Interviewer: Another very popular class of drugs is for acid reflux, and
you see the commercials, you take a pill before you eat , you can eat
whatever you want. What do those drugs eventually really do?
Dr. Murray: It's sad, it's sad because you know direct to consumer
advertising is creating some big sellers in the drug world and the ads look
and sound great, but many times they're creating more harm than good. If we
have indigestion, rarely is it a result of too much acid. When we take an
acid blocking drug, we're suppressing a very important aspect of our
digestive process. So, when that happens, it leads to problems and studies
have shown that when people start taking these drugs, their risk for gastro-
intestinal infections and upper-respiratory infections increases
dramatically. Their risk for fractures increase dramatically and their risk
for nutrient deficiencies increase and that could mean a likelihood of
developing a more catastrophic illness later on in life, like Alzheimer's
disease. So, I really think it's a perfect example of going down the path
of symptom relief rather than trying to understand and figure out what's
going on that's causing the symptom and address that. Many times, people
that are taking these acid blocking drugs would actually benefit from
taking some hydrochloric acid, from taking some stomach acid themselves and
that might be enough to improve their digestive process to eliminate the
symptoms. Sometimes, acid indigestion is caused by reflux, sometimes it's
caused by an overgrowth of a bacteria called H. pylori. There are things
that we can do from a natural perspective that I think makes a whole lot
more sense than taking a drug to block an important body process.