Achlorhydria refers to the
medical condition in which there is no hydrochloric acid in the stomach. This can be for several reasons, either a
congenital abnormality that prevents production, stomach cancer, or pernicious anaemia. Stomach acid is important as it helps the body to absorb several
minerals and
vitamins, most importantly vitamin B-12.
Symptoms may include:
Symptoms usually get worse with age.
When acholorhydria is caused by a genetic trait, this trait is dominant, and so suffers usually have a 50% chance of passing the defect on to their offspring(unless they are homozygous). Serious achlorhydria is very rare, but more mild cases, that cause no symptoms affect perhaps one in twenty of the population.