstable and stress is high, the adrenals tire of producing cortisol to “put out the fire” . When adrenals struggle to produce cortisol, blood sugar and inflammation go unchecked and stress intolerance occurs.
Good adrenal function and strong stomach acid are primary defenders of our digestive health. We must support both to recover and stay healthy.
The first step is to measure the function of the adrenals and the strength of stomach acid.
Testing stomach acid
There are many signs of low stomach acid and they vary. Here are a few examples of possible symptoms: reflux or GERD, food sensitivities, bloating, infections, fatigue, skin issues and nutritional deficiencies.
There are three ways to test stomach acid. The first one is invasive.
The aspiration test involves placing a tube (endoscopic or nasogastric tube) in the most lower part of the stomach. Most doctors won’t prescribe it unless symptoms are severe.
The second one is not very accurate. It’s the baking soda test.
First thing in the morning, you drink baking soda in water and then time how long it takes you to burp. It is easy and inexpensive but it is not reliable.
The third way to test for stomach acid is through the hair tissue mineral analysis test (HTMA). The building blocks of stomach acid are minerals like sodium, potassium, cobalt and zinc. If you are low in these minerals, you can’t produce enough stomach acid.
The HTMA is a good way to test for stomach acid levels because it shows what minerals need to be supplemented for the body to produce more stomach acid. It also measures the state of the nervous system. Another reason for low stomach acid is a body that is in chronic fight or flight.
An h. pylori test can also help determine if stomach acid production if low. If an h. pylori bacterial infection is present in the stomach, it will often lower acid levels to create a hospitable living environment for it to flourish. H. pylori thrive in a less acidic stomach.
Many of the h. pylori tests at the doctor’s office are not reliable. They often produce false negatives. The most accurate test for h. pylori is the GI Map.
I offer both the HTMA and the GI MAP to help my clients find the root cause of their digestive issues.
A great test for adrenal function
While there are many test for adrenal function, the HTMA test tell us why the adrenals are out of balance.
Cortisol spit tests graph cortisol levels throughout the day. You may know if cortisol is too low in the morning or too high in the evening. But not what is out of balance and how to support the adrenals.
Some of the same minerals support stomach acid and the adrenals.
The HTMA measures sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium, which play a pivotal role in adrenal function.
The adrenals are regulated by sodium and potassium levels and the state of the nervous system also plays a big role in adrenal function. The nervous system is supported by calcium and magnesium.
If these 4 primary minerals re low on the HTMA test it signifies burned out adrenals.. And it also measures metabolic oxidation rates which tells us about the speed of thyroid and adrenal function.
The benefits of mineral testing
I added the HTMA test to my practice because it provides very important information that gut tests don’t measure.
You can address bacterial, fungal or parasitic overgrowth with herbs, and clear them. But it you don’t dial in adrenal function and stomach acid, the gut will return back to it’s original baseline eventually.
Minerals are not often talked about in a world that is focused on pathogens and bacteria. While important, this is only half the picture. Creating a strong body that can fight off invaders is always the goal. And it is hard to do when minerals are depleted. Low minerals means low energy to heal.
Low minerals also means mitochondria that is not getting cellular support. I will cover the importance of mitochondria in future blog posts.
The body’s metabolism is highly influenced by mineral balance, because it affects major systems like the thyroid, immune system, blood sugar, adrenals, stomach acid, hormonal balance and the nervous system. Good gut function relies on these systems to function well.
The metabolic environment that the biome lives in is just as important as the biome itself. It is important to see the whole picture of health, not just zoom in on gut function.
I have seen too many people try to solve adrenals or nervous system issues with antimicrobial protocols, because they’re not willing to look upstream to what is causing the pathogenic overgrowths.
I will say it again. You can kill all the gut bugs all you want, but if you don’t change the environment they live in, they will come back.
The HTMA helps us understand why your system is depleted or burned out, and gives us insight of what to do about it.
While running the HTMA test on my clients, I have discovered that some clients who don’t identify as stressed, have burned out or depleted bodies.
There is a difference between body stress and psychological stress. And the HTMA helps determine the difference.
Anyone who tries to heal their gut when their adrenals and stomach acid are not functioning properly will have a hard time making progress. And it is not for lack of time, effort and money spent. It is just not covering all the bases.
Of course, you do not know what you don’t know. So you plow ahead with the killing protocol hoping for the best.
But you do know now. And hopefully, laying the foundation of healing by balancing minerals to support the adrenals and stomach acid will help many of you succeed where you failed before.
Preparing the body for healing will speed everything up.