by Rex Trulove

Created on: April 04, 2008

The stomach produces strong acids to start the digestion of food that enters it. However, the valve at the top of the stomach, at the upper opening of the stomach, does not always keep the acids out. This results in acid reflux or 'heart burn'.

Former medications, and even some of those still used today focus on counteracting the acid. For instance, Tums and Rolaids primarily do this because they are bases that neutralize acid. The problem is that the acid is necessary for food breakdown and counteracting it, while it may resolve the reflux, makes it harder for the body to handle the food that is consumed.

Thankfully, there are a number of plants that allow for the function of the acid while still treating the discomfort of the acid reflux.

One of the best is a tea made from one of the many kinds of mint. Mint is soothing to the stomach. It doesn't counteract the acids, but instead allows the over active stomach to properly deal with the amount of acid that is present.

Mint tea can be made by putting a few tablespoons full of mint in a tea ball and soaking it in boiling water, covered (to retain the mint essential oils). The tea should never be sweetened with sugar, which can increase the acids in the stomach. However it can be sweetened by using honey, which isn't complex and doesn't require the production of acid in order for it to break down.

All members of the mint family can ease reflux, including spearmint, peppermint, horsemint, bee balm, lemon mint, winter mint and catnip. Peppermint is perhaps the strongest of all, however.

A number of other herbal remedies also work quite well, such as teas made from Oregon Grape root, horehound, and even rose hips and rose leafs or blackberry leafs. The problem with some of these is that they often also encourage deification. For instance, blackberry leaf tea is often used to cure constipation, since it is milder than store bought remedies and blackberry leaf tea isn't as harsh as most man made medicines are.

A tea made of slippery elm is also a good remedy, and also soothes the stomach, though not as well as mint does. In fact, almost every herb that sooths the stomach, including basil and oregano, will help fight acid reflux when it is taken as a tea. The dosage is also pretty easy to remember; 1 tablespoon of the fresh herb in a cup of boiling water, or a little more than half that of dried herb per cup of boiling water.

Tea balls are widely available for producing the tea easily.

It is not necessary to suffer the problems related to acid reflux when nature has produced so many solutions to the problem if man only wants to make use of them. The choice is to take chemicals to take care of the problem, or to treat it naturally.

Which will you choose?

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