Stomach acid problems are really a "Catch 22"
You need the acid to break down the food into energy... at the same time, if everything is not functioning correctly, the acid can stop you in your tracks due to the stomach pain you experience.
There are many health consequences involved in taking stomach acid stopping drugs.
1) Bacterial overgrowth
2) Impaired nutrient absorption (which can make you feel fat and bloated... and eventually 'get fat' just because the calories are NOT being used properly, thereby causing them to be stored... as fat. Elimination also becomes an issue.
3) Decreased resistance to infection. That is an even scarier issue. I only believe in "controlled" studies, so I'd have to find a controlled study that talks about the people that were studied in a controlled environment, were on PPI's... and developed specific diseases, including cancer. I know I have read many studies, but whether or not the studies were controlled is the question.
The mouth, throat and intestines are like a home to thousands of types of bacteria, yet the stomach is nearly sterile.
Pretty easy to figure out why...no? Stomach ACID!
First, stomach acid prevents harmful bacteria that may be present in the food or liquid we consume or the air we breathe from entering the intestine. At the same time, stomach acid also prevents normal bacteria from the intestines to move into the stomach and esophagus, where they could cause problems.
When the pH of the stomach is 3 or lower, the normal between-meal “resting” level, bacteria don’t last more than fifteen minutes. But as the pH rises to 5 or more, many bacterial species can avoid the acid treatment and begin to thrive.
Unfortunately, this is exactly what happens when you take acid stopping drugs. Drugs like Tagamet and Zantac significantly RAISE the pH of the stomach from about 1 to 2 before treatment to 5.5 to 6.5 after...
Prilosec and other PPIs are even worse. Just one of these pills is capable of reducing stomach acid secretion by 90 to 95 percent for the better part of a day. Taking higher or more frequent doses of PPIs, as is often recommended, produces a state of achlorydia (virtually no stomach acid). In one "study"of ten healthy men aged 22 to 55 years, a 20 or 40 mg dose of Prilosec reduced stomach acid levels to near-zero.
A stomach without much acid is almost the perfect environment for housing pathogenic bacteria. It’s dark, warm, moist, and full of nutrients. Most of the time these bacteria won’t kill us...at least not right away. But some of them can. People who have a gastric pH high enough to promote bacterial overgrowth are more vulnerable to serious bacterial infections.
(I do have a study for that statement somewhere)
When your immune system is weakened, the types of infections that can be much more easily contracted increases to insane levels. I'm not going to make a list, but most people know that we carry diseases in our bodies that can kill us... without having our immune system intact. Scary, scary diseases....
As we get older, and as the nutrition available to us worsens, we become even more susceptible... because our bodies produce even LESS acid.... ad that to an acid-killing drug and you open yourself up to even worse issues... issues that lead directly to cancer, diabetes, pneumonia, hepatitis... even mental disorders and mood distubances.
So far, medical science really has not figured out why heartburn/reflux/antacid medications seem to cause weight gain.
My own personal theory is that the ability to absorb nutrients is impaired, which, as i stated earlier is going to automatically cause that food to be stored as fat. The body is just SO GOOD at storing fat (as opposed to building muscle)... I think also that metabolism is slowed/impaired due to chemicals, nutrients, proteins, etc., NOT being abosorbed properly and sending the WRONG signals to the brain on appetite control.
That is just MY theory. No science to back it up.
One would assume then that you would have to ask the question: "I NEED my antacids (PPI's) and I DON'T want to get fatter, what should I do?"
I would then suggest this: Limit your fat intake, eat healthier foods (Oh, what a cliche statement).... try to find out how many calories your body uses in a day, and then decrease them a bit. No over-eating. That is difficult in the trucking world, so I woud just say "NO SECONDS"...
Don't fill your plate, no desserts, or cut what's on your plate if you need the dessert... I know that cravings can be insane.
Other than that....I think that eventually a person should try as hard as they can to figure out how to take natural control of their stomach issues before letting the doc prescribe more... and more.... and more.
No matter what the drug, sooner or later there are going to be issues. This INCLUDES drugs that save your life (Insulin for Diabetics)
Whew!
That was a long read... sorry.
