Country Life Betaine Hydrochloride with pepsin 600 mg - 250 Tablets

This is a great product at a great price! I have been using Country Life Betaine HCL for years--as I suffer from reduced HCL production. So in addition to my prebiotics/probiotics and digestive enzymes, whenever I have a protein meal, I usually try to take one tablet of Betaine HCL with my meal as it does aid my digestion (the bottle says to take two, but two is too much for me). I can actually feel the difference once I take the tablet. Mind you, my protein intake is about 5 ounces of fish or meat (I can't digest chicken that well) per day (but not every day), so I am not eating a lot of protein, per say. The digestive enzymes that I take also include protease to breakdown the protein, but the HCL provides an additional boost to my ability to break down the protein into amino acids. Anyway, my amino acid profile is pretty good according to my labs, and I think that this product as well as the digestive enzymes have helped. Once of the reasons that this is a well-rounded product is that in addition to Betaine (912 mg), it also contains Pepsin (36 mg), Papain (10 mg), Bromelain (10 mg) and Calcium (103 mg). Actually, I'm not really sure why the calcium is included (calcium carbonate) because it's not listed as a filler. It's actually a substantial amount. I would drop the calcium carbonate, if I were the manufacturer. The rest of the stuff is awesome digestive power!

Having been using this product for about a year now. Good price for the amount you get. No issues otherwise.

I have been using this Betaine HCI with pepsin for 15 to 20 years since I first read about it in an alternative medicine newsletter. I take it as the last supplement in the evening when finishing dinner. It provides the necessary digestive support that prevents heartburn and acid reflux. The reason I wait to take it until the end of my meal is so that my own stomach acid can have a chance to work before the HCI kicks in. Most doctors will try to push a prescription pill on you to reduce stomach acid if you suffer from heartburn and/or acid reflux. However, the problem (for most of us) is not that we have too much stomach acid, but that we don't have enough. As we get older, we produce less stomach acid, and that reduces our ability to digest our food as nature intended. When we don't digest our food, it cause indigestion, heartburn and acid reflux. I take HCI with dinner, but you may find that you need it with other meals as well. During the 15 to 20 years I've been taking HCI with pepsin, I have not had heartburn more than 5 or 6 times. It is usually difficult to tell if a supplement is actually doing anything for you, but it doesn't take long to see that Betaine HCI with pepsin works. This is one supplement I would not be without.

I don't know the chemistry, nor have any health officials recommended this for me. However, it does work for me. I've had acid reflux all my life. It's hereditary. I even get it on an empty stomach if I just drink water. I've been on a lot of prescription and OTC medicines. A few years back I had a stomach issue that felt like I wasn't able to digest meat well. I did a little research online and someone suggested because I was eating red meat so infrequently and only eating healthy, lean foods, that my digestion didn't know what to do with it. They suggested using Betaine HCL. I found some at the local store and started taking it. Within a day, it had worked. I took it for a couple weeks and was able to ween myself off of it. Fast-forward several years and I started having similar symptoms, though my diet was much worse and my acid reflux had been controlled very well. I started taking this again and it helped right away. I stopped taking it after a week or so. I don't know if I suffer from chronic "low-acid" stomach because of the meds I take and if that causes my upset stomach. I don't know how this product works, if it really increases stomach acid and I can't prove it does anything at all...except make me feel better. It seems like this product may provide temporary increased stomach acid to help digest food. And then my normal meds keep my stomach acid lower when I haven't eaten to help prevent ulcerating my esophagus, etc. I do not think it is a simple psychosomatic cure, but I'm also uncertain how exactly it is helping. Bottom line, if you're having issues, ask your Dr. If they tell you to give it a try, go for it.

I bought this as an experiment to conform a suspicion about my body. At the age of 36, I was noticing that I was loosing strength, but I didn't know why. I wasn't recovering from my workouts and always seem to have sore muscles all the time. I couldn't run up the stairs anymore, and my legs seem to be always in pain. I hear a commercial from a company called Maximize Living that specialized in correcting the cause in the body so it can heal itself instead of medicating the symptoms. They had a guy on the show that had the same problem I had but worse and it turned out that he wasn't digesting the proteins he was eating because of low stomach levels. I searched the web to find out if I could purchase something that could increase my stomach acid. I saw the apple cider vinegar solution and even though it did produce positive results, I found it a little impractical, not to mention disgusting. Then I found that you can increase the stomach acid using hydrochloride supplements. I have tried other brands but this one seems to yield the best results for me. My legs don't hurt anymore, and I can run up the stairs again. And I am recovering from my workouts much better. I guess the saying is true, It isn't what you eat, it is what you adsorb that makes a difference.

My husband is taking this product as directed by our primary care doctor, he isn't too pleased to have to take it, however it is doing exactly what it is supposed to do. He is having to take 10 of these pills 3 times a day. before eating, it is only temporary until his stomach acids get back to where they need to be, then he wont need them anymore. He has just recovered from the 2 month candida diet yeast in his gut. That's why it's important to eat a well balanced diet, including vegetables/fruits. He pretty much didn't eat his vegies/only ate some of the fruits. I told him one day he would be forced to eat right/here we are. So he is learning the correct foods to eat/this time around he is trying to make sure he does it right so he doesn't have to go back on the candida diet and I wont have to hear him gripe for 2 months (wow). Anyways he is doing much better and he is now using this product to correct stomach acids. Thanks for supplying us with such a good product. If he needs more of these we will absolutely order from this seller again.

This pill in my view is dangerous or just useless. Made me bloat like a pregnant girl and made me highly aggressive. 2 pills with each major meal with protein? Dangerous and excessive. Try one with each when you’re eating stuff you actually need the pill for: this is highly important. You don’t need these pills if you’re just having a salad. Heavy proteins yes, particularly if you have Hypochlorhydria or big signs of it, Still, if it makes you bloat and feel nauseous, naturally stop. These were banned from over the counter a few years back for a reason. There is no proof they do anything. Well, they do one thing on my end : make me bloat and nauseous. Honestly, the worst money I have spent in recent memory besides American made unisex beanies. Do your research and always and ask loads of questions. Also, be extremely careful. Good luck.

I was so disappointed when I saw that this had Porcine in it. I'm an avid vegan and I try to be very careful about not consuming animal products. I was shocked to see that you say this product is Vegan Friendly when in fact it's Not. Just keep it real with folks. I gave you 3 stars for the price, but I'm a nice person.