People with a sensitive stomach should not immediately reach for tablets: experts say they would be better off listening to their own body instead.
“The best thing is to test for oneself whether a particularly fatty meal didn’t go down too well,” says Hans Michael Muehlenfeld of the German family doctors’ union.
Some people aren’t built to take high-fibre meals or a glass of wine in the evening. Most will feel better when they have smaller portions more often and consciously chew every bite.
According to Muehlenfeld, foodstuffs like a glass of milk may also help counter heartburn: “anything that binds acids.”
Both doctors and patients are often too quick to reach for gastric acid blockers, the so-called Proton Pump Inhibitors (PPIs), the expert notes.
“It is really tempting to take them,” admits Muehlenfeld, as this medication “is very helpful.”
People with a sensitive stomach should not immediately reach for tablets: experts say they would be better off listening to their own body instead. (File photo credit: “Matthias Hiekel / dpa”.)
The German Society for Gastroenterology and Digestive and Metabolic Diseases, however, warns that such drugs may have long-term side effects, such as osteoporosis.
PPIs like omeprazole should only be taken they are really necessary and have been prescribed by a doctor.
They are helpful, for example, to treat stomach diseases that are caused by acids or to prevent gastric haemorrhage, which may in turn have been caused by the long-term use of certain types of medication.
-dpa
