The study is new… but the sobering facts aren’t.
Recent research out of several UK universities, along with Baylor College of Medicine in Texas, has found a “consistent association” between taking acid-suppressing PPI drugs and developing liver cancer.
This finding comes at the same time the CDC is reporting that the overall death rate for cancer is going down – except for liver cancer, which has gone up during the last 16 years by over 40 percent.
But perhaps the worst part is that the link between cancer and PPIs such as Nexium, Prevacid, and Prilosec isn’t new.
In fact, it was suspected decades ago, even before these meds were approved by the FDA!
Despite those early warnings, however, they’ve gone from carefully controlled Rx drugs to buy-all-you-want OTC versions in an unbelievably short time.
If you’re now taking a PPI, hopefully these findings will be the final straw that convinces you to boot these extremely dangerous meds out of your life for good.
Breaking a ‘taboo’
Of all the risky pharmaceuticals the FDA has approved over the years, there aren’t many that sell as well as proton pump inhibitors – especially since they’ve gone OTC!
Millions of Americans pop some brand of PPI daily. In fact, they’re the most widely used medications on the market.
But before you could find them sitting out on the shelf in most any store – actually even before they landed behind the pharmacy counter, where they required a prescription – there was a worry about these drugs and stomach cancer.
A big worry.
During research with omeprazole (now sold as Prilosec) in the 1980s, tumors turned up in the acid-producing part of the stomach in lab rats. This was a significant finding that slammed the brakes on clinical trials that were going on at the time.
However, in a move that one well-respected gastroenterologist describes as breaking a “taboo” by allowing a drug on the market that caused cancerous tumors in test animals, that finding was brushed aside as only being significant in rats, not humans.
Another study done in rats years later turned up cancer again, this time in the liver.
Now, researchers from the UK and the U.S. have found that people who pop PPIs are at double the risk of developing liver cancer.
And unbelievably, only one other study has even attempted to look for a risk of liver cancer from these drugs in people. It’s like those earlier findings never existed.
Although the scientists behind the new study say that the cause of this deadly association is still not clear, they did mention several possibilities — including one called “hypergastrinemia,” an overproduction of the hormone gastrin, which is known to be caused by long-term PPI use (and also mentioned as a possible factor behind the stomach-cancer findings in the 1980s research).
While gastrin is required for proper digestion, too much, according to the researchers, has been shown “to have a carcinogenic effect,” especially on liver cells.
Another possibility, one very similar to a finding I told you about last year, is that by reducing acid secretion, you’re promoting the “survival of various microbes in the stomach” that are linked to a worsening of liver disease.
As an eAlert reader, you know that we’ve been sounding the alarm about how PPI meds can inflict harm on practically every part of your body, from upping your risk of pneumonia, esophageal cancer, heart attack, and stroke… to zapping your immune function… and setting the stage for a bout with the deadly bacterium C. diff.
Now, we can add liver cancer to that list.
It’s quite obvious that ditching these drugs for good has never been more important. But stopping a PPI can come with its own side effect, one called rebound acid hypersecretion, especially if done too quickly.
That’s why you need to taper your dose down slowly, never stopping cold turkey, which can make your acid problem worse than ever before.
But there are several proven steps you can take to reduce excess stomach acid naturally.
One is to cut back on foods and drinks that are acidic, such as coffee, citrus, tomatoes, and aged cheeses.
Other methods include sipping on a glass of water with an added tablespoon of apple cider vinegar, eating smaller portions of food, dining earlier in the evening, and not lying down right after a meal.
HSI panel member Dr. Glenn Rothfeld also recommends taking a form of licorice called DGL, which comes in tablets meant to be chewed several times a day, and plain old baking soda mixed into water.
Dr. Rothfeld is also a fan of pancreatic digestive enzymes and, if needed, supplemental bile acids that can assist with digestion so your dinner doesn’t come back “to haunt you.”
As I said last year, there are plenty of ways to address excess acid. But when your liver has reached the point of no return, you have very few options.
“Yet another PPI complication: Acid-suppressing drugs and liver cancer?” Joe Graedon, August 9, 2018, The People’s Pharmacy, peoplespharmacy.com
