Betaine Hydrochloride "[can] improve liver function, build muscle, reduce . . . heart disease, and [give] you a good night's sleep."
What do you know about Betaine Hydrochloride?
I knew nothing . . . not until this past week. It is an enzyme. Years ago a friend told me that his mother had heard in her years that enzymes were all the rage. Perhaps they were, er, are. Based on what I've recently read, they do sound as some sort of super supplement. Betaine Hydrochloride is a supplemental enzyme made from beets.
Betaine hydrochloride [is] derived from beets . . .
Okay, but what is it used for?
[It] is a supplement for helping food to be fully dissolved and processed in the stomach for optimum nutritional benefits.
It goes on . . .
The stomach processes food both mechanically and chemically by breaking it down with hydrochloric acid into its basic constituents, which are then forwarded to the digestive system and blood for nutritional distribution.
This is good to know, one, that the stomach uses muscles as well as chemicals to break down food. Two, what you should know is that hydrochloric acid is an important component of your immune system. That's right. Having enough and having the right kind of hydrochloric acid boosts your immunity, making the stomach an important location for destroying pathogens.
If food is not processed effectively by the stomach, it is as if the body is being starved of a healthy diet with the same potential health consequences due to an inefficient or sub-optimal immune system. All disease arises from either low immunity, abnormal immunity or auto-immunity, including cancer, the immune system as a whole being ultimately dependent on gut flora of the stomach and digestive tract.And here comes the scare tactic about how this acid production past a certain age begins to decline and therefore . . . you got it . . . therefore you should supplement. I don't doubt it. I would supplement. I do supplement. I guess the older folks that I grew up with never complained about their ailments. I just never heard of them. When people died, they just died. Never heard anything about symptoms. Even when an older relative had surgery, we never heard what the procedure was for or what organ was in need of repair. It was either them getting sick and dying or them going into surgery and dying. I once had a co-worker in her mid-40s go in for some kind of stomach surgery and she died on the operating table. What joy. I asked a nurse friend of mine about a certain stomach condition. He said that that particular condition was serious and that they apply massive amounts of antibiotics during surgery to protect nearby organs from exposure to the bacteria of the gut.
Older folks never complained about their ailments because of the shame or the privacy of their conditions that they shared exclusively with their doctors. Though there are obvious benefits to this privacy for the patient, it also has a corrupting influence, one in which the doctor operates as an accomplice in the deterioration of the patient. In other words, for some people letting others like loved ones know of their ailment makes that individual suffering the condition a bit more accountable to his own health. If his medical history is put into the exclusive hands of his doctor outside of the view of his family and their interests, then that is just too much trust placed in the doctors' hands. I knew a pair of urologists years ago--they've since retired--who coddled and enabled a relative to make him think that his behavior was just fine. In fact, they treated him like a friend despite the fact that his behavior was killing him. His doctors knew it. They saw his progress or lack of it. They knew he was killing himself, and the doctors guarded this relative's feelings by dismissing my concerns. Back to Betaine Hydrochloride:
Research has shown that, after the age of 21 years, the concentration of hydrochloric acid in the stomach begins to fall progressively with age, a condition known as "hypochlorhydria."
By the time people reach the age of 40 or 50, stomach hydrochloric acid concentration is much lower and attributable to age-related immune and auto-immune conditions, including diabetes, cancer and obesity - particularly abdominal fat - hence the so-called "middle age spread." Use of betaine hydrochloride has frequently been credited with flattening the stomach for this reason.When I read statements like these, I can't but hear the between-the-lines message of "You absolutely, positively need . . . ." In this case, Betaine Hydrochloride. There are benefits I am sure. But what are they . . . specifically?
Before I answer that, apparently, Betaine Hydrochloride is the most effective form of hydrochloric acid. Okay, good to know.
One of the most important supportive digestive aids you can ever take is betaine HCL, which while well recognized as a source HCl (hydrochloride) for improving the food dissolving acid activity of digestive juices is less recognized as a source of betaine, which is one of the least appreciated supplemental substances. The technical name for betaine is trimethylglycine (TMG) and there are lots of neat things about it that don’t get a lot of attention. ow about the benefits of Betaine Hydrochloride:BENEFITS of BETAINE HYDROCHLORIDE
Now about the benefits of Betaine Hydrochloride. According to this article, this supplement is wild with benefits.
Benefits list #1:
Detox, relaxation, muscle building, brain boosting and heart health, cancer fighting too; all of these benefits are a bonus and this exemplifies one of the coolest about nutritional supplementation. When you supplement with betaine HCL for your digestive system, you’ll improve liver functioning, build muscle, reduce your risk of heart disease, garner protection from excitotoxins and get a good night’s sleep to boot. [my emphasis] You take a drug and you have to deal with toxic side effects [that you don't always feel or recognize right away] and you take a nutritional supplement and you get so many extra beneficial effects it’s hard to keep track of them all. Beneficial effects that have nothing to do with your original reason for taking the supplement in the first place! [my emphasis]Benefits list #2:
Blue Shield of California has its own list of benefits for Betaine Hydrochloride. You can expect the list to be informative on the conservative side; in other words, perhaps only on conditions where improvements can be scientifically proven. I presume.
Benefits list #3:
[Betaine Hydrochloride] enables the stomach to much more completely dissolve and process foods right down to base nutrients, as well as produce methyl groups, an important element in preventing cancer and other diseases.Edward Group clarifies these benefits even further:
Betaine hydrochloride is a powerful digestive aid for people who may have been privy to a poor diet, prolonged dehydration and generalized stress. It has also been shown to offer digestive support to perimenopausal women and elderly individuals.
Betaine HCL has also been found to be beneficial in treating hypochlorhydria, a deficiency of stomach acid production. It is also a crucial compound in balancing homocysteine levels, a condition related to severe heart disease.
What is more, as we age, the body naturally produces less digestive enzymes. Due to this lowering in enzymatic activity, Betaine HCL levels also decrease. Depending on the individual, this can lead to sluggish digestion and poor mineral and nutrient absorption.
It also means that the body is not detoxifying itself in an optimal fashion. Things that the body would normally expel remain lodged in the system. This leads to toxic overload, and the type of redness related to chronic disease.RISKS of LOW STOMACH ACID
The risks are serious. I had no idea. Maybe because of low stomach acid. So don't dismiss the importance of having optimum hydrochloric acid in your stomach.
Two key benefits [of stomach acid]: absorption and protection. When food hits your stomach, it’s your stomach’s gastric acid that begins the breakdown of protein and most minerals with pepsin to prepare for the important absorption of key nutrients (like iron B12, Vit. D and MORE) in those foods for your health and well-being. It also helps knock out bad or dangerous bacteria.
Low stomach acid also leads to non-optimal levels of neurotransmitters/amino acids (chemicals which transmit signals from one cell to another and play a huge role in your health and well-being).Did you get that? Did it sink in? I hope so. I noticed some terrific benefits the first night that I supplemented with Betaine Hydrochloride. That signaling I felt in the different segments of my body--lower leg, feet, torso, shoulders, etc. I thought they were unpleasant side effects. They may have been. But I believe they were benefits. Proof? Hmm. I'll know soon enough.
Acid reflux is caused by lactic acid, a warning sign for too low of a concentration of hydrochloric acid, causing incomplete digestion of food. Acid reflux needs to be treated by increasing hydrochloric acid, not antacids which will neutralize hydrochloric acid, making reflux worse as well as other health consequences.
And there's this:
"Low hydrochloric acid is a potential cause of cancer and other immune and auto-immune conditions."
And then there's the relationship of low stomach acid with your hypothyroid.
First, this:
If the "Th1" immune system is compromised or disabled, the "Th2" component of the immune system attempts to take over. Th2, not being equipped to function as Th1, perceives genuine body tissues as foreign invaders, attacking them as it would a bacterium or virus. Th1 suppression is also a root cause of auto-immune diseases such as allergies, celiac disease and arthritis.Continue reading . . . .
