Summary:
In this video blog I discuss the use of proton pump inhibitors. A recent study has found why people stay on these drugs for long term use instead of the 6-8 week suggested use. They call it “acid rebound phenomenon”? What is acid rebound phenomenon? What does it to your body? What can you do naturally to help with heartburn? Turn in and find out the answer to these questions and more…

Full Script:
For some time now I have been speaking up about the continued use of the medications prescribed for acid reflux. These medications, called proton pump inhibitors are one of the most commonly prescribed pharmaceuticals on the market. I have many times said that the problem with these meds is that people stay on them long term when if fact they are only meant for a period of six to eight weeks.

Recently results of a study may have revealed the reason why people remain on these drugs long term, something I had suspected for some time now. It seems that these proton pump inhibitors cause what is called an acid rebound phenomenon in the two to three weeks after discontinuing. What this means is when people try to get off the medications they get an increase in gastric acid secretion well above normal which leads to symptoms such as heartburn, acid regurgitation and dyspepsia. This increase in symptoms then results in a resumption of therapy with the medication.

In other words, these meds cause a vicious cycle of acid secretion and heartburn symptoms. This occurred not only in those having symptoms to begin with, but those participants of the study that had no prior history of upper gastric disorders. Interestingly most people who are put on these medications do not need their acid levels turned off, but instead need a good digestive enzyme supplement containing hydrochloric acid ( HCI ). It is much more common to have a low stomach acid level, which mirrors the symptoms of too much acid, such as heartburn and reflux.

If only the Heidelberg Acid test was more readily available around the country, one could truly know if they are producing too much acid in the stomach or in fact have too little. This test involves swallowing a capsule that relays information back to a computer on the amount of acidity within the stomach. Until the time this test is available in your area, try taking a digestive enzyme with HCI (hydrochloric acid) like the Renew Life’s Heartburn Prevention formula. You might be able to avoid the vicious cycle of masking acid reflux symptoms with medication only to experience worse symptoms after discontinuing them.

Thanks again for watching, check back for more of my video blogs

If you are in the United States and you eat anything at all purchased from a supermarket you are most likely aware of current food scares.  These scares involve food contaminated with harmful bacteria such as E.coli and salmonella.  We have had many in the past year involving foods such as ground beef, jalapeno peppers, tomatoes, peanuts, pistachios and white pepper.

These are frightening events seeing as in 2008 an estimated 325,000 Americans were hospitalized and more than 5,000 people died from tainted food.  Unfortunately the Food and Drug Administration currently has the resources to only inspect less than one percent of the food imported into the United States.  No wonder consumer confidence is falling. There is hope on the horizon for food safety.  A bill is currently in the House of Representatives that will give the FDA more power and funding to implement better safety standards, establish a better inspection program, and allow easier tracking of tainted food products.

In the meantime one of the best ways to protect yourself and your family from pathogenic bacteria on food is to take a daily probiotic supplement.  Probiotics, or your good bacteria, found in the digestive tract have the ability to produce substances that kill bad bacteria eaten on food.  These probiotics also crowd out the digestive tract and consume all the food source that bad bacteria would need in order to survive – ReNew Life’s Ultimate Flora Adult Formula Probiotic Supplement can help.

Another means of protection against food-bourne illness is a digestive enzyme formula containing hydrochloric acid, like Renew Life’s ParaZyme.  This acid is what is normally found in a healthy stomach when we eat.  Unfortunately lots of people, as they age and for other reasons, are lacking in this very important substance.  One of the most notable functions of our stomach acid is the natural sterilization for our food.  Without proper stomach acid you are more susceptible to bacteria and parasitic infections.

So protect your family and always have a probiotic and enzyme formula available.

My assistant recently returned from the latest Institute for Functional Medicine conference in southern Florida. For those not familiar with Functional Medicine it is a personalized medicine that deals with primary prevention and underlying causes instead of symptoms for serious chronic disease. In other words, they teach Medical Doctors as well as all other specialties how to evaluate a person to get to the route of a problem or disease and treating the cause verses just treating the symptoms.

A big part of Functional Medicine includes the use of nutraceuticals in treatment.

This year’s conference centered on Mood Disorders, including depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder as well as touching base on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Amazingly, one of the focuses of the lectures was the gut-brain connection in relation to mood disorders. More specifically, how reactions of our immune system and gut inflammation can directly affect our brain.

Remember that most of our immune system is in our gut.

Without getting too technical, the same type of cells and neurotransmitters found in our brain are also located within the digestive system. The development of an infection or inflammation anywhere in the body will set the immune system in action. Again, most of this reaction takes place first within the immune system of the digestive tract. Our immune system responds by the reaction of proteins called cytokines. These cytokines tell our body what type of reaction to have, such as swelling, stiffness, pain etc…It has now been shown that these cytokines will travel a very unique pathway and arrive at the brain, setting into motion a chemical reaction that results in the breakdown of the neurotransmitters involved in mood stability and inflammation within the brain itself.

Once this brain inflammation develops, it can remain for months even though the initial problem in the other part of our body gets resolved. This brain reaction can result in symptoms such as brain fog, memory problems, depression and anxiety. In addition, the influx of these cytokines to the brain can disrupt the lining of the brain called the blood-brain-barrier, causing what they now call “Leaky Brain” syndrome, making the brain more susceptible to other agents that do not normally pass this barrier. This is very similar indeed to what we know as Leaky Gut syndrome.

The more inflammation and irritation of the gut lining, as in Leaky Gut, will in turn send more of the cytokines to the brain, resulting in more inflammation and irritation there. In reverse, they are now seeing that healing the gut, reducing inflammation and supporting the immune system with the proper nutraceuticals can in turn reduce depression, anxiety and even reduce some symptoms associated with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

All the more reason to take precautionary measures by supporting your immune system with probiotics, as well as your vitamins and minerals. Taking a glutamine supplement such as IntestiNew will help keep your intestinal tract healthy, reduce inflammation and defer the development of leaky gut.

It is funny that years ago scientists and doctors treated the brain and mood disorders as a total separate entity from the rest of the body. It is nice to see that they now realize the brain is connected to the body, through something called the neck!

In this video blog I discuss a new study from Columbia University that looked at CT scans of over 1,700 persons and found that those who grew up with smokers had more “emphysema-like” holes in their lung tissue. Why is smoking so addictive? What are you exposed to when you light up? Why can’t you stop? I answer these and more in this video.

I was recently looking around the CNN.com web site and read an article by Dr. Sanjay Gupta about dealing with economic stress and the effect it has on your body.  Dr. Gupta was right on the money (no pun intended) when, in his article, he mentions that stress has a huge impact on your body.  He goes on to say how stress can cause not only headaches, but also an impaired immune system and even digestive complaints.

I fully agree with that, especially about the digestive system being affected by stress.  And when the digestive system is compromised it affects the body as a whole and can lead to many other complaints around the body. Take myself as an example — when I get stressed, I tend to get constipated.  When this happens, I find myself more susceptible to getting colds or the flu or just headaches and fatigue, not to mention that my skin tends to break out.

Dr. Gupta gives some stress busting tips like laugh more, meditate and plan a budget. What he does not mention is how very important it is, especially during these times of economic stress, to take extra prevention with your health, particularly the digestive system.

A strong digestive system is your foundation to health. That means not only try to make better food choices, but if you can afford, take a few supplements as well.  The best supplements to help keep your digestive system strong and functioning properly during stress are fiber, at 35 grams per day, digestive enzymes with every meal, 2 grams of omega-3 oils daily, and at least a 50 billion culture count of probiotics daily. See, there’s HOPE for us all! Just adding these simple items can help protect your body from the debilitating effects of these stressful times.

A recent study conducted at the VA Medical Center in Houston analyzed more than 900 employees to determine the “onset, frequency and severity” of GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease) symptoms, including heartburn. The goal of the study was to find out if those symptoms were affected by diet, and whether or not a change in diet may help relieve suffering and prevent the recurrence of the disease. Results indicated that eating high amounts of dietary fat was associated with a greater risk of heartburn (indigestion) and GERD, but that a diet high in fiber was directly related to a reduced risk of heartburn and GERD.

Read more detailed information of the study by visiting: http://gut.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/54/1/11#BIBL

Almost everyone recovering from a heart attack, heart or stent surgery is prescribed Plavix. Its benefits in reducing blood clots and therefore further heart problems appear to be significant. However, it can irritate patient’s stomachs and so it has become common practice to almost automatically give Plavix patients a proton pump inhibitor such as Prilosec. In a study just published in the prestigious medical journal – JAMA, Dr. Michael Ho scrutinized 8,200 patient records and identified that the addition of Prilosec increased the risk of a return to hospital for heart problems during the next 18 months by 25%.

Leading Doctors including Dr. Steven Nissen of Cleveland Clinic, a candidate for the role of FDA Commissioner are now saying that there should be no automatic prescription of Prilosec with Plavix and that patients should seek alternative medications to solve their stomach problems.

See http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101386673

Take this advice an important step further:

People on Plavix should look outside the aisles of drugstores that are overloaded with heartburn and stomach acid medications. Not only do these drugs now appear to increase heart risk, but they do not get to the root of the problem of heartburn and acid reflux. Instead, nature has provided us with real solutions in the forms of digestive enzymes. These enzymes are now available in health food stores and online, for example, at http://www.renewlife.com/category/enzymes.aspx