GERD linked to Microbe Changes

According to a recent article posted on “Medpage Today”, researchers have concluded what I have been saying for the last twenty years. I have always maintained that microbes are involved in most illnesses, and yet the medical community has not usually linked diseases to microbes until the last couple of decades. In particular, the medical community believed that acid reflux or GERD was caused by excess acid in the stomach, rather than investigating the feasibility of a bacterial culprit. Many in the medical community had believed that there are no significant colonies of microbes in the esophagus; however, to claim that any area of the body is completely sterile is a wrong assumption in the least. This article shows that GERD, which is on the rise in the USA, is associated with large scale microbial changes in the esophagus.

Because of the bad bacteria that are now prevalent in our food supply, exposure to these bacteria may predispose us to one day developing acid-reflux disease aka GERD. Even though the study found that esophageal disease is associated with large-scale microbe changes, it is not yet clear whether these changes are considered a cause or an effect of GERD.

Yet in my opinion, bacteria can upset the normal function of the digestive tract and can cause acid to go back up from the stomach and into the esophagus. I believe that this bacterial and microbe change is an actual cause of GERD. It is known that bacteria communicate with our body on a cellular level, and their objective is always to find a niche where they can thrive. Sometimes they are a benefit to the host (our bodies) and other times they cause disease. For example, we already know that the bacterium H. pylori is a major cause of diseases of the upper GI tract, and eradicating it can cause symptoms such as gastritis and peptic ulcers. Both gastritis and peptic ulcers can also cause acid reflux.

Therefore, it is imperative as the problems with digestion and GERD in particular escalate in our society, to discover the proper probiotic supplementation program. My suggestion would be to use the Healthy Trinity oil-matrix capsules from Natren, along with their powder products, like Megadophilus, Bifidofactor, and Digesta-Lac.

We would also like to call your attention to a health wire from “Consumer Reports on Health”, Volume 21, Number 10, Page 2, entitled, “Rebound Heartburn”. In this wire, it states that people who regularly use proton pump inhibitors, drugs such as Prilosec or Nexium, may become dependent on them. That’s the implication of a July 2009 trial published in the Journal of Gastroenterology, where 44% of the 120 HEALTHY people who took Nexium for 8 weeks, developed heartburn symptoms AFTER they stopped taking the drug. This very high number can be compared to only 15% of the healthy individuals who took a placebo developing subsequent heartburn symptoms.

Regardless of what you believe the cause of your GERD is, if you take the conventional route, you will develop habitual use of these proton-pump inhibitors. However, I believe it is better for you to go a natural route and to restore normal, optimal digestion rather than using drugs to get results. You should take a proactive, preventative strategy, so that you don’t develop the disease and then end up hooked on the drug.

For more information, please see the September 2009 newsletter from Natren Probiotics.

Follow the Links Below for the Original Articles:

http://www.medpagetoday.com/Gastroenterology/GERD/15369

http://www.medpagetoday.com/Gastroenterology/GERD/14956