Most Common Acid Reflux Treatment is Lethal

The most common treatment for acid reflux is a class of drugs called proton pump inhibitors, or PPIs. The latest estimates suggest that 15 million Americans are taking one of these drugs on prescription, and that’s without counting users who get them over the counter, so the actual figure could be even higher.

This is disturbing because a new study in the journal BMJ now shows that this abundantly used drug type increases your risk of death from a whole range of serious chronic conditions.

American researchers looked at data collected by the American Department of Veterans Affairs between 2002 and 2004. They found that doctors had prescribed PPIs for 157,625 people and H2 blockers (another type of acid reflux drug) for 56,842 others.

They noticed an extra 45.2 (per 1000) more deaths in the PPI group compared to the H2 blocker group, which shows pretty clearly that PPIs pose a greater risk of death.

They further break that down into 17.47 circulatory system deaths, 12.94 cancer deaths, 4.2 infectious and parasitic disease deaths, 6.25 reproductive and urinary systems deaths, 15.48 cardiovascular disease deaths, and a small number from chronic kidney disease.

For some people it wasn’t clear from the medical documents why PPI had been prescribed, but for that group we know that an extra 22.91/1000 of them died from cardiovascular disease, 4.74 from chronic kidney disease, and 3.12 from stomach and esophageal cancers.

These statistics held true for people who had a history of these diseases as well as those that didn’t.

It seems that the longer people took PPIs, the higher their risk of death from cancer, and from diseases of the circulatory and reproductive and urinary systems too. And this was true even for those people who took very low doses, so they’re bad news no matter how little you take.

The most common PPIs are Prilosec, Prevacid, Nexium, Aciphex, Zegerid, Dexilant, and Protonix.

These drugs are used to suppress stomach acid production when too much washes up into your esophagus and throat. Unfortunately, it seems that they do a lot more besides, and researchers have pointed out these dangers several times before.

Scientists don’t know exactly why PPIs are so dangerous, but the new study proposes some possibilities:

PPIs alter our gut bacteria by killing some and allowing others to flourish.

They damage the endothelial cells that line our blood vessels and lymph nodes, and they cause those cells to die faster.

They increase oxidative stress.

They disrupt normal cell growth, which might lead to cells becoming cancerous.

They destroy the immune cells in the mucous of the upper gastrointestinal tract.

Whatever the cause may be, it is clear that you are probably going to be safer if you don’t take these drugs at all.

It’s better to stop acid reflux safely, and you can achieve that using this innovative and proven approach…