[neilep (OP)]

Dear Tummyologists,

Here's a stomach !


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Nice eh ?...hmmmm...looks like it needs filling !!


I was wondering.....Hydrochloric Acid is pretty strong stuff eh ?.....so, doesn't it literally obliterate everything it comes into contact with ?....Is this acid also carried down into the intestines ?...or is it secreted from there too ? Doesn't the strength of the acid destroy the goodness of drugs and food ?

Also, how is the Hydrochloric acid produced ?...is it produced  "on demand" or is it also stored in some gastric acid reservoir.....?


I think it must be produced to order yes ?

Thank Ewe

Neil
Gastric Juice Investigator

[opus]

With pills it's all to do with the ability of the outside coating to withstand the effect of the acid. The coating is designed to dissolve in a target area of the digestive tract- as I understand it. - or am I talking out of the end of mine....

[neilep (OP)]

With pills it's all to do with the ability of the outside coating to withstand the effect of the acid. The coating is designed to dissolve in a target area of the digestive tract- as I understand it. - or am I talking out of the end of mine....

[]...no no !!....you're not talking out of yours.....I think you've made an excellent point here....

I can see now why some drugs are stored in capsules then...but I assume this does not apply to tablets.....unless the drug is in fact inside the tablet..........hmmmm...not too sure about this because I have taken many times half-tablets and there is no obvious layering there ... !

THANK YOU for your wonderful post Opus

[opus]

You're very welcome neilep- yes I think tablets like plain aspirin and paracetamol are designed to be absorbed from the stomach, so they don't need coating.
      Why are there no tablets in the jungle? Coz the paracetamol !

[Bored chemist]

Some things that would be really useful drugs would be destroyed in the stomach. Some of them are given by injection (this also avoids some metabolism by the liver) some are coated with materials that only dissolve later in the lower gut where there's less acid.