You can take one tablet of Betaine Hydrochloride with Pepsin with each meal, if necessary.

Support its effectiveness by refraining from talking while eating. Chew each bite thoroughly. Avoid drinking during meals (except for a sip of water to swallow the tablet). It is better to drink half an hour before the meal and wait another half an hour afterwards. The larger the food particles you swallow, the more stomach acid needs to be produced to penetrate the core of those particles. The finer the food mixture that reaches the stomach, the better. Preferably, consume fruit and soup as snacks, not as part of the main meal.

The answers can indeed seem somewhat contradictory, given the paradoxical effect of this product.

Firstly, here is a list of products that people use for such complaints: antacids (prescribed by a doctor), acid binders (such as Rennies), enzymes, and betaine hydrochloride.

Betaine hydrochloride does behave like stomach acid in the stomach. So, in a sense, you are adding stomach acid. From this perspective, one would primarily recommend this product for individuals who produce too little stomach acid, such as the elderly.

An excess of stomach acid can, on one hand, be reduced by taking antacids well before a meal, and on the other hand, by chewing a calcium tablet like Rennies after the meal (the calcium then absorbs some of the excess stomach acid).

The question is: why does the body produce too much stomach acid? In many cases, it is because people eat too hastily and carelessly, causing large pieces of food to be swallowed almost whole. Because those pieces of food are so large, a significant amount of stomach acid is required to penetrate to the core of each piece of food.

If you were to take Betaine Hydrochloride in that situation, you would be helping your body, meaning your stomach would need to produce less acid.

However, this is not really a long-term solution. You would be taking the tablets to compensate for poor eating habits. For this reason, we emphasise in many responses on this website the importance of proper chewing, among other things by not talking or drinking while eating. The finer the food mass that is swallowed, the less stomach acid our body needs to produce to digest everything properly. This way, the stomach can be emptied more quickly, preventing issues such as acid reflux.

Elderly individuals with a chronically low production of stomach acid can safely use Betaine Hydrochloride with Pepsin for an extended period, but in the case of an excess of stomach acid, this is not the right approach. You would be using the product merely for symptom relief. It works, as the reviews indicate, but you would then be dependent on the product each time.

No, the Betaine Hydrochloride with Pepsin tablets must be swallowed whole. This is one of the few products from Solgar where it is emphasised that the tablets must be swallowed whole. Chewing the tablets is particularly discouraged as it may irritate the mouth and throat.

The pepsin in the Betaine Hydrochloride with Pepsin is of animal origin. It is possible that this ingredient is responsible for the smell. The product does not contain any fish.

Each tablet contains a few milligrams of lactose. The exact amount varies per batch. It is intended to give the pepsin the right viscosity to be able to make the tablets.