@Raahema – great question, and yes, your understanding is correct. Baking soda is intentionally used to temporarily lower stomach acidity between meals. H. pylori prefer a more alkaline environment, so when we make the stomach less acidic for a short window, it encourages them to move out of the protective mucosal lining, which makes the mastic gum more effective at targeting them.
That’s why timing matters. We never want to do this near meals, because we need strong stomach acid while eating to digest protein and trigger proper downstream digestion.
Regarding Betaine HCL…
During the dosing challenge, the “warming” or slight burning sensation that some people look for is usually:
This sensation helps identify the appropriate dose and generally, the suitable dose is considered to be one capsule less than the amount that caused that short-lived warmth.
If the sensation is strong, neutralizing with a small amount of baking soda in water is often enough to settle it.
However, if there is ongoing burning or discomfort at low doses, or the discomfort does not fade quickly, that may suggest that the stomach lining could benefit from more soothing and repair support first (for example: DGL, zinc carnosine, cabbage juice, bone broth, slippery elm, etc.). In that case, the focus may shift to healing the mucosa before retrying the HCl challenge.
Also worth noting: not everyone with H. pylori experiences gastritis symptoms such as pain or burning, so the absence of those symptoms doesn’t rule anything out. The challenge itself helps give useful feedback.
Hope this helps.
