HERBAL REMEDIES FOR ACIDITY

Introduction

Every living entity needs a constant supply of nutrients to their body, which provides energy as well as building blocks to the body. The nutrient requirements are full filled by the intake of the various type of nutritious foods in our daily diet. Life style of the 21st century is different. The world is moving so fast in a way that people even don’t have time to eat. Eventually, have adopted bad/irregular habits of eating that invited various health- related problems such as stress, fatigue and acidity.

During digestion, stomach secrets an acid, hydrochloric acid, which is required for the breakdown of food and excessive secretion of hydrochloric acid causes acidity. The symptoms of acidity are Generally, the acidity patients have been observed, who are eating non-vegetarian, spicy and oily foods. There are various classes of drugs prescribed to the patients such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID’s), antacids etc.

Physiology: How food is digested?

First point is to understand the digestion, it is a process in which food is breakdown into smaller components that can be easily observed and assimilated.

There are two processes involved in digestion:-

1. Mechanical process

It is a physical breakdown of food into smaller pieces, which can be easily accessed by the digestive enzymes. The mechanical process occur in mouth by the action of mastication. During mastication, food is also mixed with saliva, in which salivary amylase is found that catalyzes the starch. Thereafter, the food turned into small, round slurry mass called, bolus. Bolus, then enters into stomach through esophagus.

2. Chemical process

After entering the bolus into stomach, the food is treated with various gastric juices. The gastric juices mainly contain; hydrochloric acid and pepsin. These gastric juices digest the proteins and could change the wall of stomach. Therefore, stomach secrets mucous to protect their membrane. The digested food is retained in stomach for 1-2 h, which is called as chyme, then passed to duodenum followed by intestine and further digestion process is done.