We will first consider superacidity because it is usually the first disorder that appears in consequence of wrong eating.

For convenience, superacidity is also often called hyperacidity. Chronic cases of superacidity are termed hyperchlor-hydria. In the language of the common people it is called "sour stomach."

The time food remains in the stomach is measured by the amount of hydrochloric acid present. When we take into the stomach a quantity of food in excess of our physical requirements, Nature secretes or pours into the stomach an excess of hydrochloric acid. Too much acid causes the food to pass from the stomach too quickly, while a deficiency of acid causes digestion to be too slow. In the former case food is forced from the stomach before it has been made into chyme, which is a solution fine enough to pass from the stomach and be acted on by the pancreatic juice.

Significance of "lump" in the stomach.

When digestion is too rapid, there is always some hydrochloric acid left in the stomach. The muscles then contract from the irritation caused by the presence of the acid, and every symptom of indigestion is experienced - even the usual "lump" in the stomach. The lump often felt an hour or so after eating, in cases of superacidity, is due to the action of the hydrochloric acid upon the walls of the stomach, producing a convulsive motion. This symptom is often mistaken for indigestion, while in truth the food has passed from the stomach too quickly, leaving a residue of clear hydrochloric acid that preys upon the walls of the stomach with such severity that it causes a convulsive motion of the stomach very easily mistaken for undigested food.

The food having passed from the stomach before Nature's time-limit is reached, and before thorough dissolution has taken place, is forced into the upper intestines, supercharged with acid, which is the most prolific cause of constipation, from which nearly all civilized people suffer more or less.

Superacidity - The Cause

The chief causes of superacidity are -

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

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 presence of too much blood 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

One acid will not counteract another.

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, should be omitted, and also all sweets except a very limited quantity of maple-sugar and sweet fruits. Foods containing proteids (nitrogen, albumin and casein), together with fresh green vegetables, should form the principal part of the diet. (For "sweet and non-acid fruits," see Lesson VIII (Foods Of Vegetable Origin), p. 313.)

It has been the theory with dietitians for many years that those afflicted with hyperchlorhy-dria (supersecretion of acid) should not take sweets, but should take acids liberally. This theory had its origin, no doubt, in the ancient superstition that one poison would counteract or kill another, hence it was but an easy step to the belief that one acid would counteract another. This theory is utterly without scientific foundation, and my practical work has proved that just the reverse is true. It is quite as illogical to suppose that the effect of one acid can be counteracted by another as it would be to try to cure a burn by holding the hand in the fire, or to counteract the effects of alcohol by taking other stimulants.

For list of foods to be eaten and omitted in cases of overeating, supera-cidity, fermentation and gas dilatation, see p. 433.