Inhibiting the production of stomach acid may not be the best way to treat gastritis.
Excess stomach acid is often linked to the symptoms of gastritis - inflammation of the stomach, marked by a burning pain. It may seem obvious that production of stomach acid should be stopped and there's a wide range of medicines and home remedies that do just this.

But researchers at the University of Michigan now suggest that inhibiting stomach acid might actually make gastritis worse. They have carried out experiments in mice that show how bacterial infections get worse when acid production is cut off. This is because the excess acid production is part of the stomach's natural defence against infection - even though it may make you feel bad. The only organism that's an exception to this - and was not studied in these experiments - is Helicobacter pylori - which actually thrives in stomach acid.

These experiments suggest that antibiotic treatment may be the only sure way of getting rid of an attack of gastritis. It's important that such attacks are dealt with, as otherwise they can lead to painful stomach ulcers and even gastric cancer.