Twenty percent of the population uses pump inhibitors and in most cases they are absolutely useless. In the world today there is an excess of prescriptions for pump inhibitors and gastric protectors. It has been discovered that the cause of GERD (Gastro-esophageal reflux disease) in many patients is an allergy or a food intolerance that increases the number of eosinophils. The only therapy is diet. All others amount to a waste of money and possible damage.

Italian version

Just as we've suspected for many years, the excessive amount of prescriptions for proton pump inhibitors (the well-known gastric protectors) to treat reflux disease is often useless.

Today, a gastric protector is freely prescribed to all. A person doesn't need to have anything more than a slightly irritated tongue to receive a prescription for a gastric protector. "He must have a bit of reflux" a doctor will often say, and the unsuspecting patient takes a product that probably won't help the problem and in many cases will actually worsen the true original cause of the condition: food hypersensitivity with a consequential increase in eosinophils and resulting esophageal spasm.

Aside from the fact that when we have a gastric or esophageal irritation and we only treat the stomach, the intestine continues to suffer and continues to have a potential for harm. Unfortunately, it's been scientifically proven that taking antacids, gastric protectors, and pump inhibitors increases food intolerances and the risk of even serious allergy.

 A recent study performed in California (Aceves SS, et al,  J Clin Gastroenterol 2007 Mar;41(3):252-6), showing that in many cases and most of all in youths, the diagnosis of Gastro-esophageal reflux is actually false and that the real cause is the increase in esosinophils in the digestive mucosa due to food allergy, complicated the problem.

Food hypersensitivities are a much greater reality in our lives than many doctors would have us believe. The use of potentially harmful medicines like the ones discussed above to appease a symptom without treating the real cause may have great appeal for pharmaceutical producers, but could become a real tragedy for people.

Italian version