The macula is the small, oval shaped part of the retina of the eye.  It is responsible for the detailed central vision needed for tasks such as reading, recognition of faces and appreciation of visual detail.

Early onsetAMDcauses blurring of the central vision, but with deterioration over time, can develop into significant loss of vision or even blindness.

It is well established thatAMDruns in families and there is a strong genetic factor, determining about 70% of the diseases severity.  The good news is that studies continue to show that lifestyle and nutritional choices can dramatically slow the development of the disease, even if you are unlucky enough to carry the genes.

One such study from theTuftsUniversity, examined identical twins (carrying identical genes), withAMDat different stages, allowing researchers to work out the environmental and behavioural factors that were contributing to the development of theirAMD. 

What did they find?  That diet and nutrition play a vital role in slowing the degeneration of the macular…. Hardly an earth shattering revelation.  Nourish your cells and you will protect them despite carrying the genes that increase risk of disease!

The study found that the twins with the least severeAMDate diets higher in vitamin D from dietary sources such as oily fish or milk, compared with their identical twin.  This could be because vitamin D has anti-inflammatory properties, or because it blocks the formation of new blood vessels that can grow under the macula, leaking blood and causing vision loss.

Twins with a higher dietary intake of methionine and betaine also showed a slower disease progression.  Betaine is rich in fish, grains and spinach, while methionine is found in poultry, fish and dairy foods.

Twins with the most severe, fast progressingAMDwere smokers.

Take home recommendation from this (and other) studies…

To protect your vision as you age:

• eat a diet rich in fruits and vegetables. 
• Load up on antioxidant rich foods such as berries, dark green, purple and orange fruits and vegetables, and green tea 
• Avoid cigarette smoking and second hand smoke. 
• Have your vitamin D levels tested, and supplement with D3 throughout the winter months
• Include plentiful supplies of oily fish in your diet…. Or supplement with at least 3000mg of fish oil daily.

You’re sitting for some quiet family television time in the early evening. Suddenly before your eyes a child is being thrown violently against a wardrobe by an enraged, alcohol fuelled man.   Your young daughter begins to whimper, and a cold chill sweeps over you.  Welcome to the controversial, hard hitting three million dollar ALAC alcohol abuse awareness campaign that has got New Zealanders sitting up and taking notice. It’s a campaign designed to help people make the connection between drunkenness and harm and take personal responsibility for their drinking choices.

The truth is that shock tactics may be what is needed to jolt New Zealander’s out of their complacent attitudes towards alcohol. A glass of wine with dinner; a few bottles of beer with the boys after a rugby match; a daily tipple or two at the bach.  For many New Zealanders this is their moderate, safe and enjoyable relationship with alcohol. But there are many others,  ranging in age from young teens through to old age, living with an unhealthy and potentially deadly relationship with the bottle.  In any given week around 25% of drinking New Zealander’s will end up drunk and possibly violent. (ALAC NZ)

As the ads say “it’s not that we’re drinking, it’s how we’re drinking”, and around 25% of New Zealander’s are “binge” drinking every week.  (ALAC NZ) Defining exactly what constitutes a “binge” in terms of number of drinks consumed, is difficult as it varies from person to person, and can even  vary for one person from one day to the next.  According to ALAC binging is about people drinking to a point of drunkenness and intoxication.  It is when they say and do things they wouldn’t normally, and when alcohol puts themselves or others at risk of harm.  

When we think of problem drinkers, usually we think of raucous, out of control teenagers or the down at heel.  We don’t tend to conjure up pictures of devoted mums with children; affluent and successful business men or young and vibrant women climbing the career ladder…. in other words, our picture of alcohol abuse is distorted and incorrect.  Alcohol doesn’t discriminate based on age, sex, affluence or education…. anyone can become a binge drinker, an alcoholic, a drunk driver or a dead driver.

When it comes to women and alcohol, our drinking patterns are changing. More women are drinking, and the amount they are drinking is increasing.  85% of New Zealand have a drink at least once in a typical year, and 10% of women are drinking every day.  Young women are a special source of concern, with those teenage girls who are drinking showing increased consumption, often drinking large amounts in one go. (ALAC)Many of the problems of our teen culture are a consequence of such binge drinking.  Alcohol is directly linked with our high rate of unplanned teen pregnancy (the second highest in the world) and sexually transmitted disease.

Female bodies don’t handle alcohol well, and a woman drinking the same amount as her male partner will get drunk faster and cause more damage to her body than he will to his. Heavy female drinkers usually develop liver cirrhosis much faster than their male peers.   There is evidence that as little as two glasses of alcohol a day will increase the risk of breast cancer.  Heavy alcohol consumption also causes bone loss and increased risk of osteoporosis.  Despite the fact that there is NO safe limit for alcohol consumption during pregnancy too many women still choose to drink at this time, and risk damaging their unborn child.   

The news on alcohol is not all bad!  In moderation, alcohol can reduce your risk of heart disease; lower blood pressure; and even reduce your risk of Alzheimer’s disease. The emphasis here is on the word moderation… and remember “it’s not that we’re drinking, it’s how we’re drinking that’s the problem”.

What are the consequences of binge or heavy drinking?

Liver damage and cirrhosis

pancreatitis

gastritis (stomach problems)

high blood pressure

stroke

cancer of mouth, pharynx, larynx, breast and liver

fetal alcohol syndrome in offspring if woman drinks heavily during pregnancy

increased risk of road death and injury, drowning, suicide, violence.

In teen and childhood drinkers, detrimental effects on physical, intellectual and emotional development.

What is considered to be a low risk level of alcohol consumption?

*For men drink no more than 21 standard drinks in a week, and no more than 6 standard drinks in one sitting.

*For women drink no more than 14 standard drinks in one week, and no more than 4 standard drinks in one sitting.

(ALAC recommendations)

What constitutes a standard drink?

Beer (4% alcohol) – 250mls

Wine (11% alcohol) – 90mls

Sherry/Liquors (18% alcohol) – 60mls

Spirits (40% alcohol) – 25mls

It takes one h

Many New Zealanders start their day with a nutritious breakfast and a nutritional supplement or two for good measure.  While multivitamin and mineral tablets are a useful way of covering all the nutritional bases, specific nutrient therapy has  has much to offer in restoring balance to a frayed or depressed nervous system.

It is widespread knowledge that omega-3 essential fatty acids offer health giving benefits to the heart and cardiovascular system.   What is less widely known is their positive therapeutic effect in both the prevention and treatment of anxiety and depression.   EPA and DHA are components of the naturally occurring Omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil.  Both EPA and DHA  are essential for healthy function of neurons, and low DHA levels are associated with accentuated stress response in the brain and nervous system, along with low levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin. This is important as depression is sometimes rather simplistically referred to as a “serotonin deficiency” syndrome. 

Depressed people often have lower than average levels of omega-3 content in their blood, and supplementing with high doses of fish oil frequently reduces depression and anxiety symptoms, even in people already using antidepressants.  Patients unresponsive to treatment with SSRI’s  often respond to the drugs when  omega-3′s and folate (a B vitamin) were added to their drug regime.  Women suffering from aggression and hostility related to Borderline Personality Disorder have been shown to have a marked decrease in mood reactivity when supplemented with 1g of EPA daily.  As little as 1000mg of fish oil a day can reduce symptoms of sadness, anxiety and insomnia in depressed people.

With the obsessive media emphasis on boosting dietary calcium intake, it’s not surprising that one of our most common mineral deficiencies escapes unnoticed. Australian studies found the daily intake of magnesium to be below the RDI for 50% of males tested, and 39% of women. Magnesium is found in grains and vegetables (and dairy products), but only when they are grown in magnesium rich soils.  Depleted soils, combined with food processing and a low intake of leafy green vegetables leads to magnesium deficiency.  Then there’s the magnesium depleting effects of the nightly glasses of wine, sipped to calm jangled nerves.  Stress stimulates the production of stress hormones which increase the amount of magnesium we flush down the toilet every time we pass water.  In a “catch-22” cycle, the resulting magnesium deficiency then causes an exaggerated release of these same stress hormones.   Have you ever sat in front of your computer screen and noticed an annoying rapidly twitching muscles in your eye lid?  Or woken at night with a leg in the vice like grip of cramp?  Other symptoms of low magnesium levels include depression, anxiety, restlessness, irritability, PMS, menstrual cramps and insomnia.

While magnesium supplements have been shown to decrease anxiety and depression, the results are even more dramatic when combined with B complex nutrients, especially vitamins B6 and folate. Boosting B vitamins can have a direct effect on the availability of important neurotransmitters in the brain, such as serotonin, norephinephrine and dopamine – the brain chemicals involved with regulation of mood.

5-HTP and SAM-e are two of the supplements supreme when it comes to the nutritional  treatment of depression and anxiety.  5-HTP is a natural derivative from an amino acid, and is a metabolic precursor to the neurotransmitter serotonin, vital for normal mood regulation.  Some studies have shown 50mg a day of 5-HTP to be as effective or better than the SSRI antidepressant Fluoxatine, with no negative side effects.  5-HTP works like SSRI drugs which increase the availability of serotonin in the junctions between brain neurons, by blocking the cell’s re-uptake.  Unlike SSRI’s 5-HTP also increases the availability of norepinephrine, which increases energy and alertness and dopamine, which increases the feelings of wellbeing.

SAM-e or S-adenosylmethionine is a molecule found naturally occurring in the body, but notably lower in people suffering from mood disorders.  There have been 40 mostly European studies involving 1400 depressed patients, that generally show SAM-e to elevate mood within a matter of days, with virtually no side effects.  The typical supplemental dose is 400mg twice daily, which has been increased to 1600mg a day in a number of studies.  A 1994  analysis of existing studies, done at the University of Rome concluded “the efficacy of SAM-e in treating depressive syndromes and disorders is superior to that of placebo and comparable to that of standard tricyclic antidepressants.  Since SAM-e is a naturally occurring compound with relatively few side-effects, it is a potentially important treatment for depression”.

A final note of caution.  If you are already taking antidepressant drugs do not stop or change your medication without medical supervision.  To obtain maximum benefit from clinical nutrition in the treatment of anxiety or depression, work with a health professional trained in clinical nutrition

24 hours a day, 7 days a week our senses are bombarded with images and sounds of  a world  fraught with difficulty.  Twenty four hour a day television, radio and the internet  crash their way relentlessly into our private worlds,  bringing us visions of terror, death and despair from around the globe. It is hardly surprising that depression and anxiety disorders haunt us in ever increasing numbers.  While cancer and diabetes grab the headlines, it is depression which fifteen years from now is projected to become the second most common cause of disability for all ages and both sexes, worldwide.   In any given year, nearly ten percent of the western world suffer from depression, with women at almost double the risk of men.  Between the ages of 18 and 24, depression is our leading cause of premature death and disability.

The treatment of  depression and anxiety disorders invariably centres on pharmaceutical medications such as antidepressants and tranquilisers.  Often, but not always, adjunctive psychotherapy or counselling is used.  While antidepressants are one of the most widely prescribed classes of medication, their efficacy and dangers remain a subject of scientific debate.  Some studies indicate their effectiveness to be no greater than placebo. The most widely prescribed antidepressant, Fluoxetine Hydrochloride (Prozac)  belongs to a group of drugs known as SSRI’s.  Treatment with Fluoxetine has been shown to produce a 50% improvement in symptoms in only 38% of those who start treatment, and in only 56% of those who complete a full course.  Discontinuation rates are high with 27 out of 100 patients receiving a SSRI during a six week trial stopping treatment because of side effects.  Of late debate has centred on research indicating an increased risk of suicide amongst antidepressant users, especially young people and children.

While antidepressants are often credited with potentially lifesaving therapeutic effects, lifestyle and dietary changes and clinical nutrition offer huge therapeutic benefits to  many depressed or anxious people.  Whether your tablet of choice is an antidepressant, a herb or a nutritional supplement, simply swallowing a pill without addressing the bigger picture of your life, is nothing more than a short term “bandaid”. Seventy percent of people who are prescribed antidepressant therapy experience a relapse at a future date  once off their medication.  For most people resolving emotional issues or addressing areas of chronic conflict in their life is an important part of long term recovery.  Daily living practices also need to come under the microscope.  If you’re running on empty, with little sleep, a poor work/life balance, no times of joy and relaxation, few close nurturing personal relationships and friendships, and no time for exercise, you’re a walking prescription for anxiety and depression.  Simply swallowing a pill without also addressing the bigger picture of your life may well prove to be a futile act of self delusion.

Many New Zealanders start their day with a nutritious breakfast and a nutritional supplement or two for good measure.  While multivitamin and mineral tablets are a useful way of covering all the nutritional bases, specific nutrient therapy has  has much to offer in restoring balance to a frayed or depressed nervous system.

(part one of a two part blog)

Take broccoli for example, that green and crunchy vegetable loathed by children throughout the ages. My kids would flatly refuse to eat this nutritional goldmine when they were little. Brocoli is a rich source of a phytonutrient called d-glucarate, with proven powerful anti-cancer qualities, by enhancing the liver’s ability to detoxify toxins and pollutants. Regular intake of broccoli is associated with a reduced risk of lung, gastrointestinal and breast cancers. Another superfood cancer fighter found in this humble green vegetable is sulforaphane. This compound blocks the formation of tumours caused by chemical carcinogens, and actually causes cancer cells to die off. Sulforaphane also supports the important phase II liver detoxification enzyme systems. An even more potent way of receiving these broccoli health benefits is to add broccoli sprouts to your salads daily, as they contain 30 – 50 times more of these protective chemicals compared with broccoli itself.

As we’re talking green things and cancer prevention, we cant go past mentioning the powerfully antioxidant rich green tea as a vital addition to your healthy diet. This traditional dietary staple of the orient is bursting with antioxidant compounds, the most important of which is a polyphenol called EGCG. Test tube studies show that these compounds potently cause cancer cells to self destruct, while leaving healthy cells unaffected. Studies with animals show these same compounds inhibit the formation of cancerous tumours in the skin, lungs, liver, stomach, breasts and colon. That cup of steaming hot green liquid is not only working in the fight against cancer. Green tea is also an ally for your cardiovascular health, as EGCG helps to reduce the oxidation of “bad” LDL cholesterol, and it is this oxidation that increases the likelihood of LDL cholesterol actually sticking to artery walls and causing clogging. The more green tea you sup, the lower your risk of cardiovascular disease, including high blood pressure. If you’re worried about your gradually increasing blood glucose levels, start drinking 4 cups of strong green tea a day and you could well see blood sugar begin to drop.

If I’ve convinced you about the merits of green tea, invest in a tea pot and some quality green tea leaves. Don’t use the decaffeinated green tea as it is lower in naturally occurring antioxidants. Make the tea in the pot, ensuring the water is hot, but not boiling. Boiling water will make your tea taste bitter and unpalatable. Pour on your water, pop on the tea cozy and leave to steep for ten minutes before drinking, for maximum health benefits.

While supplementing with fish oil often doesn’t produce huge changes in total or LDL (bad) cholesterol levels, it works in a myriad of powerful ways to safeguard cardiovascular health.

In April 2005 the Archives of Internal Medicine published a review looking at the effects of various cholesterol lowering drugs, on overall mortality, and also death from cardiovascular disease in particular.  Researchers looked at 97 different trials, involving almost 140,000 treatment subjects, and just as many controls.  In other words, this was a significant analysis!

Researchers were interested in seeing the individual protective cardiovascular effects of using statins; fibrates or resins (all drugs used to lower cholesterol): dietary change; and supplementation with fish oil.

They found that fibrates showed no protective effect in terms of overall mortality.  Diet, resins and niacin all appeared to provide insignificant benefits (that really surprises me… diet showed no benefit?). It was the statins and the fish oil that came out tops in terms of lowering both overall mortality (from all causes), and the risk of cardiovascular related death.  And which intervention stole the title of most powerful cardiovascular protector?  Contrary to what you may have expected, it was fish oil that came out on top. 

Statin use lowered overall mortality by 13%, while fish oil achieved a 23% decrease.  What about the effect specifically on cardiovascular mortality?  Again, fish oil was the most powerful intervention, with a 32% decrease in mortality, compared with the 23% seen with statin use.

The take home message from this analysis, is that simply seeing lower numbers on a cholesterol test, is not the full picture when it comes to lowering cardiovascular risk.   Fish oil only reduces total cholesterol levels by a puny 2%, compared with a 20% reduction with statin use.  But preventing a heart attack or stroke is a lot more complex than simply lowering cholesterol levels. 

Fish oil, works to protect your cardiovascular health by reducing the likelihood of heart arrhythmias (irregular or rapid beats);  preventing blood clots by making your blood less sticky; and reducing inflammation in the blood vessels.  There are many studies which demonstrate that it’s not so much the presence of cholesterol in the arteries that increases your risk… it’s when that cholesterol becomes oxidized by free radicals, leading to arterial inflammation that your troubles start.  Fish oil works powerfully to preventing this cardiovascular inflammation.  As little as 2000mg a day of high purity fish oil confers these cardiovascular health benefits.

Two of the most common chronic diseases effecting women later in life are the “brittle bone” disease, osteoporosis; and cardiovascular disease including arterial plaquing or “clogging”.  Did you know that there is a direct connection between these two conditions, and women that develop osteoporosis are more likely to also have arterial disease… and the reverse is also true – women with arterial disease are more likely to develop osteoporosis?   Atherosclerosis involves hardening and calcification of the linings of the arteries, while osteoporosis involves the loss of calcium from the bones.

“What could possibly explain this connection”?, I hear you ask!  Well here’s a clue… the cells lining your arteries are multifunctioning, and as you age, these cells (called endothelial cells) can actually take on a new guise, and become osteoblasts (the cells that regulate your bone formation).

Two vital nutrients help to ensure the health of both your arteries and bones.  Vitamins K and D work together to ensure healthy calcification of your bones, and to prevent calcium deposition on blood vessel walls, where it will cause hardening and arterial disease.  One of the nutritional features shared by both arterial hardening, and osteoporosis is low blood levels of vitamin K.  This vitamin is vital for the proper functioning of special proteins found in bones and blood vessel walls.  These proteins help to balance calcium deposited in bones, while also preventing the improper laying down of calcium in blood vessel walls.  When there is not enough vitamin K in the body,  it makes it difficult for these proteins to balance calcium deposits.

Vitamin D, is also known as the “sunshine vitamin” due to the fact that we can manufacture vitamin D when we are exposed to sunlight on the skin.  Here in New Zealand where UV light levels are low for many months of the year, vitamin D deficiency is endemic. 

For many years we have understood that vitamin D is vital for the fixing of calcium into bones, and without it we are at risk of bone diseases such as rickets and osteoporosis.   What we have only recently come to understand is that vitamin D also plays a role in preventing calcium deposits in the arteries. 

So, what is the take home message and points of action for you?

Firstly have your vitamin D levels checked with a 25-hydroxyvitamin D blood test.  Ideally levels will be above 80ng/ml.  If not, more sunshine exposure combined with vitamin D3 supplements should boost levels quickly.

Boost vitamin K rich foods such as leafy green vegetables (spinach, kale, broccoli, cabbage, silverbeet).  You can make your own vitamin K in your gut, as long as gut bacteria are healthy and flourishing.  Supplementing with a quality probiotic to balance gut bacteria, while chowing down on dark greens regularly, will boost levels of vitamin K without resorting to supplements.   

The list of benefits associated with a high intake of omega 3 fatty acids (which are plentiful in fish oil) is long and impressive.  Not only do these fats safeguard the health of your cardiovascular system,  they also support optimal immune function; protect against various cancers including cancer of the breast and prostate; reduce incidence of anxiety and depression; and help protect against neurological diseases such as Alzheimers Disease. 

Type 2 diabetes (once called old age onset diabetes, but now effecting people from all age groups), is reaching epidemic proportions in many western countries, including here in New Zealand.  Most clearly a “life style” disease, type 2 diabetes effects obese and sedentary people in particular.  Besides losing weight, eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly, one of the most important aids to preventing this devastating disease, is the addition of generous amounts of omega 3 fats to the diet.

With type 2 diabetes, the body becomes resistant to the blood sugar regulating effects of the hormone insulin.  In a healthy body, consumption of sugars or carbohydrates starts to increase the levels of sugar in the blood.  In response to this, the pancreas begins to release insulin into the bloodstream.  It is the job of insulin to take glucose from the blood stream and shunt it across the cell membranes, into the cells.

Every cell has insulin receptors, which effectively allow insulin to communicate with the cell, and “open the door” allowing glucose to flow across the cell membrane.  With type II diabetes, these receptors become insensitive to insulin, and more and more of the hormone is required to move glucose into the cell.

Eventually, the pancreas becomes exhausted and unable to manufacture enough insulin to do the job of regulating blood sugar.  Insulin levels plummet, and blood sugar levels sore, cause havoc with the cardiovascular system, eyes and kidneys.

Wonderful fish oil comes to the rescue in multiple ways.  Firstly, fish oil helps to sensitise insulin receptors to the effects of insulin, preventing the receptor “burnout” characteristic of insulin resistance.

Secondly, fish oil helps to normalise blood fats, thus slowing or preventing much of the cardiovascular damage associated with high blood sugar.  Fish oils lower triglycerides, lower blood pressure, and increase protective HDL cholesterol, while leaving “bad” cholesterol levels unchanged.

Finally, fish oils works as a powerful natural anti-inflammatory.  High levels of inflammatory markers are associated with chronic diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, arthritis and allergies.

So, have I convinced you that daily fish oil supplements are your best friend?  Make sure the oil you choose is high quality, 100% purified and devoid of contaminants.  A basic daily dose of 2000mg is the suggested supplemental level for most healthy people.  Those with chronic illness should be taking higher doses, as advised by their nutritional health care professional.

ADHD or attention deficit disorder… it’s everywhere!  Kids in their millions are swallowing Ritalin type drugs daily, and in their wake, an ever growing torrent of the newly diagnosed.  Theories about its growing prevalence abound.  Is it modern parenting practice?  Too much TV and screen time?  Too much sugar and processed foods?  I would argue that each of these factors has some impact on childhood behaviour and focus. 

Now there is a new and fairly robust theory, and from my perspective it’s one of the most frightening.  Children whose mothers are exposed to pesticides while they are pregnant are more likely to be destined destined for an ADHD diagnosis.  This recent study published in the Environmental Health Perspectives, shows yet another troubling way in which exposure to organophosphate pesticides can throw the human body into turmoil.

Why do I find this latest finding frightening?  Because organophosphates are everywhere, and it is a rare human being that does not have residues of these powerful chemicals in their bloodstream and tissue.

In this most recent study, researchers tested pregnant women for organophosphate chemicals, and found that the higher the residue in their urine during pregnancy, the more likely their offspring were to have ADHD symptoms at age 5.  A ten times increase in pesticide residues in the mother’s urine, equated to a 500% increase in offspring ADHD by the age of 5.  Interestingly, if the children themselves had organophosphate resides in their urine, but were not exposed in utero, their risk for ADHD still increased, but no as dramatically.  Don’t take too much comfort from this though, as another study demonstrated that children with high organophosphate in the urine were twice as likely as those with undetectable levels to have ADHD.

It hardly seems like rocket science to me.  After all organophosphates are designed to attack the nervous system of bugs, by affecting the neurotransmitters (brain chemicals that carry messages).  One of these affected brain chemicals is acetylcholine, which is vital to the development and function of the human brain.

The good news (yes there is some!) is that swapping to an organic diet during pregnancy, and feeding your children organic fruits and vegetables, will radically decrease organophosphate exposure.  A study in Environmental health Perspectives (2006: 114) looked at pesticide levels in children living in Seattle USA.  For the first five days the children ate their usual shop bought, spayed diet.  For the next five days they ate only organic foods; and finally went back to another 5 days of sprayed foods.  Not surprisingly, researchers found that pesticide residues in their urine were high in the two “conventional food” phases, and virtually non-existent in the organic phase. Take home message?  Organics protect our kids (and us) from damaging and toxic pesticide residues.

In New Zealand the Total Diet Survey has for years demonstrated that our pesticide exposure is many times greater than in other countries.  The 1998 survey estimated Kiwi kids to have organophosphate exposure twenty times greater than their American counterparts! Forget the “clean, green NZ” propaganda.  The truth is that our food and our environment is contaminated with a plethora of agricultural chemicals harmful to our nervous system and hormonal health.

Children actually come out worse off than adults when it comes to pesticide residues, as they eat proportionally more food than adults, and they also tend to eat more fruits and vegetables for their body size.   The latest Total Diet Survey (2003/4) shows that young children get twice as much pesticide in their food compared with adult men.

What to do about all this bad news?  It’s simple really.  Make the choice to pay the extra, and convert your kitchen to organics.  If you can’t go the whole hog, at least convert to organics for the foods most likely to contain organophosphate residues -  bread and wheat products; pears, apples, nectarines, tomatoes, cucumber and lettuce.

Reflux, indigestion, heartburn… whatever you want to call it, it’s a huge pain in the gullet.  It’s also an incredibly common problem plaguing millions of us.  Rather than cut out the coffee, alcohol, rich foods and overeating that contribute to the problem, it’s so much easier to reach for a pill.  And that’s exactly what millions do each day. 

Proton pump inhibitors (PPI’s) are one of the most widely used class of drugs for reflux and stomach ulcer pain.  They include drugs such as Nexium, Prilosec and Prevacid.  In many western countries PPI’s are one of the most commonly prescribed drugs, and in America alone, 2009 sales reached   $13.6 billion.

When your stomach and chest feel like they’re about to burst into flames, do these drugs work?  Yes… they give fairly rapid relief, and prevent ongoing acute episodes of heartburn.  What many don’t realize though, is that these drugs come with some very real side effects and risks.

PPI’s bring their sweet relief by suppressing your stomach production of hydrochloric acid, needed to digest food. Tinkering with stomach acid can lead to some unexpected outcomes, one of which is an increased risk of a really nasty intestinal infection from the bacteria Clostridium difficile.  For some this hard to treat infection will just cause a major case of diarrhea.  For others the outcome may be the surgical removal the colon, or death.

Then there’s the problem of snapping bones with long term or high dose use of PPI’s.  The FDA have just issued a warning that these drugs increase your risk of fracturing your hip, wrist or spine.  The research behind the warning stretches way back to 2007 when a large study demonstrated that those using PPI’s for a year increased their risk of hip fracture by a whopping 44%.

Why?  Because these drugs reduce hydrochloric acid in the stomach, making it difficult to absorb calcium.

So rather than rely on months or years of these drugs to control your digestive problems, try taking some proactive steps yourself.  Cut out all the foods known to trigger reflux – tomato, citrus, chocolate, tea, coffee, alcohol and spicy foods are top of the list.  Cut down your portion size, and start to actually chew your food before you swallow.  Avoid drinking anything for a half hour before or after your meals.  If you’ve still got a problem try a course of high potency quality probiotics for a month to six weeks, and augment with digestive enzymes if needed. 

Lynda Wharton is a registered acupuncturist and naturopath specializing in woman’s health issues.  She is also a widely published columnist and author.  Her latest book “Wellbeing” is available at www.lyndawharton.com