Today's Sunday Telegraph (UK) article on antacids and food allergies

[Guest guest]

I thought people who have been using acid reducing meds for some while

might be interested in reading this from today's paper:

 

 

Anti-indigestion pills blamed for food allergy cases

By Michael Day, Health Correspondent

(Filed: 28/09/2003)

 

Indigestion pills, such as Rennie and Zantac, are contributing to the

sharp rise in the number of people suffering from food allergies,

according to a study from Austrian academics.

 

The research indicates that acid-reducing treatments, which also

include Settlers, Pepcid and prescribed drugs such as Losec, allow food

which has been only partially digested to enter the digestive system.

 

This can then trigger allergic reactions that range from a rash to

fatal anaphylactic shock. The scientists who conducted the study say

that this problem is exacerbated by the consumption of exotic new

foods, which can further disrupt the immune system.

 

Erika Jensen-Jarolim, a professor of medicine and immunology at the

University of Vienna, who led the research, said that warnings should

be added as a matter of urgency to tablets that neutralise acid or stop

its production in the stomach.

 

Her call follows a controlled study of 300 people which found that

people who took medicines to combat indigestion and heartburn were much

more likely to develop allergies to food.

 

" These products are very important for patients with conditions such as

ulcers. But for other people - particularly those who buy these

medicines without prescription - a warning should be put on the

packets, " she said.

 

Other studies carried out by the professor suggest that the risk may be

heightened by the consumption of exotic foods, of which the body has

little or no experience.

 

" Food allergy can be very, very serious. We've all heard of

life-threatening anaphylactic shocks to nuts, and in Europe, celeriac

and sometimes exotic fruit. Patients who take these products should be

warned of the risk, " she said.

 

Barry Kay, a professor of allergy and clinical immunology at the

Imperial College School of Medicine in London, said: " This work should

be taken seriously. "

 

Prof Jensen-Jarolim's study, which was completed recently, tested the

effect of ranitidine - a drug which produces a similar effect to Rennie

and other indigestion pills by lowering acid in the stomach - on 153

people. A similar number were given a placebo.

 

None of the 300 participants had shown any signs of allergy to the test

foods before the study. Her team then checked all the participants to

see if they developed a food allergy during the next eight months.

 

Many of those on ranitidine developed food allergy symptoms or the

changes in the immune system that precede them. None of the placebo

patients became allergic to any foodstuffs.

 

" Even one of the doctors, who was initially sceptical about a link, who

carried out the research for me was impressed by the strength of the

findings, " said Prof Jensen-Jarolim.

 

" I don't want to frighten people, but I think people should be aware of

this. People using antacids or medicines that block acid production

should at least stick to their basic diet, to things that they know. "

 

The professor's findings have been reinforced by a separate study, to

be published this week in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical

Immunology, which found that mice which were given ranitidine and

omeprazole, another acid-reducing medicine, frequently developed

allergic symptoms.

 

Prof Joe Collier, a pharmacologist at St George's Medical School in

London, who is also the editor of the Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin,

said: " This is an extremely interesting result: food allergies are such

a growing concern. "

 

Ranitidine and the prescription-only drug omeprazole, which cut the

production of stomach acid, are taken by tens of millions of people

around the world, and have transformed the fortunes of the drug

companies which designed them, GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca

respectively.

 

The Austrian researchers fear, however, that these medicines and

simpler products, such as acid-neutralising indigestion tablets, are

having an unseen effect on people's digestive systems.

 

To digest food, the stomach relies on large quantities of gastric acid.

This allows a key enzyme called pepsin to break down proteins into

simpler substances so that they can be absorbed through the gut. Early

in childhood, the gut, which is a vital part of the immune system,

learns to recognise these broken-down foodstuffs as essential nutrients

and is programmed not to react to them.

 

If the gut is suddenly presented with undigested foods, particularly

exotic ones in adulthood, there is a chance it might react in a hostile

way, thus triggering an allergic response, according to Prof

Jensen-Jarolim's theory.

 

A report earlier this year by the Royal College of Physicians warned

that record levels of allergy in Britain, including reactions to food,

had left the National Health Service struggling to cope.

 

Exact figures are not available, but Anaphylaxis Campaign, a patients'

group, estimates that at least 500,000 Britons suffer severe reactions

to certain foods.

 

A spokesman for GlaxoSmithKline, which makes Zantac and Settlers, said:

" All the products we produce have been put through very, very extensive

clinical trials and have been approved by government licensing bodies.

 

" We would be very surprised if these effects were occurring, because

they would probably have been spotted by now, but we have an open mind

and we also look at new research. Our number one concern is safety and

if we thought this was something that was causing a problem we would

act quickly. "

 

Mary Wheeler, the medical affairs manager for Roche Healthcare, which

makes Rennie, also insisted that its pills were safe.

 

" If there was a problem with acid-lowering treatments I think there

would have been some evidence of it by now, " she said.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The link to the article is here:

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/09/28/

wtums28.xml & sSheet=/portal/2003/09/28/ixportal.html

 

or if that link has wrapped and won't work, try this one and wait to be

taken there:

 

http://makeashorterlink.com/?O2AA11806

 

 

Sophie

 

 

 

If you take the game of life seriously, if you take your nervous system

seriously, if you take your sense organs seriously, if you take the

energy process seriously, you must turn on, tune in, and drop out -

(advice to be taken loosely...)

 

Timothy Leary U.S. psychologist, The Politics of Ecstasy, ch. 21 (1968)

" Do not let either the medical authorities or the politicians mislead

you. Find out what the facts are, and make your own decisions about how

to live a happy life and how to work for a better world. " - Linus

Pauling