Got heartburn? GERD? Listen up! This isn’t new news, but it’s news I think everyone should know: Using proton pump inhibitors (commonly known as PPIs) for extended periods of time could make you more likely to suffer osteoporosis-related bone fractures.

Why do I think this is so important? Because folks, PPIs are the third-highest-selling class of drugs on the market today, and one of the most popular PPIs—Nexium® (you know, the little purple pill)—has the second-highest retail sales among all drugs sold in the U.S. That means there’s a good chance that you or someone you know is taking one. So let’s review:

What is a PPI? A PPI is a drug that blocks the production of the enzyme in the stomach that produces acid. PPIs are commonly prescribed for the following conditions:

• Ulcers
• Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD, or acid reflux)
• Zollinger-Ellison syndrome (a rare disease that results in the overproduction of gastrin, which releases excess stomach acid)

Do PPIs work? Yes, on the surface they work remarkably well. They reduce stomach acid, which reduces pain almost instantly, but—and I can’t stress this enough—covering up the symptoms does not solve the underlying problem. And even though it’s recommended that PPIs aren’t used for more than 8 to 12 weeks at a time, a lot of people are taking them for much longer, probably because they’re so readily available!

What worries me is that people just don’t know enough about the side effects and complications of using PPIs longer than they should, but there are so many—which brings me back to my point. Research shows that long-term PPI use is linked to an increased risk of osteoporosis-related bone fractures, especially hip, wrist and spine fractures.   

What’s the connection? Simple: Hypochlorhydria (which is just a fancy term for low stomach acid) can decrease calcium absorption, and PPIs create hypochlorhydria in the stomach. This results in reduced calcium absorption, and if the body doesn’t get enough calcium from the diet, where does it take it from? Your bones!

It’s a vicious cycle, but it’s one that can be avoided by taking steps to establish a strong foundation of digestive health. These include eating a high-fiber diet and avoiding heavily processed, high-sugar and high-fat foods, as well as taking daily enzymes, probiotics and beneficial Omega-3 oils. I’ll cover more on the dangers of PPI use in future blogs, so stay tuned. But remember—there are safe and effective natural alternatives to using PPIs, and all it takes is a quick trip to the health food store!

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Acid, antacids, bone, bone fracture, calcium, calcium absorption, diet, Enzymes, gastroesophageal reflux disease, GERD, Heartburn, high-fiber, hip, hypochlorhydria, Omega-3s, osteoporosis, PPI, Probiotics, proton pump inhibitor, spine, Stomach, symptoms, ulcer, wrist

It’s a subject you’ve heard me talk about before, but considering new research it’s definitely worth repeating. A recent CBS news segment revealed that not one but five new studies showed that using acid-blocking drugs called proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) can be potentially dangerous to your health, and that “more than half of prescriptions for these drugs are unnecessary”. Folks, this is an eye-opener if there ever was one!

Every year more than 100 million Americans are prescribed PPIs to help relieve symptoms of heartburn and acid reflux, but what many people don’t know is that these drugs often come with some pretty serious side effects—including a nearly 75 percent greater risk of developing a severe intestinal infection known as C. diff, according to new evidence. Essentially, taking PPIs upsets the healthy bacterial balance in your intestines (which is where the majority of your natural immune defenses can be found), leaving your body vulnerable to illness and infection.

Widespread PPI use has also been linked to higher rates of pneumonia, as well as esophageal candidiasis (yeast overgrowth), inflammation of the stomach lining, increased permeability of upper GI tract lining, and even osteoporosis-related bone fractures due to the fact that PPIs block calcium absorption in the body. Because long-term PPI use also leads to hypochlorhydria (low stomach acid secretion), bacterial overgrowth and acetaldehyde production, PPI users have an increased risk of developing gastric cancer. 

The good news? There are simple things we can do every day to help prevent heartburn and acid reflux without relying on harmful drugs. Diet changes like limiting our intake of caffeine, alcohol, chocolate and fatty or spicy foods can make a big difference, along with maintaining a healthy body weight, getting plenty of exercise and quitting smoking—all pretty good advice if you ask me! Natural supplements made with ingredients such as ellagic acid (from raspberries and pomegranates) can also provide soothing relief for occasional heartburn, and digestive enzymes with added HCl can help ensure complete digestion and reduce the chances of heartburn and acid reflux happening in the first place.

The bottom line is this: why take a potentially dangerous drug when smarter, safer alternatives exist? My hope is that the more people learn about PPIs and their side effects—including why they may not even need them in the first place—the more people will take steps to improve their digestive health naturally.

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acid reflux, alcohol, bacterial, balance, bone fractures, C. diff, caffeine, calcium, candidiasis, chocolate, defenses, digestive, Digestive Health, drugs, ellagic acid, Enzymes, esophageal, fatty, gastric cancer, GI tract, HCl, Heartburn, illness, immune, infection, inflammation, intestines, low stomach acid, natural, osteoporosis, pneumonia, PPIs, proton pump inhibitors, relief, side effects, spicy foods, stomach lining, Supplements, yeast overgrowth

Now I bet just the title of this post had you curious, didn’t it? That’s because poop is fascinating—take it from me! So before you start to chuckle about today’s Health Link, remember that investigating the look and consistency of your stool is one of the best ways to determine how healthy you are overall, so check out the Bristol Stool Chart and today and rate your poop!

Developed by experts at the University of Bristol in England, this helpful chart is an important tool for helping to study intestinal transit time (how long it takes your food to move through your digestive tract and out through your colon) and for learning more about how to keep your digestive system running smoothly.

Some quick tips—if your poop looks like a 3 or 4, you’re probably in good shape. But if you’re closer to a 1 or a 2, there’s a good chance you’re constipated, which means you need to get things moving! On the other hand, if your poops fall into the 5 to 7 range, things are moving too much!

It’s also important to consider how many bowel movements you have each day, and in case you haven’t heard me say it before, you ideally want to have 2 to 3 healthy bowel movements every day. And if you have accompanying symptoms like gas and bloating, or heartburn? There might be an underlying problem you really need to address—so take a little time to learn your poop score and give your digestive system the TLC it deserves!

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bloating, bowel movements, Bristol stool chart, constipated, digestive tract, gas, Heartburn, intestinal transit time, poop, poop quality, stool

Heartburn, indigestion, acid reflux—we’ve all felt that awful burning sensation at one time or another, but chances are we blamed it on something we ate and reached for the nearest antacid. Why? Because for years mainstream doctors have been telling us that symptoms like these are the result of too much stomach acid—when in fact 90 percent of the time they’re wrong! And when was the last time your doctor actually tested you to be sure? Probably never!

This week on the Poop Scoop I’ll be talking with CEO Harry Simmons of Heidelberg Medical, whose work with the Heidelberg pH Diagnostic System has revolutionized the way we look at digestive disorders. Imagine a capsule you can swallow that will travel through your digestive tract and help doctors actually see where the problem is coming from! Today, pH diagnostic testing has become essential to the successful treatment of many digestive disorders, including low stomach acid, gastric ulcers and GERD. I can’t wait to hear all about it from the expert!

Log on and listen to Brenda’s Poop Scoop LIVE every Wednesday from 4-5 pm (EST) right from your computer. Missed an episode? Visit the Episode Directory on my website and listen to past shows from the archive!

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Antacid, Digestive diseases, digestive system, Dyspepsia, gastric ulcers, Gastroenterology, gastroesophageal reflux disease, GERD, Harry Simmons, Heartburn, indigestion, Peptic ulcer

“Renew You” Challenge – Here it comes, the dreaded question… how good is your diet???  No, not your weight loss plan—I mean the food you eat every day!

Most of the time we don’t even think about it, but the truth is that our diets reveal a lot about our overall health. Not only that, but a diet that we think is healthy might actually be anything but. For example, you might eat a wholesome salad with grilled salmon for dinner, but what about the breakfast you skipped or the drive-thru burger you had for lunch? 

Now believe me, I know nobody’s perfect, which is why I recommend becoming a diet detective! Starting today, write down everything you eat and drink for a whole week, and at the end of the week you’ll be able to reevaluate your diet and see what changes you need to make!

Ready to start investigating your eating habits? Here are a few things to consider to help you on your way: 

• Did you eat enough fiber? I recommend 35+ grams daily!
• Are the carbohydrates that you eat complex or refined?
• Did you eat enough protein? How about Omega-3s?
• Did you eat a variety of fruits and vegetables?
• Did you drink at least half your weight in ounces of water each day?
• How many times did you eat something you probably shouldn’t have?

Also, be sure to keep track of any digestive issues you might have—like heartburn, gas and bloating, or even constipation. And write down any changes in your mood or energy level during the day. Do any of these changes seem to be affected by your diet? 

Being a diet detective can tell us a lot of things about our health, so start sleuthing and have fun—I can’t wait to hear your results!

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bloating, Constipation, diet, diet journal, Diets, digestive issues, eating habits, energy level, fiber, food, gas, Heartburn, nutrition

I know too many people who are swallowing antacid pills and potions and even taking prescription drugs on a daily basis, and it got me thinking about stomach acid and pH levels. I recently read an article titled “Too Little Stomach Acid Can Be a Problem Too” by Pharmacist Suzy Cohen. Imagine my surprise—finally someone in mainstream medicine was echoing what we in the natural health field have been saying for years now: most physicians do not test you for pH levels and just assume you have a high stomach acid level, and they hand you a prescription to reduce stomach acid—not what you need!

In reality you likely have a condition known as hypochlorhydria (low stomach acid) and can be setting yourself up for compounded health issues by taking the acid-blocking meds that are commonly prescribed. The article then goes on to say that a simple blood test for gastrin levels can indicate whether or not you have low stomach acid.

Gastrin is a hormone that is produced to stimulate the production of stomach acid.  Because it works on negative feedback, high blood levels of gastrin can indicate that your body is producing too much in an attempt to produce more stomach acid.  This could be one way to test for hypochlorhydria, but a more accurate test would be the Heidelberg capsule test.

I have to say, I was very impressed by the information contained in this article and by Dr. Cohen’s understanding of basic physiology and natural health approaches to this growing problem. Check it out for yourself, or better still, take a copy to your physician and get properly tested before swallowing any more meds.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/health/sfl-suzy-cohen-columnist,0,2948334.columnist

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Achlorhydria, Acid, digestive system, Gastric acid, Gastrin, Gastroenterology, Heartburn, Heidelberg test, hypochlorhydria, indigestion, Stomach, stomach acid, Stomach disease, Suzy Cohen

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

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acid rebound phenomenon, acid reflux, Brenda Watson, gastric disorders, Heartburn, heartburn prevention, Heidelberg acid test, low stomach acid levels, proton pump inhibitors

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

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Digestive Enzymes, digestive system sesitivity, GERD, Heartburn, high fiber diet, renew life

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

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Digestive Enzymes, Heartburn, plavix and prilosec, proton pump inhibitiors and heart risk, stomach acid