Antacids — drugs that relieve heartburn by decreasing levels of
stomach acid — are among the best-selling drugs of all time,
pulling in billions of dollars in windfall profits for pharmaceutical
companies.

Who among us hasn’t heard the dire warnings about the
perils of “excess stomach acid”? Yet as Dr. Rubman and I have
pointed out, we need stomach acid to activate pepsin and to digest
the food we eat. True excess stomach acid is a rare condition. As
such, these warnings are really about selling a product that most of
us dont need, and which may be harmful, cautions Dr. Rubman. In
his view, they are “hucksterism” and “much ado about nothing.”

What is being marketed as excess stomach acid is really acid
produced at the wrong time, explains Dr. Rubman. He told me that
there are two phases to stomach acid production…

* Digestive phase. When you have a meal and food enters the
stomach, stomach acid is produced to help dissolve the food and
extract the nutrients you need from it.

* Quiescent phase. Between meals, when the stomach is empty,
normally there is little or no stomach acid. The intestinal tract
needs its rest, too.