# What is that awful taste? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 10, 2017, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-awful-taste/795999 "2017-09-10T16:26:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jebert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ec9cab/32.png) [@jebert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jebert)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2017, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-awful-taste/795999/1 "2017-09-10T16:26:08Z")
An upset stomach might have several unpleasant side effects, one of which is belching accompanied by an awful taste in one’s mouth. What is this taste and the gas that causes it? ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2017, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-awful-taste/795999/2 "2017-09-10T17:14:41Z")
Well, the awful taste is stomach digestive juices. Not sure what the gasses are, but probably a lot of CO2. ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2017, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-awful-taste/795999/3 "2017-09-10T19:40:47Z")
“Gas in the stomach contains approximately 15 to 16 percent oxygen and 5 to 9 percent carbon dioxide; the rest is nitrogen.” > **[Intestinal gas | biology](https://www.britannica.com/science/intestinal-gas)** > > intestinal gas, also called flatus, material contained within the digestive tract that consists principally of swallowed air and partly of by-products of digestion. In humans the digestive tract contains normally between 150 and 500 cubic cm (10 and... “Gastric acid, gastric juice or stomach acid, is a digestive fluid formed in the stomach and is composed of hydrochloric acid (HCl), potassium chloride (KCl) and sodium chloride (NaCl).” > **[Gastric acid](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastric_acid)** > > Gastric acid, gastric juice, or stomach acid is a digestive fluid formed within the stomach lining. With a pH between 1 and 3, gastric acid plays a key role in digestion of proteins by activating digestive enzymes, which together break down the long chains of amino acids of proteins. Gastric acid is regulated in feedback systems to increase production when needed, such as after a meal. Other cells in the stomach produce bicarbonate, a base, to buffer the fluid, ensuring a regulated pH. These cell... Chemistry aside, if you’re tasting gastric acid, it sounds like reflux, and time for antacids at the very least, and more probably the stronger stuff–Zantac, Pepcid, Prilosec ---
**Author:** ![Murderface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@Murderface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Murderface)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2017, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-awful-taste/795999/4 "2017-09-10T19:42:20Z")
Ah, the joys of heartburn. ---
**Author:** ![jebert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ec9cab/32.png) [@jebert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jebert)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-awful-taste/795999/5 "2017-09-12T21:07:24Z")
> [@gkster](#): > > “Gas in the stomach contains approximately 15 to 16 percent oxygen and 5 to 9 percent carbon dioxide; the rest is nitrogen.” > [Intestinal gas | Flatulence, Bloating & Foul Odor | Britannica](https://www.britannica.com/science/intestinal-gas) > > “Gastric acid, gastric juice or stomach acid, is a digestive fluid formed in the stomach and is composed of hydrochloric acid (HCl), potassium chloride (KCl) and sodium chloride (NaCl).” > [Gastric acid - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastric_acid) That sounds like the gases that would be there normally when I can belch and taste nothing. What I am curious about is the abnormal situation when there is some nausea and perhaps diarrhea, The foul taste is actually a precursor to these other symptoms; in fact, it usually comes several hours before the other effects. So, what other gas(es) not normally in the stomach cause this taste. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-awful-taste/795999/6 "2017-09-12T21:41:45Z")
Is it a rotten egg sort of taste? Meaty? Rotten meat? Vinegar? Back in the day, when I got migraines, my first symptom would be a feeling, at mealtime, that eating would be a bad idea. I learned to heed that feeling. It was a clue that my digestion had either gone on hold or had slowed way down. If I ate, it would just sit there for the duration. Not good. A shift in your digestion is the only thing that I can think of that would cause a novel taste. And having digestion close down is the only shift that I’m familiar with. If you had food in your stomach that wan’t getting the full stomach acid treatment, it might start to ferment. Depending on what kind of fermentation, there could be nearly any sort of byproducts. Even if there’s no bacterial fermentation, if the [chyme](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chyme) isn’t being released into the small intestine, the bile that’s released in the duodenum, usually as the chyme passes through, could maybe mix through the stomach, causing the digestion of fats to begin in the stomach, rather than in the small intestine. I hear that some fatty acids (what fats ferment or digest into) can be whiffy. I’m not really familiar with them. According to Google, one of them smells like rancid butter. ---
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-awful-taste/795999/7 "2017-09-12T21:57:21Z")
Are you taking Tums or similar? I have found sometimes that if I wake up in the middle of the night with an acid stomach and take a couple Tums, I have an unpleasant taste in my mouth the next morning. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-awful-taste/795999/8 "2017-09-12T22:22:15Z")
The worst tasting stuff that can reflux up (well, for relatively healthy people anyway) is bile from the liver/gall bladder. Usually associated with prolonged dry heaves, that sterol-based bitter, acrid, dry as a desert substance formed from the breakdown products of hemoglobin and myoglobin is some kind of nasty. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-awful-taste/795999/10 "2017-09-13T14:44:35Z")
Ask your doctor. There might be other things going on that need treatment, and the sooner the better.