You've finished dinner, and now you're regretting it. There's the heaviness under your ribs, the bloating, perhaps a burn or a wave of nausea. Indigestion, or dyspepsia if you'd like the proper word, is your body telling you that something isn't sitting right.
It's about as ordinary as complaints get. Across 100 populations and 312,415 people, about one in five had indigestion, though the figure ran from under 2% to 57% depending on the country and on how it was defined. It was more common in women, in smokers and in those taking anti-inflammatory painkillers.
You probably know the usual suggestions by now: ginger, peppermint, chamomile, fennel, a spoonful of vinegar. Indigestion? Your Stomach May Need More Acid, Not Less, linked below, goes through those five. So here are nine you may not have tried, and the question that matters for each one: has anyone tested it?
A few surprises are coming, including one remedy that gets blamed for causing the very problem it may ease.
Before you reach for anything
These can ease a bad spell. They won't change why it's happening. If you need something after every meal, the remedy is only keeping you comfortable while the cause carries on.
Plants also carry substances that disturb digestion. Fibre is the part our own enzymes can't break down. The fermenting sugars in onions, wheat and beans make gas. And some plants defend themselves more aggressively, as raw kidney beans do.
So taking them out comes first. In a trial with 105 people with indigestion, about two-thirds improved on a diet low in those fermenting sugars. Overall that wasn't clearly better than standard dietary advice, but for those whose main trouble was fullness or bloating, it was.
So start with the plate, because that's where it often sits. Simple meals of meat, fish and eggs, eaten slowly and in smaller amounts, with your drinks kept away from the table, ask less of your stomach. Indigestion? Your Stomach May Need More Acid has why, and it also has the possibility that your stomach is making too little acid and not too much.
Salt your food, too, with good-quality unrefined salt and nothing added. Salt gives you sodium and chloride, both electrolytes, and the chloride half is what your stomach uses to make its acid. Why "Drink More Water" Is Incomplete Advice has how that works, and which salt to buy. No trial of salt for indigestion turned up, so that part is good sense rather than proof, and go carefully if you've been told to watch your blood pressure, your heart or your kidneys.
Then, if you still need some help, here's what's been tested.
1. Artichoke leaf
Artichoke has the best trial behind it. In a test with 244 people with indigestion, those taking artichoke leaf extract for six weeks improved more than those on a dummy, both in their symptoms and in their quality of life. The dummy group improved too, which is common with indigestion, so the gap is what counts.
If you want to try it, is the leaf extract in capsules.
Verdict. A fair result. Note that it's the leaf extract that was tested, not the artichoke on your plate, lovely as that may be.
2. Red pepper
Here's the surprise. Chilli is on most lists of things to avoid, and in this small trial, 30 people with indigestion, but without reflux or an irritable bowel, took red pepper powder before meals for five weeks or a dummy. The difference only showed from the third week. By the end, symptoms had fallen by about 60% on the pepper, against less than 30% on the dummy. Not bad for the usual suspect.
The likely reason is that capsaicin, the heat in chilli, wears out the pain-sensing nerves in the stomach over time. It's only one small trial, and if you have reflux, it wasn't tested on you.
Verdict. Intriguing, and small. If you like your food hot, this may be good news. If chilli clearly makes you worse, believe your stomach.
3. Turmeric
In a trial in Thailand with 206 people, curcumin from turmeric did about as well as omeprazole, a common acid-blocking drug, after four weeks and after eight. Taking both was no better than either alone. There was no dummy group in that one, and many of the volunteers dropped out, but a large review of herbal remedies also rates turmeric as probably helpful for indigestion.
There's a catch on the capsules. Five Herbs That Support Liver Function — and the Specific Mechanisms Behind Each One has the cases of liver injury tied to turmeric capsules. The spice in your cooking is a different thing altogether.
Verdict. Better evidence than you'd guess, but go carefully with the concentrated form.
4. Liquorice
A special extract of liquorice, with a trade name of GutGard, beat a dummy at 15 and 30 days in people with indigestion. It's a single trial, using one company's extract.
Liquorice sweets are not the same thing, and liquorice in its whole form can push blood pressure up. Acid Reflux: Why It Keeps Coming Back, and What Settles It, linked below, has the safer form.
Verdict. Promising but thin, and not one to take freely with high blood pressure.
5. Black seed with honey
Black seed, Nigella sativa, has a long history in Persian medicine. In a trial with 70 people, adding a honey-based black seed preparation to the usual acid-blocking treatment for eight weeks improved symptoms more than a dummy did. So it was tested as an extra, and not as a replacement, and honey is sugar, so this isn't one for every day.
Verdict. Worth knowing about, and far from proven.
6. Papaya
Papaya contains papain, an enzyme that breaks down protein. It's the same enzyme that goes into commercial meat tenderisers, which is a neat picture of what it's supposed to do in your stomach. In a dummy-controlled trial of a fermented papaya preparation over 40 days, constipation and bloating improved, and heartburn fell short. The benefits were gone again after the preparation stopped.
It's a sweet fruit, so it isn't something to build on. It's a pass for a bloated spell at most.
Verdict. Some help with bloating, and only while you're taking it.
7. Chewing gum
This one has the bonus of being very nearly free. When 31 people with reflux symptoms ate a meal designed to bring it on, chewing sugar-free gum for half an hour afterwards cut the time acid spent in the gullet from a median of 5.7% to 3.6%. The idea is that you swallow more, and that clears the acid. Your grandmother would still tell you to stop chewing.
The test was small, and it was for reflux and not for heaviness. Check the sweeteners while you're at it, since some of them can cause bloating of their own.
is sugar-free and uses xylitol, so see how your stomach takes it.
Verdict. Simple and cheap for after-dinner burning.
8. Bitters
A few drops of something bitter before a meal is an old habit. The idea is that bitter taste wakes the digestive system up. Lab work on gentian and wormwood suggests that the taste does prompt the body to get ready for food, and that fits what's known about the early stage of digestion. But a good trial for indigestion didn't turn up.
The most famous of them began in an army. Johann Siegert, a German in charge of medicine for Simón Bolívar's forces in Venezuela, developed a tonic based on gentian, and began selling it in 1824 from the town of Angostura. It's still sold today, mostly for cocktails, and it doesn't contain angostura bark. It has travelled a long way from the battlefield.
For a version without the cocktail, there are .
Verdict. Plausible and pleasant, and unproven. Many bitters are also strong alcohol, so watch that.
9. Baking soda
Fizzy cures for the stomach have a colourful past. Bromo-Seltzer, invented in 1888, was sold for heartburn and upset stomachs, and its maker's Baltimore factory had a clock tower with the brand name spelled out around the faces. It originally contained sodium bromide and acetanilide, both toxic, which were eventually taken out. Its sedative effect probably helped make it popular for hangovers.
Plain baking soda is the one that really does work quickly, and the one that needs care. It neutralises stomach acid, and in doing so, it makes salt, water and carbon dioxide. If you ever made a school volcano, you know where this is going.
That gas is the problem. Stomach ruptures are rare, but a review of 36 reported cases in adults linked 10 of them to baking soda, often after a very large meal. So never take it on an overfull stomach. It's also a lot of sodium, so it's not for you if you've been told to watch your blood pressure, your heart or your kidneys.
It's also the wrong tool if your problem is too little acid, because it takes away what you're short of.
Verdict. Works for an occasional burn. It isn't a habit, and never after a huge meal.
One more, for the curious
One small trial is worth a mention. In 21 people with indigestion and constipation, 15 days of drinking carbonated water lowered indigestion scores, while tap water didn't. That's too small to rely on, but it's cheap to try. Keep it between meals, as Indigestion? Your Stomach May Need More Acid suggests, and not at the table.
Which one for what?
For an after-dinner burn, try the gum, and keep baking soda for the odd bad night. For heaviness and fullness that keep coming back, artichoke leaf has the best trial, and turmeric in your cooking is an easy start. If you like hot food and don't get reflux, red pepper is worth a go. For a bloated spell, papaya may help for as long as you take it.
Give each one a fair wait. Gum and baking soda work the same day. Red pepper only showed a difference from the third week, and the turmeric and artichoke trials ran for four to six weeks. So don't give up on a capsule after two days, and don't stay on one for months if nothing has changed.
Where you can, start in the kitchen. Red pepper and turmeric both suit meat, fish and eggs, so you'll know within a meal or two whether your stomach minds. The trials used concentrated forms, so this is a gentler test, not the same thing.
Two to leave on the shelf
Aloe vera juice. You'll often see it recommended for the stomach. What to Drink Instead of Plain Water — and What the Popular Alternatives Do to Your Body has its history as a laxative, and why it's a poor bet.
Probiotic capsules. A review of five trials found a modest benefit for indigestion at best. Foods That Upset Your Gut: What's Real and What's Personal has why the bacteria in capsules rarely stay.
How much of this can you trust?
Less than the labels suggest. A large review in 2023 went through 41 trials of 27 herbal medicines for indigestion, with 4,477 people. It found some that may help, with evidence running from moderate to very low certainty, and it called for better trials. The best result in that review went to one of the familiar pairs, peppermint and caraway oil, and Indigestion? Your Stomach May Need More Acid has that trial. Sometimes the well-known remedy is well known for a reason.
So treat each one here as worth a fair try, and stop if it doesn't help.
Try them singly, or you won't know what's working. And a warning for any of them: check them against your medicines first, and take extra care in pregnancy. If you have gallstones or a known ulcer, check before you try artichoke, bitters or red pepper. These trials were in adults, so don't try the capsules or baking soda on children. A child with repeated tummy pain needs a proper check.
Supplements vary from bottle to bottle, so look for a brand that has its products tested by an outside laboratory, and treat big promises on the label as a warning. A label that claims to cure you is telling you something about the seller.
When to get it checked
If it keeps returning, have it looked at. Indigestion? Your Stomach May Need More Acid has the signs that shouldn't wait, among them unexplained weight loss, trouble swallowing, repeated vomiting, and any sign of blood. Chest pain that spreads to your arm or jaw is an emergency, and it isn't a job for anything in this article.
Listen to it
A remedy can quieten the message, but it can't answer it. So use these for the bad days, and keep looking at what came before them.
Tonight, note what you ate, how fast you ate it and how you felt an hour later. Do the same tomorrow, and you'll already know more than most remedies can tell you.
Want the familiar five, and what to change on your plate? Indigestion? Your Stomach May Need More Acid, Not Less — low acid, simple meals, ginger, peppermint, chamomile, vinegar and fennel.
Is it burning more than it's heavy? Acid Reflux: Why It Keeps Coming Back, and What Settles It — what's happening when it burns, and when heartburn needs checking.
Know someone who eats antacids like sweets? Send them this, and ask them what they had for dinner.
Disclaimer: This article is general information. For advice about your own health, talk to a qualified health professional. Check any remedy against your medicines before you take it.
Affiliate Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, All For Life earns from qualifying purchases, at no extra cost to you. We only link to products we would recommend without the commission.
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