NOW Foods Supplements, Betaine HCl 648 mg, Vegetarian Formula, Digestive Support*, 120 Veg Capsules

I still have a hard time scientifically explaining how low stomach acid can cause or contribute to acid reflux, but it seems to be that when you eat something you can't digest, it sits in your stomach and the pressure causes the lower esophageal sphincter to malfunction and allow food and gastric juices, which includes acid, to be refluxed back up the esophagus as all too many of us are familiar with, as heartburn, or for the long term, as GERD. Not to mention, that food never gets properly digested leading to irritation, inflammation, altered GI transit time and pH, maldigestion, and malabsorption of important nutrients, and intestinal disorders such as IBS, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (due to change in pH), or intestinal hyperpermeability, or "leaky gut" which I have been told by my holistic doctor that I most likely have.A tip for the acid reflux - I was initially able to get it under control using D-limonene (Jarrow) once a day and within two weeks was almost completely weaned off Prilosec. I had also put myself on a strong, high quality probiotic (Hyperbiotics PRO-15 regular strength "pearls") at a high dose of one three times daily for a month, which made a huge difference with the reflux and how my entire intestinal tract felt. That's when I decided it was time to test the Betaine Hcl with Pepsin. I don't eat big high protein meals, so I started off with one or two before a meal. When I ate larger meals with more protein, I upped it to three or four. I always kept adding a couple after I ate if I felt food sitting there. This worked great for a week or two then I gradually I got a mild gastritis and an occasional reoccurring of reflux. I figured out that for me, and the small meals I needed to eat, it worked much better to just take one or maybe two and definitely after I ate not before, and not try to fine tune it. I just have to take it after everything I eat, even just snacks. There had been too much time elapsing when I took it first before the food, I realized, and I felt it burning in my stomach, which I knew wasn't right. But I knew in my case it didn't mean I didn't need it, which it could mean in someone else's situation.. The day I started the Betaine Hcl it is the day I stopped the Prilosec completely. I just needed to fine tune the timing of taking it to what was right for me. (seems like some others even make it a point to take it on an empty stomach before meals, which I would never do due to the burning. I do think I have a more recent onset mild case of low stomach acid, and my small low protein meals are a factor.I have a lot of other supplements that I take, usually with meals but before, and I was just taking these in with the mix, Once I switched to taking both the Betaine Hcl and the digestive enzymes I take (NOW Ultimate enzymes and Gluten Digest) immediately after eating, and eased up on trying to titrate so exactly to my meal, things have been going well. I still take the D-limonene daily after dinner to keep the reflux at bay. I think I have much more than low stomach acid - I think I have intestinal hyperpermeability or "leaky gut" and so I added to my regimen licorice root (Nature's Way - non DGL), aloe vera gel (NOW) and slippery elm (NOW) along with L-Glutamine (Jarrow) all which are soothing and healing to the entire GI tract including the stomach and the esophagus, helping further with reflux. All I had to do therefore, after feeling the burning and realizing I was making things temporarily worse, was take a week off the Betaine, during which the reflux worsened but the gastritis resolved, Then I started it up again as described, after meals, and I have not felt food sitting in my stomach once since then, never taking more than one or two capsules a meal, but needing to take it even after any snack, whether protein containing or not.I wanted to describe all that was unique to my experience, since it seems to be more complicated than most, in case it helps someone else. I intend to continue the Betaine Hcl along with the other supplements I am on that I have described, for the forseeable future. Leaky gut takes many months to heal, and low stomach acid can be a contributing factor to causing it or to perpetuating it only revealing itself with the acid reflux in my case. I had few other symptoms initially, although I suspect I had small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, another sequelae of low stomach acid, based on my phenomenal response to the probiotics, but then things kind of snowballed, I was first diagnosed with a seemingly unrelated autoimmune thyroid condition (Hashimoto's autoimmune thyroiditis/hypothyroidism), which was my first clue something might be wrong with my gut, and is what led to my holistic doctor's diagnosis of intestinal hyperpermeability. It can be a cause or effect of autoimmune disorders, low stomach acid is almost always a component, and the "leaky gut" has to be healed to reverse or effectively treat the autoimmune disorder. The Betaine Hcl is playing an important role in this. Hopefully at some point in the future, I will notice some mild burning even taking it after a meal, that will indicate to me that I have regained my own stomach acid's normal production, and then I will know I may be able to stop it altogether. I am not clear if this happens with everyone or just sometimes. I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't happen with me for a long time at least because of the complexity of the situation. But, regardless and best of all, I've been off Prilosec since starting this, which along with the healing, makes it worth it alone. Prilosec, and other acid reducers, despite being recommended by most doctors, are dangerous drugs to be on long term, because they do the opposite of what you need, reduce stomach acid even further, and impairs GI function, digestion, and nutrient absorption.Anyway, anyone with GI issues especially occasional to severe acid reflux or chronic GERD, especially if you are on antacids or acid reducers, I would highly recommend to try the Betaine Hcl to see if it helps instead and better, because it probably will. There are few if any reviews that state otherwise from those who have actually tried it. If you don't believe it try Googling "GERD and low stomach acid" - that's what I did to convince myself. There are other ways to test, but none so straightforward and directly helpful.as just trying it. It even helps me with my more complex situation, and especially helps me as I feel it is an important component to eventually being well again, however long tha! takes. Having stomach acid is important to proper digestion and being well! I was a little nervous to try it, 'it's the real deal, and can't do any real lasting harm, even to me,with my sensitive situation and system. I intend to keep purchasing NOW brand and taking this product as long as I need it, which is for the forseeable future. Highly recommend and Good luck!Update: A couple months ago I slowly tapered off this supplement along with the Aloe Vera and digestive enzymes, and did very well. I went on a vacation and I think the change in my diet caused mild symptoms of acid reflux to return. I immediately restarted the Betaine, Aloe, and digestive enzymes, along with D-limonene the first week or so, and my symptoms resolved again. I plan to continue all this for a couple of weeks, and then continue the Betaine permanently while attempting to taper off the others again. I have also tapered off the L-glutamine, but I don't think that is related. I have never stopped the probiotics nor do I plan to. I am trying to balance the number of supplements I am taking to make it as minimal as possible while still controlling my symptoms and my disease pathways. I take a number of other supplements too and the cost as well as the annoyance of taking so many pills can get to me, so I am just tryiing to find a balance. I think that balance is continuing the Betaine indefinitely to control the acid reflux, and managing flare-ups with the others (although the idea is to take what is required minimally to prevent flare-ups)

I have been taking famotidine, an over-the-counter acid reducer every night for probably the last 6 years to keep from getting woken up in the middle of the night with that horrible throat-burning reflux. In addition to that, I frequently get heartburn during the day and have to pop a couple of TUMS just to be able to bear the pain. I also had a lot of rules I made for myself about what I could eat, when I could eat and how much I could eat just to try to control the heartburn/GERD. Chocolate was completely out of the question, and I wouldn't even dream of eating anything after 7:30 p.m. or I would be awoken by acid that night. Even taking all of those acid reducers and following all my crazy food rules, I still had occasions when I would have horrible heartburn and reflux. Recently I started worrying about what all this medicine was doing to my health. My fingernails and hair have become extremely dry and brittle and break easily. I have also lost a lot of hair. I'm 31 years old and my hair has gone from very thick and shiny to very, very thin and fine. After tons of research, I discovered that being on acid reducers for long periods of time can create nutrient deficiencies because you're not digesting your food properly and absorbing the vitamins you need. I decided I had to get off the acid reducers for good.I read about Betaine HCL and decided I would try it. I was nervous about quitting the acid reducers cold turkey, but I knew I had to. Since the HCL supplements acid, I would just offset the effects of it if I took a TUMS or acid reducer. Shockingly, the very first day I took the HCL, my acid reflux was gone. I barely slept that night because I kept thinking the GERD was going to have to strike soon, but it never did. I had very minor heartburn and some stomach pain for the next 3 or 4 days, mainly when I hadn't eaten or taken the HCL in a while. I read about drinking homemade chicken broth to help heal your stomach lining, so I made some homemade soup and ate that for lunch all week. I've been taking it for about 2 weeks now, and I have had zero heartburn or stomach pain/burning this week at all. When I eat, I don't feel like it's just sitting in my stomach. I even ate a chocolate bar as a test. In the past, eating chocolate would have me up all night with reflux. I had no reaction to the chocolate bar at all when I ate it with an HCL pill.I have not had any acid reflux at all since Day 1 of starting the HCL. It has been a miracle supplement for me. I'm hoping that now that I am healing my digestion, I can cure any lingering vitamin deficiencies and restore my good health. I have been taking 1 pill with each meal and usually 2 pills with dinner. If you don't eat a lot of protein with a meal, don't take as many because you don't need as much stomach acid. You have to experiment and find out how many pills is right for you. Some people say they have to take 6 or 7 to get effects, but I have not needed nearly that many. I will update this review in a few months and let you know how it's going.UPDATE 6/2014:I have been heartburn free for months now! It is such a miracle. I still stand by my review that this is a great product. However, I sometimes have to take up to 3 of these at each meal. I ordered Doctor's Best instead of NOW brand on my last order, and I believe they are superior to this NOW brand. I only have to take 1 pill with dinner and have even gone a couple of days without taking anything with the Doctor's Best brand. With NOW, I had to be careful to get the dosage high enough. I highly, highly recommend trying betaine HCL if you have acid reflux or GERD, but I would go with Doctor's Best instead of NOW.UPDATE 10/2015:It's been over a year and a half since I first started taking betaine HCL. I am extremely happy to report that I still have no heartburn. I don't even take the betaine HCL anymore. Even eating my previous trigger foods does not give me heartburn. This product and the Doctor's Best brand of the betaine HCL literally changed my life. I can sleep at night. I haven't been woken up choking on acid in a long, long time. When I wake up, I don't have a disgusting acid taste in my mouth. In the comments, some people wanted to know if my health changed. My fingernails did get a lot better after I stopped the acid reducers. The aren't flakey and brittle anymore. My hair doesn't seem to grow in thick like it used to, but it is definitely shiny and doesn't look lifeless like it used to. I feel 100 percent better than I did when I was trying to struggle through each day on a mix of eating restrictions and acid reducers.

Really help with digestion, especially if you have low acid stomach. Only complain is the shell made of something that has weird taste to it.