THORNE Betaine HCL & Pepsin - Digestive Enzymes for Protein Breakdown and Absorption* - 225 Capsules

Product works great for me.No more Times or Rolaids for me.

I've been using this brand for a year now, and it works very well for me. I did have a strange surprise when I first started using it, because it seems to be a lot more effective than some other brands. I had been using other brands which it seems weren't as potent as this one. I was using about 12 tablets (3 per meal) of a different brand per day.When I took the very first Thorne capsules, I took 2 of them, which I thought would be perfectly fine because they contained less HCL per cap than the others. BIG mistake! My stomach burned for quite a few hours. I learned the hard way to only use one Thorne capsule.In fact, I found out right away that just taking one of these with breakfast took care of my problems for the entire day, and somehow gave me the same results that I was getting with 12 per day of the others. (I have a particular digestive problem which responds well to HCL, and I get fast feedback the same day as to the effectiveness of HCL capsules.) So, for my particular health scenario, the Thorne capsules have consistantly worked well for me, the one per day makes me feel great, and obviously well worth paying a little extra for, since I only use one instead of 12. I don't take any more HCL during the day unless I eat meat, in which case I take one capsule just before I eat the meat. However, for this I purposely use another brand which isn't as strong as the Thorne. Taking more than one Thorne per day seems to be too much for me, and causes discomfort. I should probably experiment with taking half of a Thorne capsule.There is one other positive effect of taking the Thorne that I find extremely important. When I was taking large numbers of HCL's of other brands, I was exposing myself to excessive heavy metal contamination, which I didn't understand at the time. But I've come to understand that contamination in supplements is common, so now I place particular value on the Thorne HCL's for doing the job with only one cap per day, thus minimizing my exposure to heavy metals and other impurities. Plus, being a higher quality product, the Thorne probably also has way fewer impurities than the average supplement.

It works great

This product helped me get off Nexium completely after being on it for 10 years. Basically, that valve on the top of your stomach won't close until your stomach hits a certain level of acidity. The reason we get reflux is our acid levels drop and even though we still produce acid, it not enough for that valve to sense it and close. So this product is the solution - it raises your acid levels in your stomach so the valve closes! So here's a summary of how I used this product: i was taking one Nexium capsule a day so I cut the dose down to one capsule every other day for two weeks and then one pill every three days for two weeks and then none at all. From the first day of when I started reducing Nexium, i changed my meals to include high protein and simple carbs like cooked veggies. When I ate too much or if I ate large amounts of bread, I could feel reflux again. So I kept those things to a minimum whenever possible. With every meal, I took two of these HCL supplements after I was done eating with my last bite of food or a few minutes after. As long as I ate my meal and didn't snack in between meals, absolutely no reflux would occur at all. With bigger meals, I'd take three. If I didn't take enough HCL capsules, I'd feel reflux starting but I'd take one more capsule and it would stop. That's it! No more PPI drugs for me!!

I really wanted to give this product a full five stars. the mixture sits very well in my stomach and has never given me heartburn, but the Thorne Research products are extremely overpriced compared to many of their competitors. I don't know if their quality is any better, but for double the price of many other brands, I can't give this product a full five stars with a clean conscience.

For those of us who have a hard time with digesting proteins, especially meats and chicken, this is a great product. There are many digestive products on the market, some more generic for general digestive help. This one is specifically for the digestion of protein foods, especially meats. Without it, the meal can just sit in the upper stomach, causing stomach upset, with gas and reflux. A few of these with such a meal can make all the difference, allowing your food to just break down and keep moving. A lifesaver, really. It is increasingly hard to find these over the counter nowadays. Used to get mine at Whole Foods, but they discontinued it. So glad they have it at Amazon. It's a great product and so convenient. Came the next day after ordering. Very pleased.