Does Medication for reduction of stomach acid influence calorie absorption?

[GreedvsNeed]

Hey,

My doc has prescribed me medication to reduce the amount of stomach acid (so it won't bleed anymore when purging and reduce chances of throat cancer)

Now I wonder if this influences the stomach to absorb calories and make me feel full for a long while due to slower digestion. I have been doinga little research on hypochlorydia (low stomach acid disease) and saw that most people with this disease are underweight... (ignoring the other side effects)

Can somebody advise me on this? I'm afraid if I ask my doc that she will think that I have thoughts of abusing it.

[NightMerryGoRound]

Never thought about it, but ehm...

digestion starts in your mouth. Saliva contains amylase, the enzym that digests amylose. So there it doesn't affect it.
Then you've got proteïns, fat, and complex carbohydrates left to digest. Your stomach produces acid, which contains also several digestion-enzymes, then your food stays in your stomach for a while, while partly being digested. then it moves on to your duodenum bit by bit. Everytime the pH in the duodenum has risen enough, new food comes in. Then there's this hormone (gastrine, if I am correct) that stimulates the production of stomach acid. So if you reduce the gastrine, there will be less stomach acid, and therefore also less digestion-enzymes I think... So you'd think it slows down everything... But fact is that you don't need many enzymes, because they can be used several (1000+) times.

So uhm... I don't think it really matters for calorie-absorption. I am sure everything will be absorbed, it's not like you eat 100 calories and only absorb 90...

[The Hatter]

If you're being prescribed a medication to reduce your stomach acid, you're not hypo, nor will you end up hypo even if you abuse the medication due to your body's natural response to your current medical situation. Honestly, abusing the medication will kill you before you ever had a thought that you were hypo.

Your medication will not "encourage" your stomach to absorb more calories, anything that you've eaten will be absorbed the same, just possibly slower (causing bloating and gas at times).

I've been on numerous medications OTC and Rx for GERD (Acid reflux disease), so if you want to talk, PM me.