I’ve recently started having problems with acid reflux and I’ve taken to mixing a couple of teaspoons of baking soda in water and drinking it. This works, but it has had some unexpected side effects on my, ehem… daily constitutionals.
Anyway, it got me thinking.
Stomach acid is key to breaking down our food. So if a person were to drink several glasses of baking soda/water mix in the hours after eating,thus neutralizing a large portion of the acid, would a significant portion of the caloric value pass right through you undigested?
Not really, as most of the digestive work is done in the intestines.
Using baking soda to regulate stomach acidity is not a good idea - the acid in the stomach is generated by a molecular pump that pumps protons (acid) out of the cell in exchange for sodium ions - and works best when the stomach contains a lot of sodium ions. That’s why commercial antacids use other counter-ions instead of sodium.
I understand that most of the actual absorbtion takes place in the small intestines. But the way I’ve always understood it was that the stomach acid does the prep work of breaking it down to the point it can easily be absorbed by the intestine. That’s the whole point of the acid being there.
You may very well be right. It just seems like the less acid present, the less the food is broken down and the less effective absorbtion will be.
The acid does denature proteins, making them easier to digest. The stomach also secrete some proteases (Enzymes that cleave proteins). In addition, it kills off many of the bacteria that might be in the food.
However, it does not do much for the digestion of fat or carbohydrates, which contribute most of the excess calories you would want to avoid in a diet.