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What is Helicobacter pylori ?
Helicobacter
pylori is a 'gram negative' bacterium whose overwhelming
presence has only recently been recognised. In western
countries 30-50 percent of the population are infected,
with older persons and those from lower socio-economic
groups having a higher rate of infection.
Those people with blood
group type O have a predilection for infection and,
amongst professional groups, dentists have the highest
rate of infection, as many people harbour Helicobacter
pylori in their gums.
In developing countries,
approximately 80 percent of adults are infected. These
statistics indicate the enormous problem of Helicobacter
pylori. How do you acquire Helicobacter pylori?
To date the mode of
transmission remains unclear. Most probably you acquired
the bacterium in childhood by close family contact and
it has remained dormant inside you. Some claim that
contaminated food and water can be a source, but this
remains unsubstantiated.
What does Helicobacter
pylori do ?
It is important to
indicate that many people are asymptomatically infected.
This means that they may have the organism but it doesn't
cause any problems.
Only a subset of people
will develop disease processes and these include the
following: non-ulcer dyspepsia, gastritis, peptic ulcer
disease and gastric cancer.
Dyspepsia means discomfort
associated with digestion and if you suffer from such
symptoms as pain just below your ribcage, nausea, bloating,
or night pain relieved by antacid, chances are you have
dyspepsia.
Gastritis is inflammation
of the lining of the stomach and involves the sensation
of epigastric pain. Dyspepsia and gastritis are the
early stages of the disease and it takes some years
before ulcers are formed.
The possible progression
to cancer occurs at a much later time.
Who gets the disease
and how does it happen?
Just who gets this
disease remains unclear at this point.
However, It is known
that people with blood group type O have a higher incidence
of actual pathology. They tend to develop more ulcers.
Helicobacter pylori
has an especial liking for the lining of the stomach
where it secretes an enzyme called urease to protect
itself from stomach acid. What you are trying to do
is produce enough stomach acid to destroy the bacterium,
while the bacterium uses the urease to develop a protective
ammonia cloud around it.
The organism then gives
off other enzymes that cause damage to your cells. The
stomach keeps on producing acid to try and neutralise
the bug and an almighty war ensues. 'Jeffrey Bland'
in a series of audio-cassette tapes has a very interesting
theory on how this battle unfolds.
What happens as you
produce more acid is that your white cells, which traditionally
fight foreign invaders, migrate to the area in droves
and take up arms to assist your stomach acid. They release
superoxides to try and kill the bug and the superoxides
cause free-radical damage, ultimately resulting in the
formation of ulcers.
It is not Helicobacter
pylori itself that causes the problem but, rather, the
body's attempt to defend itself. In the long term, when
the supply of acid is exhausted, the cells lining the
stomach undergo changes that result in the development
of cancer.
If the development
of peptic ulcers and cancer is the result of free-radical
damage, can you do anything to arrest this process?
If stomach acid secretion is initially increased and
then exhausted, what can you do to augment your natural
defences so that that it doesn't happen?
How do you know
whether you have Helicobacter pylori ?
If you have any of
the symptoms mentioned earlier which include epigastric
pain, bloating, belching, fullness after small meals,
halitosis (bad breath), nausea and vomiting, then it
is worthwhile having a test to see whether Helicobacter
pylori is present.
A simple non-invasive
breath test is now available with which most general
practitioners are familiar. Ensure that you have the
test using non-radioactive substances.
What do you do if
the test is positive?
Some specialists would
only treat you if you have proof of an ulcer and you
would need an endoscopy to diagnose this.
Others would say that
if you have symptoms as indicated and your breath test
is positive, then you should undergo treatment. This
involves a two week course of antibiotics (more than
one), a drug which suppresses acid secretion as well
as colloidal bismuth.
Remember that antibiotics
destroy beneficial bacteria, suppressing acid secretion
is detrimental to the absorption of protein, minerals
and vitamins and an extra strain is also placed on your
liver by this regimen.
The good news is that
the efficacy of eradicating the organism with this approach
is approximately 90 per cent. By using such a shotgun
approach, it is obvious that what actually eliminates
Helicobacter pylori is much of a mystery.
There are alternative
treatments involving such herbs as garlic, thyme, propolis,
golden seal and grapefruit seed extract as well as homeopathic
remedies. These approaches take longer to work, are
less effective than medical treatments but have far
fewer side effects.
What can you do
to enhance your body's natural process ?
As with other bacteria,
there are times when conventional medical treatments,
as potent as they are, fail to work due to the development
of resistance. The organism has learnt to outsmart the
medical attack, so it is necessary to utilise even bigger
guns, with greater side effects.
In some circles, this
phenomenon is considered so serious that vaccines are
being developed to prevent the establishment of the
organism. The goal is to eliminate Helicobacter pylori
from the face of the earth, just as smallpox was eliminated.
Jeffrey Bland goes
on to indicate in the audio-tape series that just what
is involved in the development of gastric cancer, aside
from low acid secretion, is the elaboration of toxic
compounds called nitrosamines which are generated by
the body's response to the presence of Helicobacter
pylori.
One of the ways this
can be prevented is to take large amounts of vitamin
C along with other antioxidants. Bland suggests that
having completed medical treatment, high levels of antioxidants
together with such probiotics as acidophilus and bifidus
be administered.
The lining of the gut,
which can be damaged both by Helicobacter pylori and
the treatment, should be restored using such nutrients
as zinc, vitamin A and the amino acid glutamine. Normal
hydrochloric function should be re-established using
bitter herbs.
As Helicobacter pylori
is so widespread, should we be attacking the organism
or the landscape? Its existence does not always lead
to disease and it is prudent to remember the wisdom
of Pasteur, who embraced the need for a healthy environment
rather than treating the infection.
In other words, if
you have a healthy gut, the mere presence of the organism
is unlikely to lead to disease.
Candida
albicans
Bondi
Family Health Centre
Phone 02 9365 1333
Int: 612 9365 1333
260a Bondi Road
Bondi NSW 2066
AUSTRALIA
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