Why Stomach Acid is Good for You is a book by Dr. Jonathan Wright, Medical Director of the Tahoma Clinic. The book criticizes the flawed science behind the use of acid-suppressing medications and describes what really causes heartburn and gastroesophageal reflux. This post has some notes on studies mentioned in the book.
• Stomach acid secretion actually declines with age.
• Cimetidine interferes with the metabolism of the hormones estradiol and testosterone. In some men, it can cause breast enlargement and sexual dysfunction in men.
• Possible adverse effects of proton pump inhibitors include diarrhea, skin reactions, headache, impotence, breast enlargement, and gout.
• Most reflux events occur during transient LES relaxations and people who have them frequently also have a higher risk of developing reflux esophagitis or worse.
• Above-normal gastrin secretion can potentially lead to gastric adenocarcinoma – a form of stomach cancer.
• Taking a standard 20-mg daily dose of omeprazole typically results in up to a three- to fourfold increase in gastrin levels. Long-term treatment with doses as high as 40 or 60 mg has produced gastrin levels as much as tenfold above normal.
• A study found that 80 percent of a group of patients with chronic iron-deficiency anemia were found to have below normal acid secretion.
• A Swedish study found that an antacid containing aluminum hydroxide, magnesium hydroxide, and magnesium carbonate significantly reduced the absorption of iron supplements by 31 percent to 38 percent.
• A study found that sodium bicarbonate reduced iron absorption by 50 percent and calcium bicarbonate reduced iron absorption by 67 percent.
• When folic acid is given to achlorhydric patients along with HCl, absorption of the vitamin increases by 54 percent.
• A study of patients with severe atrophic gastritis found that more than 50 percent had low vitamin B12.
• A study found that administering Cimetidine to duodenal ulcer patients resulted in significant malabsorption of protein-bound vitamin B12.
• A study of patients with atrophic gastritis and a group taking omeprazole found that significantly less B12 was absorbed by the omeprazole and atrophic gastritis groups, compared with the control group that had normal stomach acid.
• A study involved administering omeprazole to a group of ten healthy men and found that stomach acid levels declined to near-zero, paralleling a dramatic decline in vitamin B12 absorption.
• A study found that cimetidine or famotidine reduced zinc absorption by about 50 percent.
• According to the results of the Age-Related Eye Disease Study, one of the most important risk factors for a subgroup of individuals with “dry” macular degeneration is the use of antacids.
• A study of people who had had part of their stomachs surgically removed (resulting in less acid secretion) found that these patients absorbed less protein than a control group with normal stomachs.
• Studies have shown that a large reduction in plasma tryptophan levels can result in depression, especially if the individual is prone to depression due to genetic makeup or family history.
• Elderly people who have elevated stomach pH values and who regularly consume diets that are high in fiber and phytate and low in animal protein may be at risk of suffering from mineral impairment.
• In a 1970 cholera outbreak in Israel, sixteen of the twenty-five patients had no free stomach acid at all and a mean pH of 6.4. Those people with the least stomach acid (achlorhydria) had the most severe cholera.
• A study of thirty-seven Bangladeshis with cholera found that sixteen had deficient stomach acid. When researchers sampled gastric juice from these sixteen people and put these samples into test-tubes with the cholera-causing bacteria, they failed to kill the bug.
• A study showed that healthy human volunteers increased their risk of cholera infection by first taking a dose of sodium bicarbonate.
• A study gave acid suppressing medication to one group of patients on mechanical ventilation and sucralfate to a second group that was also on ventilation. The rate of pneumonia was twice as high in the acid suppressor/neutralizer group as in the sucralfate group. The acid-suppressed people were also 60 percent more likely to die from pneumonia.
• A study found that eleven of thirty patients with GERD developed bacterial overgrowth when taking omeprazole, compared with only one of ten GERD patients in the control group.
• Large epidemiologic studies in Europe and the United States found that Helicobacter pylori infection increases the risk of gastric carcinoma by 600 percent and is responsible for 50 percent of all cases of adenocarcinoma.
• Several studies have shown that gastritis and epithelial lesions in the body of the stomach increases when people infected with Helicobacter pylori take omeprazole or other acid-suppressing drugs.
• A study in Sweden and the USA found that there was twice the expected rate of gastric cancer in people who had gastric ulcers but 40 percent less than expected in those with duodenal ulcers.
• Excess ECL cell growth (known has hyperplasia) has been observed in people taking omeprazole.
• When people take omeprazole for up to five years, examination has revealed a positive correlation between precancerous changes in the stomach lining and the degree of atrophic gastritis.
• A study in Denmark fond that people with the most severe atrophic gastritis had a four- to sixfold increased risk of developing gastric cancer.
• In a study of people taking cimetidine for peptic ulcers, a 73 percent reduction in basal acid secretion resulted in statistically significant increases in nitrites and nitrosamines, suggesting the presence of a prolonged carcinogenic stimulus.
• A study in Italy found that intravenous injections of high doses of vitamin B12 led to a complete cessation of wheezing in 83 percent of patients with asthma within fifteen to twenty days.
• Compared with healthy people, those with asthma have significantly more reflux episodes and more acid-induced irritation of their esophageal lining.
• A study using a high dose of omeprazole in thirty-six people with GERD and asthma found no beneficial effect on any measure of pulmonary function.
• Cow’s milk is a cause of gastroesophageal reflux in infants and can also cause some infants to develop type 1 diabetes.
• A study in Finland found severely impaired gastric acid secretion in eight out of eight cow’s milk-intolerant infants. After the infants were switched to human milk, their gastric function eventually returned to normal.
• A review of ten studies found that people with rheumatoid arthritis were five times more likely to have achlorhydria than normal controls.
• A study in Sweden found that 36 percent of a group of rheumatoid arthritis patients had virtually no stomach acid, suggesting they had severe atrophic gastritis.
• A study in Italy found that 65 percent of a group of patients with rheumatoid arthritis had atrophic gastritis.
• In a study of fifty patients with gallstones, twenty-six had below-normal stomach acid output.
• When sixty-nine people with gallstones were placed on an elimination diet for a week, every one of them experienced symptom relief.
• In one study, twenty-two people with rheumatoid arthritis followed an allergy-elimination diet and 91 percent of them had an improvement in symptoms.
• A study in Germany tested gentian root capsules in 205 people with loss of appetite, heartburn, constipation, flatulence, abdominal pain, nausea, and dyspepsia. The capsules led to a rapid return of appetite and dramatic relief of their GI symptoms.
• DGL licorice has been shown to be as effective as cimetidine and ranitidine for treating gastric and duodenal ulcers, with far fewer side effects.
• In animal studies, DGL licorice has been shown to protect the stomach lining against damage caused by aspirin and other NSAIDs.
• Studies have confirmed that low levels of vitamin C are associated with a high risk of gastric cancer and that high intake of foods containing vitamin C (as well as vitamin E, beta-carotene, and others) is associated with reduced incidence of gastric cancer.
• Ascorbic acid interferes with the chemical conversion of nitrites from food to carcinogenic N-nitroso compounds such as nitrosamines.
• Vitamin C helps stop the growth of Helicobacter pylori.
• A study in Thailand found that taking turmeric significantly improved common symptoms of dyspepsia such as heartburn, gastric pain or discomfort, belching, gas, and flatulence.
• Research suggests that turmeric treatment can help heal gastric ulcers.
• Studies show that ginger can protect the GI tract and help prevent atherosclerosis.
• Essential fatty acids can help heal gastric and duodenal ulcers.
• A study in Iraq used endoscopic examination to confirm that mastic healed ulcers in 70 percent of patients with duodenal ulcer, compared to just 22 percent in the placebo group.
• Test-tube research shows that mastic kills several strains of Helicobacter pylori, including some that are resistant to conventional antibiotics.
• An experiment found that mastic protected laboratory animals against drugs known to injure the GI tract,
