PPIs – Flawed Logic

Just say no to drugs…

The Journal of Patient Safety reports 400,000 deaths annually from properly prescribed medications. 66% of Americans are now on prescription medications and the average American takes four different medications daily. At my age (75) most are taking 7-9 prescription medications daily. Add to this that doctors receive only two hours of nutrition training in medical school, and you begin to have an inkling: We are a nation of pills and our doctors no longer cure anything. The business model of modern western medicine is one of treating symptoms, rather than making the underlying cause go away. Consequently, many prescriptions are meant (by Big Pharma) to be taken daily for the rest of your life. So doctors write prescriptions for whatever makes them money and your health is not their greatest concern.

And what’s worse is that several of the lifetime prescription drugs, such as NSAIDs and PPIs are only approved for short-term use, two weeks. And of course, NSAIDs no longer require a prescription, as is the case for Tylenol, which is worse for your liver than drinking a fifth of gin every day. The one common denominator of all these pills is that none of them are natural and in fact, most of them fly in the face of nature and natural healing. They diminish your terrain, your gut microbiome, your zeta potential*, and the natural balance of your hormones.

* Zeta Potential is a significant key to health and longevity. and the subject for an upcoming article.

Nearly everyone has experienced heartburn, or GERD. Acid in your stomach crawls up your esophagus and yikes, where’s the Rolaids? It may surprise you to know that the principle cause of Gerd is insufficient acid, not excess acid. This misconception is driven by the fact that antacids, including PPI’s, make the irritating symptoms disappear by quenching the acid in your throat and mouth. Obviously, Rolaids was the answer. But let’s take a look at the fatal flaw in this logic and what else is down the road when we suppress stomach acid. Reducing acidity 24/7 with PPIs is suggesting that perhaps God had no idea how to create us, that He did it wrong; He didn’t.

Acid is needed to breakdown protein bonds in order to release many vitamins and coenzymes, to partially disassemble proteins to allow the enzymes in the small intestine to properly process them. When your stomach is operating properly, additional acid is produced in the stomach in response to food. When stomach pH is in the proper range for digestion (~1.0 to 1.7) the lower esophageal sphincter (LES) closes preventing acid reflux. Thus reflux can only occur in a condition of insufficient acidity. Reducing the acidity of the stomach will harm the digestive process leading to insufficient nutrient absorption as well as insufficient purification and removal of toxins. Our stomachs are designed to be a frighteningly acidic environment for the dual purpose of properly breaking down food for digestion and eliminating certain foreign substances such as parasites. Stomach acid can take the chrome off a trailer hitch in minutes. For reference, the muriatic acid that some of you add to your swimming pool, taking great care not to get it on your skin, is around 3.5, and the pH scale is logarithmic. Hence 1.0 is 500X the acidity of 3.5.

Reduced stomach acidity is associated with a plethora of health abnormalities. Many food intolerances are the result of the stomach not properly preparing the troublesome items, allowing substances that your intestines can’t process to enter there. PPI usage is associated with significant reductions in health and increased mortality, especially in hospitals. It may be theorized that hospitals are a giant germ repository, and that insufficient stomach acid will fail to eliminate many of these invaders. Studies have shown significantly higher mortality among long term PPI users.

Among maladies associated with low stomach acid are acne rosacea, Addison’s Disease, Allergies, Celiac Disease, Asthma, Autoimmune Hepatitis, Type 1 Diabetes, Eczema, Graves Disease, Lupus, MS, Myasthenia Gravis, Pernicious Anemia, Polymyalgia Rheumatica, Reynoud’s Syndrome, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Scleroderma, Ulcerative Colitis, Vitiligo, accelerated aging, Depression, gallstones, hay fever, Macular Degeneration, migraines, Osteoporosis, xtomach cancer, SIBO and GERD.

Further complicating things, many medications, particularly ones used to relax muscles like the bronchodilators used to “treat” asthma, certain blood pressure medications (e.g., calcium channel blockers) along with valium, nitroglycerine, and opioids, all relax the LES, sometimes creating a revolving door where your asthma inhaler promotes GERD, and the PPIs for your GERD stimulate asthma.

In addition to the harms listed previously such as impaired nutrient absorption or an 80% increase in stomach cancer, PPI use has now been linked to: increased all-cause mortality of 19%, a 28% increase in risk of a major cardiac event, a 74% increase in severe kidney disease, a significant worsening of existing liver disease, Osteoporosis, a 37% increased risk of community acquired pneumonia, a major contributor to hospital mortality, and low magnesium levels, magnesium being critical to over 300 metabolic functions.

If you’re a heartburn sufferer, try reducing or eliminating alcohol, and instead of an antacid after dinner, try an acid supplement with your meal.

Now comes the confusing part: bicarbonate, the ingredient in Rolaids, is actually good for you. It’s one of those things we didn’t used to need, because our food supply gave us everything we were supposed to have but doesn’t anymore. A quarter to a half teaspoon of baking soda (much cheaper than Tums or Rolaids) taken between meals can be surprisingly beneficial, especially if your blood pressure runs high. I’ve had clients report significant reductions in BP after as little as three days. The benefit does not come from reducing stomach acidity, because the acid factory in your gut will make more at mealtime; it results from a raising of systemic pH, a significant factor in zeta potential, a topic I’m writing about for an upcoming article.