Although I tend not to bring this up as dinner party conversation or when I first meet someone, I'm figuring it's safe to admit it here. I really quite enjoy browsing the American Gastroenterology Association website. The what? Let's just say it's a vocation reserved for writers interested in writing about the digestive system.
Having said that, there are no prizes for guessing where I found this 'hot off the press' research information about zinc and gastric acid production.
Apparently, researchers from Connecticut, USA, conducted a series of studies to determine whether zinc chloride (a zinc salt) could help to reduce stomach acidity. In the human arm of their research, they randomised 12 volunteers to receive either zinc chloride, a placebo, or zinc chloride and a proton pump inhibitor (a pharmaceutical medication to suppress stomach acid production). The study results suggested that zinc chloride reduced stomach acidity, and it remained that way for over 3 hours.
The research team suggested that ongoing low-dose zinc effectively inhibited gastric acid secretion, and that zinc may offer “a novel rapid and prolonged therapy to inhibit gastric acid secretion.”
I do think this is an interesting finding indeed! I'm looking forward to more research on the subject.