Acid reflux drugs are among the most widely prescribed meds worldwide.
But, a new study in Nature Chemistry reveals how one of those acid reflux drugs affects your body far beyond your stomach.
This explains why long-term users suffer heart attacks, fractures, and immune issues.
Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are designed to block stomach acid production, supposedly activating only in the stomach’s highly acidic environment.
But new research shows this isn’t true.
A German Cancer Research Center team tracked a common PPI called rabeprazole in human cells—cells with a neutral pH environment, completely different from the stomach’s acidity.
Their findings were alarming:
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• PPIs are activated even in non-acidic environments outside the stomach.
• Zinc-containing proteins triggered this unexpected activation.
• Once activated, PPIs bonded to zinc-containing proteins, disrupting their function.
• This reaction happened rapidly, impacting proteins vital for immune function.
• Multiple PPIs exhibited the same activation mechanism.
This discovery may explain why long-term PPI use is linked to:
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• Heart disease
• Bone fractures
• Weakened immune function
Since zinc is responsible for activating PPIs outside the stomach, reducing zinc intake may seem logical to prevent unintended drug activation.
However, zinc plays a vital role in immune function, DNA repair, and metabolism, meaning that lowering zinc levels could cause more harm than good.
A better solution is to get rid of your acid reflux naturally.