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The
Heartland Naturopathic Clinic Email Newsletter - January 2007 The following are our email newsletters with helpful information on staying well and our practices. They include articles on home care, natural healing, cured cases, commentary on current issues in the field of health care and medicine and other interesting and useful information. If you are interested in receiving this newsletter simply send your email address, name and a request asking to be added to our email address list to: Staff@HeartlandNaturopathic.com. CONTENTS: HEARTBURN DRUGS LINKED TO INCREASED RATE OF BROKEN HIPS A recent study found that patients over 50 who used
the heartburn drugs Nexium, Prevacid and Prilosec for a year or more had
44% higher risk of hip fractures than nonusers! The researchers
concluded that when these drugs suppressed stomach acid they made it
more difficult for the body to absorb bone-building calcium. The people
in this study were all older but if this is happening to older users it
stands to reason that anyone using these drugs is negatively impacting
their body’s ability to absorb calcium and other minerals and
nutriments. Just because these were the only drugs studied, it
doesn’t mean that every other way of suppressing stomach acid isn’t
doing the same thing! So the uses of Tagamet, Zantac, Pepcid, Rolaids,
Tums, Mylanta, Maalox, milk of magnesia and sodium bicarbonate probably
all cause some of the same problems. The occasional use of antacids and
acid suppressors is not usually going to be a problem. But I am sure
that the more “effective” they are and the more often used, the more
disruption they will have on your digestion and the more long-term
negative consequences. Of course, this is all very old news to us in the
naturopathic medical community. Nature didn’t put acid in the stomach
for digestion by accident. It is a crucial early step in digestion and
without it nothing else in the digestive process will work as well. Contrary to popular belief, heartburn, acid reflux
and gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD) are not the result of
excessive stomach acid. In fact, it is very very rare for anyone to have
excessive stomach acid. These diseases are the result of acid being in
the wrong place! These conditions occur when stomach acid leaves the
stomach - where it belongs - and goes up into the esophagus. Although young people get it too, the amount of
heartburn and GERD in the population increases with age. And yet,
stomach acid production tends to decline as people get older. People
over forty years old are increasingly likely to have some
“hypochlorhydria” - a deficiency of stomach acid. So the supreme
irony is that the people who are more likely to have a deficiency of
stomach acid, are the same ones more likely to have these diseases. And
yet the conventional treatment of choice is to suppress what little
stomach acid there is left with antacids and acid suppressors, such as
the drugs in this study. So what is the solution? One solution is to come
into our office and be treated homeopathically. We have helped many
people with heartburn and GERD. We treat the whole person instead of
just the stomach in order to deal with the root causes and stimulate the
body’s own healing process. If coming in to see us for homeopathy is
not an option there are also things that you can try on your own. A good book on the subject is Why Stomach Acid
Is Good For You by Jonathan Wright, M.D. The author, a well-known
alternative medical doctor, has a bone to pick with the medical
establishment that gets kind of tedious, but don’t let his tone get in
the way of the valuable clinical information he has to share. He gets
the facts about these health problems right and presents a program of
natural therapies for them that can be helpful. Dr. Wright has a long list of additional health
problems that he believes to be associated with the suppression of
stomach acid and the resulting digestive and nutritional deficiencies.
So if you suffer from heartburn or GERD, use a lot of antacids and acid
suppressors and also have any of the following problems you should make
an extra effort to get help sooner rather than later. These
problems include: Dr. Wright does a good job of explaining how such a variety of diseases could result from low stomach acid. He may not be correct about them all; but all naturopathic doctors will tell you that without healthy digestion, long-term health is impossible! As is always the case, suppressing a symptom without also getting to the root cause is going to lead to more health problems. So if you or someone you know is a chronic user of antacids or acid suppressors, now is the time to chart a new course and work at restoring health instead of just suppressing symptoms! USEFUL NUTRITION TIDBITS Report Shows Sugary Drinks Pile on Pounds A recent study found that one extra can of soda a
day can add 15 pounds of extra weight in a single year! It isn’t much
of a surprise but researchers found that the increase in obesity over
the last decades is directly correlated with the massive growth in sugar
consumption over the same period. Currently, about one-third of all
carbohydrate calories come from added sweeteners and half of these come
from beverages like soda. A single 12-ounce of soda provides the
equivalent of 10 teaspoons of sugar. Naturally, the American Beverage
Association disagreed with the study’s conclusions…. another big
surprise. Study Shows that Fast-Food Eaters Underestimate Calories Another recent study found that everyone in the study - male, female and those with different weights - all underestimated the number of calories in fast-food meals. It was found that the larger amount of food on the plate is confusing people. As portions have gotten larger it has become more difficult for people to recognize how much they are eating. This, of course, can lead to overeating and subsequently becoming overweight. With “portion inflation” a standard meal has slowly evolved over the last 30 years into more and more food while few people have noticed the change. There was one other interesting observation in this study: People who were overweight in the study tended to buy larger meals. Many overweight patients will tell me that they don’t eat any more then they ever did and that they don’t understand how they got so heavy. This study sheds some light on that question. They have been eating more but didn’t realize it as the size of the portions crept up on them. So for some people it may just be enough to start eating less with each meal. This can be as simple as using a smaller plate so you take smaller portions and the meal looks larger. Another problem with “fast-food” is that we
tend to eat it fast. If we eat at a leisurely pace we are more likely to
notice when we get full and can stop before overeating. If we eat in a
hurry we tend to eat far past our need and before you know it we are
obese. |