Part 13

1 Too great a quantity of food

2 Wrong combinations and wrong proportions of food

For instance, a diet consisting of an excess of acid fruits, or sweets and starches, and at the same time an insufficient quantity of other nutrients

3 By poisoning from the use of tea or coffee, liquor, tobacco, and the various stimulating and narcotic drugs used by civilized man

4 An excess of hydrochloric acid

SUPERACIDITY--THE SYMPTOMS

So far as the symptoms are concerned, all the above causes may be considered together, since the ultimate result is the same. The symptoms are named in the order of their various stages or the time acidity has endured:

1 Irritation of the mucous lining of the stomach, expressed by a burning sometimes called "heartburn"

2 Abnormal appetite caused by the irritation of too much hydrochloric acid in the irritated cells of the stomach

Many people mistake these symptoms for evidence of good health, until overeating produces nervous indigestion, and sometimes a complete breakdown.

3 Fevered mouth, and so-called fever-sores on the lips and tongue, both of which are a true mirror of the condition of the stomach

4 A sour fluid rising in the throat from one to two hours after meals

5 White coating on the tongue

6 Faintness, emptiness; in the language of the layman a "hollowness and an all-gone caved-in" feeling

(See "Fermentation--The Symptoms," p. 426)

SUPERACIDITY--THE REMEDY

In all cases of superacidity all fruit, especially that of an acid character, except citrus fruits, should be omitted, and also all sweets except a very limited quantity of maple-sugar and sweet fruits--and these never in conjunction with the meal. Foods containing proteids (nitrogen, albumin and casein), together with fresh green vegetables, should form the principal part of the diet.

It has been the theory with dietitians that those afflicted with hyperchlorhydria (supersecretion of hydrochloric acid) should not take sweets, but should take acids liberally. This is one of the few instances in which medical guesswork seems to have a foundation of fact. For there is no doubt but that the giving of hydrochloric acid, the normal stomach acid, before a meal, tends to retard and restrict the development of hydrochloric acid during the meal.

It remains true, on the other hand, that the giving of hydrochloric acid after the meal tends always to increase the supply of free and combined hydrochloric acid in the stomach during the process of stomach digestion.

For list of foods to be eaten and omitted in cases of overeating, superacidity, fermentation and gas dilatation, see p. 433. For the importance of water-drinking, see p. 434.

FERMENTATION

Fermentation is the effort of Nature to dispose of or to dissolve things it cannot use; it is the first step in the process of decay.

FERMENTATION--THE CAUSE

The common causes of fermentation are the same as those of superacidity (see p. 420), the difference being that superacidity originates in the stomach, and is confined chiefly to it, while fermentation may take place throughout the entire intestinal tract. The causes are--

1 Overeating 2 Too much acid fruit 3 An excess of sweets 4 Stimulants of the alkaloid group 5 Overeating of cereal products

FERMENTATION--THE SYMPTOMS

The first evidence of fermentation is a burning sensation in the stomach, almost exactly as in superacidity, the difference being that in cases of fermentation the symptoms appear later after eating. Superacidity may appear immediately after eating, and the symptoms such as a lump in the stomach, or a sour fluid rising in the throat may also appear within an hour after meals, but fermentation, which produces the same symptoms, does not manifest itself until the acid has acted upon the food, which requires from two to four hours, governed by the time required to digest the different articles of which the meal is composed.

The patient may also experience a fullness; an unpleasant and sometimes painful distention of the bowels.