by Ela Gold | Jun 7, 2024 | HGA |
The immune system is a sophisticated defense network that protects the body against bacteria, viruses, toxins, and even cancer. Composed of specialized cells, organs, and biochemical responses, it is essential for survival. Understanding its functions, measuring its efficiency, and learning how to strengthen it can help maintain optimal health.
Role of Immune System
The immune system shields the body from external and internal threats. Without it, survival would be impossible—patients with severely compromised immunity, such as those undergoing chemotherapy for leukemia, must live in isolation and rely on antibiotics to prevent infections.
Components of the Immune System
The immune system is a vast network involving various cells, organs, and biochemical messengers. Every hormone, vitamin, and mineral influences its function. Despite years of research, its complexity is still not fully understood.
The immune system is divided into two main parts:
Innate (Nonspecific) Immunity
This first line of defense includes:
- Physical barriers like the skin, respiratory tract mucus, and tear fluid.
- Phagocytes, which engulf and break down pathogens.
- The complement system, a group of over 30 proteins that fight microorganisms.
Acquired (Specific) Immunity
This develops over time as the body learns to recognize and combat new pathogens. Excessive hygiene and constant use of disinfectants may hinder this system, making the body less prepared for real threats.
How the Immune System Responds
When a pathogen enters the body, the immune system initiates a response:
- If the same pathogen returns, the acquired immune system reacts swiftly, often preventing illness altogether.
- Innate immunity acts immediately to control the threat.
- Acquired immunity takes 4-7 days to fully respond, creating antibodies for future defense.
White Blood Cells (Leukocytes)
Leukocytes are crucial to the immune system. Unlike red blood cells, they patrol for pathogens in both blood and lymphatic fluid. When they detect a threat, they multiply and call for reinforcements. Produced in the bone marrow, they also mature in the thymus, spleen, tonsils, small intestine, appendix, and lymph nodes. There are two main types of leukocytes: phagocytes and lymphocytes (4 ) ( 6 ).
- Phagocytes: These include neutrophils, monocytes, and macrophages. They engulf and break down pathogens.
- Lymphocytes: These include B cells (producing antibodies), T cells (killing infected cells and regulating immune responses), and natural killer cells (destroying non-self cells).
The Gut’s Role in Immunity
The intestines house a significant portion of the immune system, including the gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT) and beneficial bacteria. A balanced microbiome strengthens immunity, whereas an unhealthy gut can contribute to immune disorders.
Microbial Diversity and Immunity
The gut microbiome forms a protective barrier against harmful intruders. Research suggests that decreased microbial diversity may contribute to immune-related diseases such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, allergies, and asthma.
Measuring Immune System Strength
There is no single test to determine immune function. However, indicators such as white blood cell counts and specialized tests for T and B lymphocytes provide some insights.
- Low leukocyte levels may indicate viral infections, autoimmune diseases, or medication side effects.
- High leukocyte levels could signal bacterial infections, leukemia, or chronic stress.
- Gut flora analysis can provide information about microbial balance but cannot definitively measure immune strength.
Rather than focusing on measuring the immune system, strengthening it is far more beneficial.
How to Strengthen the Immune System
1. Nutrient-Rich Diet
A well-balanced diet rich in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants supports immune function. Specific nutrients like vitamin C, vitamin D, zinc, and selenium play key roles in immune defense.
2. Gut Health and Probiotics
Since the gut is central to immunity, maintaining a healthy microbiome is essential. Probiotics help by:
Natural probiotic sources include yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, cheese, and pickles.
3. Microbiome Diversity
A varied diet rich in plant fibers (such as psyllium husk, Kfibre, konjac noodles, and tapioca) promotes microbial diversity, strengthening immune defenses.
4. Stress Management
Chronic stress weakens the immune system. Practices such as meditation, deep breathing, and regular exercise can enhance immune resilience.
5. Colon Hydrotherapy
Colon cleansing removes toxins and fosters an environment where beneficial bacteria can thrive, further supporting immune function.
When the Immune System Malfunctions
Autoimmune Diseases
In autoimmune conditions like Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, Crohn’s disease, and rheumatoid arthritis, the immune system mistakenly attacks the body’s own tissues.
Allergies
An overactive immune system may mistakenly react to harmless substances like pollen, animal dander, or certain foods, leading to allergies.
Conclusion
The immune system is a complex and highly adaptable network vital for survival. Strengthening it through proper nutrition, gut health, stress management, and holistic approaches like colon hydrotherapy can significantly enhance its function. By supporting microbial diversity and maintaining a balanced lifestyle, you can give your immune system the tools it needs to protect you effectively.
by Ela Gold | May 17, 2024 | HGA |
In most cases, diseases and so-called age-related complaints are not the result of age or certain genetic make-ups, but of waste products in the organism. With us you will therefore find various options for deacidifying the body.
Deacidification is the first step
Almost every clinical picture and also every visual change that goes hand in hand with the aging process can be traced back to hyperacidity or the associated functional disorders of the organism.
So it doesn’t matter whether you suffer from arteriosclerosis, intervertebral disc problems, high blood pressure, depression, diabetes, hair loss, caries, neurodermatitis, irritable bowel syndrome or even just sweaty feet, wrinkles, obesity, cellulite and bad mood, hyperacidity is involved in your problem – especially if it is chronic.
This, in turn, means that deacidification is one of the first steps that can effectively contribute to solving your problem! If the body is overloaded with acids and waste products, these must first be removed. Only then can the organism function properly again and regain its very own ability to regulate.
Why deacidification?
But how do excess acids and stored waste come about in the first place? Which processes make deacidification necessary?
Every organism needs nutrients that it can convert into energy. That’s why we eat every day. The body takes what it needs from our food (nutrients, vital substances, water, etc.), and throws the rest out (through the skin, lungs, kidneys, intestines).
If we are able to remove this residue from our body easily and completely, then we are doing well, we remain young, healthy, efficient and vital.
However, if there are so many residues (= waste products) during the daily metabolism that our body cannot remove them all, then these waste products must be stored somewhere temporarily.
The body says to itself: “I’ll put this here in the connective tissue, tomorrow I’m sure I’ll have more time, then I’ll take out the garbage.” Unfortunately, he doesn’t have time tomorrow because there is more waste than he can dispose of that day.
And so, after a certain period of time, veritable mountains of garbage pile up in the human body, which disrupt all functions of the organism and can also damage the cells. The body is less and less able to maintain its healthy balance, let alone regain it.
The reservoir of connective tissue (fascia) is eventually full. So the organism pushes the waste products into the joints, which can lead to arthritis and osteoarthritis. Waste products also accumulate in the kidneys, bile or bladder, which is particularly visible when kidney stones, gallstones or bladder stones grow there.
Waste products are stored under the skin, where they increase the oxidative stress of the cells. In connection with a lack of antioxidants, vital substances and nutrients, wrinkles or – in the case of connective tissue weakness – cellulite are now forming.
Oxidative stress is also noticeable in the blood vessels and leads to cracks in the vessel walls. Chronic inflammation, together with the dysfunction of the body caused by waste products, also means that it can no longer regulate its blood clotting properly. Atherosclerosis develops and with it the risk of thrombosis, as well as heart attack and stroke.
After a week, it may not be noticeable. After a month it becomes critical and after a year you can no longer enter your kitchen.
The body, however, is much more patient than a kitchen and, in contrast to the kitchen, also has “self-cleaning mechanisms”. It is only when these subside that the mountain of garbage begins to grow, making you age faster and making you sick.
The aging process and the diseases associated with it are therefore often nothing more than an accumulation of absorbed waste products.
In our modern world, these wastes often consist of acids. How even a single glass of an acid-forming lemonade can put the body’s own balance to the test, will show in the following experiment:
Hyperacidity explained simply with the cola experiment
Take a 40-liter bucket of water. The water should have a slightly alkaline pH of 7.4. Now pour a glass of cola (300ml) into the water and measure the pH value now. What do you find? The pH of the contents of the bucket has dropped to 4.6.
The body of a 70-kilogram person happens to consist of about 40 liters of water, which has a pH of about 7.4.
How many people do you know who pour far more than just a glass of Coke into themselves every day and are still alive? If their body fluids suddenly had a pH value of 4.6, then these people would no longer be happily walking around, but would be lying in the nearest morgue.
So the organism does a masterful job every day by keeping the blood pH value between 7.35 and 7.45 constant – no matter what happens.
By the way, Cola was just ONE example of the acid-forming effect of all the things that arrive in the body every day with the modern diet. All other soft drinks aren’t much better. Alcoholic and caffeinated beverages are also acidic, as are store-bought fruit juices.
In addition, every sugary or floury snack, every processed dairy product, every bratwurst, every hamburger, every pizza, every ready-made dressing, every sweet dessert and every home-style menu of pasta, meat and sauce is over-acidified.
Other factors that can promote hyperacidity are, for example, permanent stress, worries and fears.
Do you now understand why the drugs of conventional medicine may alleviate symptoms temporarily, but – especially with chronic complaints – cannot really cure?
Deacidification gets to the root of the problem
Medication does not remedy the causal problem of hyperacidity (and intestinal waste accumulation). So the human being continues to live as before, still over-acidified, becomes sicker and sicker, takes pills, but then suffers the next illness because of their side effects.
In order not to have to reveal its own helplessness, conventional medicine simply refers to all the diseases that it cannot cure as age-related complaints or as genetically determined and thus incurable.
These include, but are not limited to, heart disease, cancer, atherosclerosis, high blood pressure, diabetes, arthritis, kidney disease, many digestive problems, hemorrhoids, asthma, hay fever, allergies, headaches, eczema, gum disease, etc.
Many Japanese doctors, on the other hand, say that all diseases that are not caused by bacteria and viruses are caused by too many acids in the body (although bacteria and viruses also prefer to settle where the acid-alkaline balance is bad).
So when Western doctors say that the cause of this or that disease is unknown or hidden in the genetic make-up, then in many cases you can confidently assume that the cause is a high-grade, decades-long hyperacidity (in combination with a compromised digestive system).
This is wonderful news! Because you can do something about hyperacidity. In the same way, you can get your digestive system back in shape and strengthen your immune system in this way.
So what do we need to do to stay healthy and young? Correct! To remove the waste products and acids from the body, to reverse the hyperacidity, to tackle a thorough deacidification and in this way to move inexorably towards health and power.
Deacidification of the body
With a comprehensive deacidification program, you can reverse the development that has begun towards illness and old age. After just one to three months, you will feel significantly younger, healthier and more vital.
Proper deacidification consists of three steps:
- We stop the flood of acids and ensure with an alkaline or alkaline surplus diet that from now on fewer acid-forming substances enter our body so that no new waste products can form. You should also maintain the alkaline excess diet AFTER your 1 to 3 month deacidification program. Many wastes can only be broken down slowly, which can only happen in the course of a base-surplus lifestyle of several months.
- We reduce those factors that – in addition to diet – also acidify, such as stress, worries and unnecessary medications.
- We also ensure that the acids and waste products that have been produced in the past and stored in the body can be completely eliminated with the help of an effective and comprehensive deacidification program – until the organism has regained its ability to regulate itself.
What happens during and after deacidification?
When waste products and acids leave the body, when alkaline minerals and high-quality food enter the body instead, many things happen at once. Here is a small selection:
- Obesity often only exists as a result of hyperacidity. Deacidify, then excess weight will melt away practically all by itself.
- Your skin becomes firmer with deacidification, nails become firmer and hair loss is a thing of the past.
- Allergies, headaches and many other chronic diseases are alleviated by deacidification and can be further reduced with subsequent intestinal cleansing.
- Rheumatic pain often subsides significantly within the first few days of deacidification.
- Also, please don’t be surprised if you suddenly need weaker glasses after thorough deacidification and a change in diet.
- Contagious diseases or recurring fungal infections can also be prevented in the future or only break out to a lesser extent, because regular deacidification in combination with an alkaline-surplus lifestyle strengthens the immune system and the body becomes so vital that bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites no longer stand a chance. In addition, a good acid-alkaline balance ensures that the right pH values prevail in both the intestine and the vagina. Under these conditions, it is no longer possible for fungi to settle there.
- Acids and waste products increase blood clotting. They therefore make the blood thicker and thus increase the risk of arteriosclerosis. The fine blood vessels (capillaries) can become clogged. If you now carry out a deacidification, your blood will quickly become thinner again (which immediately relieves your heart). But the deposits are still there.
- Very slowly, however, the blocked blood vessels are cleared again. This process can take years. Whether deposits can also be completely removed depends on the severity of the deposits and on many other personal conditions (age, state of health, etc.).
However, remember one thing: if one fine day you reach wastes that are 10 years old and get them out of your body, then you will automatically feel 10 years younger. Deacidification is therefore worthwhile! Have fun with it.
Deacidification of the body with the right deacidification program
As mentioned above, deacidification is accompanied and supported by an alkaline or alkaline diet. You can read how such a diet can be designed here: Alkaline diet
Of course, you also try to avoid stress during your deacidification program.
Choose a deacidification program that suits you now! Our Practitioners will help you to choose the ideal deacidification program for you.
First of all, the planned duration is important. Do you want to deacidify for four weeks? Or would you rather take your time and deacidify over a period of 3 months? Would you also like to gently deacidify? Or would you like to deacidify intensively?
Gentle deacidification programs consist of an alkaline tea, the highly alkaline Sango sea coral for remineralization of the body and an alkaline bath for deacidification via the skin.
Deacidification programs, which not only deacidify extra- and intracellularly, but also take care of cell protection during deacidification and a balanced nutrition of the cell, also provide antioxidants as well as holistic dietary supplements such as spirulina.
Intensive deacidification programs deacidify on several levels, stimulate the organism to produce its own bases and even detoxify at the same time. In addition, like the previously mentioned programs, they provide cell protection and cell nutrition. Nevertheless, such intensive deacidification should be carried out for only four weeks.
Accelerating deacidification with nine tips
Deacidification programs are therefore available in different versions: there are deacidification programs with an alkaline bath and those without, there are programs with a body brush for dry brush massages and those without, programs with alkaline tea and those without, etc.
Depending on which program you choose, you can choose additional measures from the following tips that can accelerate and support your own personal and individual deacidification enormously:
Tip 1 for deacidification: Choose a holistic alkaline powder
To additionally enrich your diet with high-quality alkaline substances, you can sprinkle an alkaline powder like Barley Grass over every meal.
Tip 2 for deacidification: Drink alkaline tea
You start the day with an alkaline morning tea and end it with an alkaline evening tea.
Tip 3 for deacidification: Use alkaline body care
If possible, use alkaline body care products
Perform dry brush massages, which will activate your entire lymphatic system and massively promote deacidification. As a little bonus, you get velvety soft skin.
Tip 5 for deacidification: Choose holistic alkaline minerals
To neutralize acids, the organism normally uses the body’s own buffers, such as sodium bicarbonate. In the case of hyperacidity, these body’s own regulatory mechanisms no longer function optimally.
Acids are now neutralized with the help of alkaline minerals such as magnesium or calcium. However, the modern way of life often provides far too few alkaline minerals for the maintenance of normal bodily functions.
If alkaline minerals have to be used to neutralize huge, completely unnatural amounts of acids, then there will be serious base shortages. The body now has to borrow alkaline minerals (e.g. calcium) from its own mineral reserves, e.g. from its own bone substance.
That’s basically not a problem – as long as the alkaline minerals can be returned to the bones (or other tissues) as soon as possible. Catastrophically, however, this does NOT happen.
Every day too many acids come in with unhealthy food, every day too few alkaline minerals arrive and every day minerals are borrowed from the bone substance or from other endogenous mineral deposits. And these loans are NEVER returned.
So the body MUST neutralize the resulting acids – no matter what the cost. As is well known, the blood must ALWAYS be slightly alkaline, i.e. have a pH value of 7.35 to 7.45, any other value is life-threatening for the body. Therefore, the resulting acids are neutralized IMMEDIATELY – even if it is at the expense of the bone substance. The organism doesn’t care about that at first. He has to survive at this moment.
Holistic alkaline minerals such as Sango Marine coral can reverse the depletion of minerals in the body. Finally, the mineral loans can be returned, excess acids are easily neutralized and new mineral stocks can be created.
Tip 6 for deacidification: Take advantage of sports, sauna and massages
Keep in mind that the higher the temperature of your blood, the more waste products your body can excrete. The body temperature can be increased with moderate training, with sauna, with massages or with hot alkaline baths.
Tip 7 for deacidification: Enjoy regular alkaline baths
Relax in an alkaline bath at least two to three times a week. If you don’t have time for a full bath, you should treat yourself to alkaline foot baths. Alkaline baths are often basic components of deacidification programs.
Tip 8 for deacidification: Pay attention to proper breathing
Make sure you breathe slowly and consciously, as carbonic acid is exhaled through the lungs in the form of carbon dioxide. If you learn to breathe slowly and consciously (e.g. with rhythmic yoga breathing), then you can already remove some of the daily acids from the body via the lungs.
Tip 9 for deacidification: Use alkaline stockings
The body can also deacidify and detoxify via the soles of the feet. You can support this by further deacidifying with the help of the alkaline stockings during sleep and getting up the next morning with a feeling of lightness. Or using some detox foot patches.
Check the success of deacidification
Check your deacidification success with the help of pH test sticks. You can find out how the pH value can be measured here: pH value measurement
by Ela Gold | May 10, 2024 | HGA |
Hyperacidity (acute acidosis) in medicine
Most conventional physicians and adherents of conventional medicine only know the term hyperacidity in connection with the so-called respiratory or metabolic acidosis, an acute lowering of the pH value of the blood that must be treated immediately. It can develop as a life-threatening complication because of lung diseases, diabetes, alcoholism or kidney disease.
Chronic hyperacidity in naturopathy
The chronic or latent and diet-related hyperacidity described in naturopathy due to too many animal products, too many isolated carbohydrates and, in particular, too many highly processed foods low in vital substances does not have much in common with the acute acidosis described.
It is an acidity that can persist for decades, that is not acutely life-threatening, but can contribute to chronic diseases of all kinds in the long term, and that cannot be remedied in the intensive care unit, but with the help of an alkaline diet, alkaline minerals and other alkaline food supplements (e.g. powder of alkaline herbs, roots and vegetables) within a few weeks or months.
Studies on hyperacidity: Anything but pseudo medicine
When the concept of hyperacidity was examined more closely, the representatives of conventional medicine came to the conclusion: The latent form of hyperacidity is a “pseudo-diagnosis from the environment of pseudo medicine, in this form is not scientifically recognized”. So chronic hyperacidity is considered “a form of disease invention”. Of course, at the same time, deacidifying measures – above all the alkaline diet – are dismissed as pointless. Alkaline products are referred to as money-making.
However, not all conventional physicians do this. And certainly not all scientists. In recent years, several studies by renowned universities have been published in renowned journals that are dedicated to the harmful health effects of diet-related latent hyperacidity and the helpful effects of deacidification.
In the following, we present (chronologically) those studies that have dealt with latent hyperacidity in recent years. None of them came to the conclusion that the hyperacidity could not exist. On the contrary. Time and again, it has been found how harmful chronic hyperacidity is and how well deacidifying measures can improve health.
2006: Deacidification increases bone density
Partial neutralization of the acidogenic Western diet with potassium citrate increases bone mass in postmenopausal women with osteopenia, which means: Neutralization of the acid-forming Western diet with potassium citrate increases bone density in women (postmenopausal) with osteopenia (1), where potassium citrate is an alkaline mineral compound.
The summary of the study reads:
Chronic acid loads are the inevitable consequence of a Western diet high in animal and grain proteins.”
In this study, the effect of deacidifying measures on bone density was examined: The participants were given 1170 mg of potassium citrate per day, divided into three doses, or the same amount of another (non-basic) potassium compound (potassium chloride) in order to rule out the possibility that it was only the potassium that would ultimately work. Both sets of participants were also given a daily dosage of 500 mg of calcium and 400 IU of vitamin D.
In the potassium citrate group, an increase in bone density, e.g. in the femoral neck bone and hip, could be observed after one year. In the potassium chloride group, on the other hand, bone density continued to decline. A significant reduction in urinary calcium excretion was observed in the potassium citrate group, while citrate excretion increased, which is a sign of alkalization of the body. Alkalizing means becoming more alkaline. The researchers’ conclusion was:
Bone density can […] be significantly increased by daily base intake in the form of potassium citrate […].”
As early as 10 years ago, the Swiss scientists assumed diet-related hyperacidity, which can be neutralized with the help of deacidification (by taking alkaline mineral supplements), which leads to improved bone health.
2007: Hyperacidity leads to chronic disease
A year later, a detailed article in Alternative Therapies explained how diet-related hyperacidity leads to a disturbance of the acid-base balance in various areas of the body and ultimately leads to chronic disease, because the organism must always plunder its alkaline reserves in order to be able to neutralize the permanent flood of acids ( 4 ).
Deacidification is recommended with a diet rich in vegetables and alkaline supplements, such as potassium citrate, in order to resupply the body with alkaline reserves. The article was written by at least four scientists, including cardiologist Dr. med. Robert Lerman and labeled as suitable for publication.
2007: Hyperacidity harms bone health
Also in 2007, Dr. oec. troph. Ute Alexy and Prof. Dr. Remer from the Research Institute for Child Nutrition in Dortmund in the journal Pediatric Practice on the “nutrition-related acid load”, which influences bone stability in children and adolescents.
The text begins like this:
Nutrition has an influence on the acid-base balance through the intake of minerals and protein. In addition to the lungs and kidneys, the skeleton also plays an important role in regulating the acid-base balance when there is a high level of nutritional acidity, as minerals from the bone act as additional buffers.”
And after describing the results of the so-called DONALD study, it ends like this:
Obviously, potential negative protein effects on the bones caused by an increased acid load can be significantly compensated for by an adequate intake of alkaline-forming nutrients or foods, especially fruit and vegetables. The results of the DONALD study thus provide a further argument for the abundant consumption of these foods in children and adolescents as well.”
In August 2011, Spanish researchers from the Hospital General Juan Cardona (La Coruña/Galicia) wrote in Clinical Nutrition that the modern Western diet contains too few fruits and vegetables and instead far too many animal products (14). This unfavorable combination leads to an excessive accumulation of non-metabolizable anions (negatively charged particles) and a permanent, but unfortunately often overlooked, acidosis. This would continue to intensify over the course of life, as kidney functions weaken with increasing age and the kidneys are less and less able to drain the acids that accumulate.
According to the researchers, a high level of diet-related acidity can lead to diabetes, high blood pressure and cardiovascular diseases. Other studies have also long since confirmed the connection between insulin resistance and the markers of hyperacidity. Markers of hyperacidity include low serum bicarbonate levels, low citrate levels, and low urine pH levels.
2012: Alkaline diet has many health benefits
Dr. Gerry K. Schwalfenberg published a study in 2012 titled The Alkaline Diet: Is There Evidence That an Alkaline pH Diet Benefits Health? ( 13 ) to find out whether there is already scientific evidence of a health benefit of an alkaline diet.
After reviewing the data available at the time, Schwalfenberg found that an alkaline diet always had the following health benefits:
- Increased consumption of fruits and vegetables, which is common in the alkaline diet, improves the potassium/sodium ratio and can thus benefit bone health, reduce muscle wear and reduce other chronic diseases such as high blood pressure and the risk of stroke.
- The increase in growth hormone levels on an alkaline diet improves the health of many areas of the body – from cardiovascular health to memory and cognitive abilities.
- The level of magnesium in the cell increases over the course of an alkaline diet, which improves the functions of many enzyme systems in the body. Since magnesium is also required to activate vitamin D, the optimized magnesium supply also improves all parameters associated with a suitable vitamin D supply.
- Even some chemotherapy drugs work better when you eat alkaline, as they work best in an alkaline environment.
Schwalfenberg then concluded that it would be very sensible and forward-looking to consider an alkaline diet, as it could reduce the risk of chronic diseases and the resulting early mortality
2013: Hyperacidity damages bones and muscles
In 2013, Scialla et al. of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine School of Medicine in Miami, Florida, wrote that a high acid load from diet can lead to low-grade, subclinical acidosis, which in turn can result in bone and muscle loss. At the beginning of the article, it is described how this form of hyperacidity can form from an acid-rich diet ( 6 ).
2014: Hyperacidity accelerates kidney disease
A year later (2014), eight scientists from different universities wrote for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in BMC Nephrology (a journal for kidney specialists) that diet could have an extraordinary effect on acid-base balance and therefore accelerate chronic kidney disease ( 7 ).
After analyzing data from more than 12,000 participants, the researchers concluded that dietary acid load is an important consideration to consider in future therapies for patients at high risk of chronic kidney disease.
In January 2015, English scientists from the University of Surrey published a meta-analysis in the journal Osteoporosis International, in which they refer to 14 studies in which the effect of basic potassium compounds on calcium metabolism was investigated ( 8 ).
Overall, it could be summarized that supplementation with alkaline potassium compounds (which are taken during deacidification, for example) leads to a significant reduction in calcium excretion via the kidneys and therefore automatically leads to improved bone health.
Excessive accumulation of acid in the body, which is the result of a typical Western diet of abundant animal proteins and cereal products, favors the development of weak and brittle bones”
according to the researchers led by Dr. Helen Lambert from the Faculty of Nutrition in Surrey.
Our research showed that potassium compounds can prevent osteoporosis, and eating more fruits and vegetables is also a very good way to improve bone strength and prevent bone fragility.”
2016: Hyperacidity increases risk of cardiovascular disease
In a Korean study, the scientists involved report in the journal Cardiovascular Diabetology on the connection between diet-related hyperacidity and the resulting increased risk of cardiovascular diseases. Other risk factors such as obesity, lack of exercise or insulin resistance had previously been ruled out ( 3 ).
2016: Hyperacidity damages the kidneys
In Korea they did a study of 123,000 participants that found that diet-induced hyperacidity stresses the kidneys by leading to increased renal hyperfiltration (RHF) of the kidneys – an early but possibly reversible symptom of chronic kidney disease.
The diet-related acid load was determined using the so-called eNEAP (estimated net endogenous acid production). The higher the acidity values, the stronger the RHRF – regardless of gender and age. It was also found that animal proteins increased RHF, while vegetable proteins reduced it.
Hyperacidity has also been scientifically proven
So you can see that there has long been convincing scientific evidence on diet-related acidosis, which has been so strongly doubted. This means that chronic hyperacidity does not only exist in naturopathic or alternative medicine circles, but also in the scientific world of conventional medicine and is therefore also taken into account by some doctors in the therapy of chronic diseases.
Of course, you can now continue to believe those who still want to remain of the opinion that there is no nutritional acidity and that the type of diet has almost no influence on health.
However, you could also just give it a try and see how you feel if you eat a healthy diet with a high proportion of alkaline foods from now on. You could also take alkaline minerals or start a deacidification program. In the case of chronic illnesses, the latter is best done in the company of a doctor or alternative practitioner, so that the type and dose of the preparations can be precisely tailored to you.
And when you suddenly feel much better than before, you will find it hard to believe that people who should actually have our health in mind are so vehemently opposed to measures that bring convincing results – namely health improvements – with little effort, low cost and in a short time.
by Ela Gold | Apr 12, 2024 | HGA |
Carbohydrates now have a bad reputation. It is important to distinguish between good and bad carbohydrates. We explain which carbs are good and healthy and which are actually bad and therefore unhealthy.
Good and bad carbohydrates
The Nutrition Societies recommend that at least half of your energy needs be covered by carbohydrates. Others disagree. This is especially true of the low-carb diet’s supporters. They say that carbs are the main cause of obesity, diabetes, and many other health issues. So, they should be avoided or greatly reduced.
Both sides have good arguments. They mostly conclude that the truth depends on the individual. It depends on whether carbs are good or bad for him. Because there are actually people for whom a low carbohydrate consumption would be good, even if they choose the good carbs and avoid the bad ones. In the same way, however, there are people who only really blossom when they consume plenty of carbohydrates.
For the vast majority of people, however, it is not necessary to practice a low-carb diet. In our opinion, the question of the quality of the carbs you eat is much more important than the question of how many carbs you should eat.
Most people can eat good carbs without problems. But, the bad carbs can make you sick. This is especially true if you eat them with lots of fats.
Let’s look closer at carbohydrates and carbohydrate-rich foods. We’ll cover their different forms and qualities, and, of course, their health properties. By the end of the article, you’ll have a good basic knowledge of carbs, and you’ll be able to distinguish the good carbs from the bad.
What are carbohydrates?
From a purely chemical point of view, carbohydrates are molecules made up of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms. In the field of nutrition, they are counted among the three macronutrients: carbohydrates, fats, and proteins.
In addition to the macronutrients, which give the body energy (calories) and building materials. There are also micronutrients. They do not provide energy in the form of calories, but they have numerous other vital functions. These include vitamins, minerals, trace elements, and secondary plant substances.
If you want to reduce your carbohydrate consumption, here are recipes from the vegan low-carb diet.
The Four Categories
Carbohydrates can be divided into four categories:
1. Sugar: short-chain carbohydrates
Most carbohydrates that taste sweet are called sugar. There are many different sugars. The sugars can be roughly divided into two main categories, namely single (simple) sugars and double (complex) sugars:
Simple sugars are called monosaccharides. They include glucose (glucose), fructose (fruit sugar), galactose (mucous sugar), or mannose. Many people now know mannose as an alternative remedy for urinary tract infections. Mucus sugar is almost unknown. It occurs quite frequently in nature and also directly in us humans, namely wherever we have mucous membranes – hence the name mucus sugar ( 7 ).
Disaccharides are double sugars. They include, for example, sucrose (what table sugar is made of), lactose (milk sugar in the milk of mammals), and maltose (malt sugar). The latter is made in the body during the digestion of starch. Digestive enzymes first break the starch into maltose. Then, in a further step, the maltose becomes glucose. The glucose enters the blood and raises blood sugar levels there (9).
2. Polysaccharides: long-chain carbohydrates
The most important representative of polysaccharides is starch. For example, it is found in cereal products, potatoes, nuts, and legumes. It consists of many glucose molecules that are firmly bound together.
Starch does not taste sweet compared to the monosaccharides and disaccharides. Only if you chew starchy foods such as bread or potatoes for a very long time and salivate them well, their taste becomes sweeter and sweeter. This is because the mouth starts digesting carbs if you eat slowly and chew well. But, people today are too busy for that.
Saliva contains ptyalin, a carbohydrate-digesting enzyme. The ptyaline converts the starch into shorter-chain carbohydrates. The shorter the carbohydrate chains become, the sweeter they taste. That’s why bread, for example, tastes sweeter the longer you chew it.
3. Fiber: indigestible fiber
Fiber is also a carbohydrate. People can hardly digest fiber because they lack the appropriate digestive enzymes. Only a few bacterial strains that live in the large intestine of humans can use the fiber and break it down into short-chain fatty acids.
Fiber can fuel gut cells. It aids in regrowing the gut lining. So, it is a key reason why fiber is so healthy for the intestines.
4. Sugar alcohols such as xylitol, sorbitol and mannitol
Sugar alcohols are also classified as carbohydrates. They taste almost as sweet as sugar but lead to a significantly lower insulin secretion than sugar. Sugar alcohols include the popular sugar alternatives xylitol and erythritol. They also include sorbitol and mannitol. Those two are found in many beverages and ready-to-eat products.
“Normal” carbohydrates contain 4.1 kcal per gram. Sugar alcohols contain only 2.4 kcal per gram. That’s why they are often used in diets or by health-conscious people.
However, many people do not tolerate sugar alcohols well. They can cause digestive problems, such as flatulence, abdominal pain, and diarrhea from a single dose. For dogs, xylitol is even life-threatening, which is why it is better not to have xylitol-containing sweets/cakes/desserts in the house, if dogs are also part of the family, especially those that like to help themselves from time to time. Other sugar alcohols do not seem to pose this risk, but of course, they should not be given to dogs.
The great advantage of sugar alcohols for humans is that they do not promote caries, so they cannot be used as food by the caries bacteria. Xylitol and erythritol, in particular, are even considered to fight tooth decay. However, you don’t have to eat the sugar alcohol to do this. It makes much more sense to use it as a mouthwash.
The Roles of Carbohydrates
Their main task (sugar and starch) is to provide energy. Most carbohydrates come from fruit, bread, pasta, biscuits, or the sugar in coffee. They are first broken down into glucose. Then, the cell burns them (converts them to energy). When the body doesn’t need energy, it turns glucose into fat. It stores the fat in fat cells. This is why too much carb-rich food can add to weight gain.
Fiber is an exception to this, see above. They provide hardly any energy because they cannot be digested. However, depending on the intestinal flora, some people – often overweight people – may harbor a particularly large amount of certain intestinal bacteria (which can metabolize fiber), so that fiber also provides additional calories for these people.
In this case, building up the gut flora through intestinal cleansing could help to change the gut flora again. It would do so in a way that stops dietary fiber from being broken down too much. This would stop it from contributing to weight gain.
Whole and isolated carbohydrates
But nobody just eats pure sugar or pure starch. Carbohydrates are found in very different proportions in our food. Animal-based foods are low-carb. But, most carbs come from plants. Here, too, there are foods rich in carbohydrates, like potatoes and cereals. And, there are lower-carb foods, like leafy greens and berries.
But, these foods differ in 2 ways. They differ in their amount of carbohydrates. They also differ in their quality.
Carbohydrate-rich foods are often split into two groups. These are “simple carbohydrates” and “complex carbohydrates”. In our opinion, dividing them into “whole carbohydrates” (good carbs) and “isolated or refined carbohydrates” (bad carbs) makes more sense. And it is easier to understand.
Whole foods are good carbs
Wholesome carbs include all (relatively) unprocessed carbohydrate-rich foods that still have their original fiber content.
Examples of whole foods rich in carbohydrates include vegetables, fruits, legumes, potatoes, and whole grains. These foods are generally considered healthy. “In general” because there will always be isolated people who develop a food intolerance or food allergy to one or the other food. For these people, of course, the incompatible foods are not healthy, no matter how beneficial they may be for other people.
The good carbohydrates are also those that have a low glycemic load or glycemic index, which means that they do not upset blood sugar levels as much as the refined/bad carbohydrates ( 1 ) ( 2 ) ( 3 ) ( 4 ).
Isolated Carbs Are Bad Carbs
Refined/isolated carbohydrates, on the other hand, have been industrially processed in one way or another, with processing consisting in particular of removing the fiber content, which usually increases the shelf life of the food in question or simplifies its use in the food industry, but does not exactly make it healthier. Here are three examples:
Wholemeal flour becomes white flour (= extract flour) – the outer layers and the germ of the whole grain are removed and thus not only the fiber but also most of the vital substances are gone.
Whole grain rice becomes polished rice – here, too, the outer layers and important vital substances are removed.
Sugar cane/sugar beets are processed into concentrated sweeteners (table sugar) by using only their juice, boiling it down, cleaning it, and crystallizing it – there are hardly any vital substances left, fiber is no longer available.
Of course, this category also includes all foods made from the above. Examples are pasta and baked goods made from sugar and white flour. This includes cakes, biscuits, snacks, croissants, rolls, bread, etc. It also includes sweetened beverages (soft drinks/energy drinks), sweets, ketchup, and other ready-to-eat meals with a high sugar content ( 13 ) ( 14 ).
Bad Carbs: The Health Effects
Many studies show that eating refined carbohydrates, or “bad” ones, is linked to health problems. These problems include obesity and type 2 diabetes. These bad carbs cause severe blood sugar swings. This leads to cravings for even more carb-rich and unhealthy foods, making obesity worse. Obesity, on the other hand, is the basis for metabolic syndrome and many chronic diseases.
Blood sugar fluctuations and chronic diseases
Big swings in blood sugar also cause chronic inflammation. Nearly every chronic disease is also accompanied by inflammation. Bad carbohydrates can promote and worsen these diseases and block their cure.
But being overweight is also pro-inflammatory. So, bad carbs also cause disease via this route. This is because abdominal fat in particular is a hormone-active tissue and forms, among other things, pro-inflammatory messenger substances. The fewer isolated carbohydrates you eat, the easier it is to lose weight and the less risk there is of developing a chronic disease.
Lack of vital substances
Foods that are high in refined carbohydrates are usually also low in essential nutrients. It is therefore often said that they are “empty calories”, meaning that these foods provide calories, but not vital substances. Therefore, those who like to eat poor carbohydrate sources run the risk of developing a nutrient deficiency in the long term.
No more control over sugar consumption
Often you don’t even recognize the bad carbohydrates at first glance. This is because many ready-made products have a lot of sugar added to them, and you wouldn’t even think of these foods, e.g. dips, desserts, fruit yogurts, juices, lemonades, snacks, ready-made sauces, etc. This is also called “hidden sugar”.
Consumers who don’t read the ingredient list of their foods can quickly lose track of their sugar intake because of the hidden sugar, and in this way consume much more sugar than they would actually like. In addition, the other ingredients of such products are usually not very healthy either.
Cause of the most common cause of death
No wonder hidden sugar is associated with all sorts of conditions, such as high blood pressure, high blood lipid levels, high uric acid levels, fatty liver, diabetes, obesity, etc. However, all these problems now increase the risk of further diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, which are still the most common cause of death of our time ( 8 ).
So there are clearly bad carbs that are by no means recommended. However, it is not very wise to demonize the entire group of carbohydrates just because this group includes a few unhealthy foods in addition to healthy ones.
After all, a Mars bar can’t be compared to an apple, a piece of cake can’t be compared to a jacket potato, and a table bun can’t be compared to a slice of wholemeal spelt bread. The good carbohydrates, therefore, fit very well into a healthy diet.
Good Carbs: The Health Effects
The good carbohydrates or wholesome carbohydrate-rich foods not only contain carbs, but also numerous vital substances and fiber. They do not cause blood sugar spikes, consequently no cravings and therefore do not pose a risk of chronic inflammatory diseases.
Hundreds of studies on fiber-rich carbohydrates (vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains) show that consuming these foods leads to improved metabolic health and reduces the risk of disease.
You can find studies on any topic. It could be vegetables or individual grains. It could be pseudo-grains, nuts, beans, peas, or fruits. The results will be positive.
Fruits are often warned for diabetics. But, they are even recommended for diabetes. This is in contrast to isolated sugars, as we describe here: Fruits and diabetes.
One of the most popular and healthiest cereals is oats, which provide numerous vital substances and trace elements so that even small daily amounts of them are enough to meaningfully enhance the diet. The situation is similar with the pseudo-grain quinoa, millet or buckwheat.
Peas, chickpeas and other legumes provide trace elements, minerals and antioxidants as well as naturally high-quality protein and fiber. Not to mention nuts, which protect the heart and pancreas and also have a cancer-fighting effect.
Good carbohydrates: primeval food
Carbohydrates have also been consumed for many thousands of years – whether in the form of roots, tubers, nuts, grass seeds, unripe legumes or even fruits. The obesity epidemic, on the other hand, did not begin until the late 20th century, and the type 2 diabetes epidemic followed shortly after. It doesn’t make sense, therefore, to suddenly blame foods we’ve been eating for millennia for new health problems that have only developed because we’re moving less and letting the food industry prepare our food (11).
It should also be remembered that there are many peoples who are in excellent health on a high-carbohydrate diet or who were in excellent health before the influence of the food industry, such as the inhabitants of Okinawa (Japan) or those from Kitava (Pacific). They all eat or ate extremely carbohydrate rich, but at the same time only real food, i.e. foods that are as natural as possible, unprocessed and industrially hardly modified and rich in vital substances and fiber.
However, once a natural eater switches to processed and refined carbohydrates, their fitness declines and chronic conditions set in.
You can live without carbs, but you don’t have to
You can live without carbs, as low-carb followers explain again and again. That’s true, but why would you do that to yourself when so many carbohydrate-rich foods not only taste very good, but are also incredibly healthy?
There are many foods that are not exactly essential, but enormously healthy if you do choose them. For example, you can live well without walnuts, without dandelions, without endive salad, without parsley, without freshly harvested apples, etc. But why would you do that? They are delicious foods that provide the organism with extremely helpful and healing substances. The same is true of many other foods that happen to belong to the category of carbohydrates.
Table: Good and bad carbohydrates
To make it easy for you to decide between good and bad carbohydrates once and for all, you will find a corresponding overview below:
Good carbohydrates
Good sources include:
- All vegetables and salads
- All fruits: apples, berries, grapes, bananas, etc. – all in unprocessed form (not canned, not as jam, not as syrup) – of course, fruits can be processed raw, e.g. in a blender.
- Legumes: lentils, peas, beans, chickpeas, peanuts, etc.
- Nuts: walnuts, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, etc. and almonds
- Seeds: pumpkin seeds, linseed, sunflower seeds, etc.
- Whole grains (incl. pseudo-grains): oats, spelt, rice, quinoa, buckwheat, millet, etc.
- Potatoes and sweet potatoes
Bad carbohydrates
Bad sources:
- Sugar, sugar syrup
- White flour (extract flour)/starch flour
- White bread or bread containing white flour – Rye breads only looks darker because rye flour is darker than wheat flour, but rye flour is usually just as much processed as a light wheat flour. Unless the bread is made from 100 percent whole meal flour, which then has to be written on it.
- White/Polished Rice
- Fruit juices
- Sweetened beverages: cola and other soft drinks, energy drinks
- Sweets, chocolate and candies
- Ice cream
- Cakes, sweet pastries, biscuits and other pastries – these foods usually consist largely of white flour and sugar in combination with fat and eggs.
- Highly processed potato products: French fries and potato pancakes from the snack bar or fast food restaurant, potato chips, mashed potatoes, etc.
With this table, you already have a helpful guide for your next purchase.
Opt for a conscious diet
Surely you now know one or the other acquaintance, colleague or relative who eats a lot of bad carbohydrates and is still completely healthy. Of course, there are these people. Just as there are chain smokers and sports grouches who are still in top shape at the age of 80.
For us, however, it is not a matter of finding those exceptions that have become ancient with unhealthy diets and lifestyles. Rather, it is about finding out how to behave in order to increase the chances of a happy, healthy and, above all, more conscious life – and this automatically includes a consciously selected healthy diet, which should contain good, but preferably not bad carbs ( 15 ).
Try it out, which type of diet suits you best! If you make sure that vegetables, salads and good carbohydrates become your staple foods, plus of course, high-quality protein sources are served as side dishes, then you are already on the best possible path.
by Ela Gold | Mar 28, 2024 | HGA |
Does the ketogenic diet harm the liver?
If you want to lose weight and are looking for a suitable diet, you will quickly come across the ketogenic diet – a particularly low-carbohydrate form of the low-carb diet. Those who follow a ketogenic diet cover their energy needs in particular from fats and proteins. Carbohydrates are reduced to a minimum. Consequently, the ketogenic diet particularly appeals to those people who love fatty foods, such as butter, cheese, and fatty meats.
However, those who want to lose weight are usually overweight – and overweight people often have non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). If these people now switch to a ketogenic diet, it could exacerbate the fatty liver problem even further and lead to serious secondary diseases, fears Hugo Rosen, a liver specialist and dean at the University of California USC School of Medicine ( 1 ).
Can it really be that the ketogenic diet, which – if implemented correctly (!) – is known to cure many diseases, is now suddenly supposed to harm the liver?
In fatty liver, the liver stores more and more fats and eventually becomes fatty. Once the most severe fatty liver stage has been reached, two-thirds of the liver consists of fat-filled cells.
Fatty liver disease generally does not cause any symptoms at first, so it is called a “silent killer” and most sufferers only find out about their fatty liver when it has already developed to a more advanced stage, such as cirrhosis of the liver, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH, inflammatory liver disease) or even liver cancer.
Fatty liver also makes you susceptible to other forms of cancer and is also considered a risk factor for type 2 diabetes. In the case of fatty liver, the risk of dying from a heart attack or stroke also increases by more than twofold.
More and more people have fatty liver disease
“In the past, most of my patients had hepatitis C, but today the majority have fatty liver,” says Rosen. In the meantime, 25 percent of the world’s population suffers from fatty liver, and in industrialized nations it is even up to 35 percent. In Australia, fatty liver disease is already the most common chronic liver disease. According to Rosen, the main cause is the ever-increasing obesity.
Fatty liver can be diagnosed via blood tests as well as ultrasound or MRI examinations. There are no medications yet, but they want to change that quickly. This is understandable, as the mass of those affected attracts high profits. Basically, however, it is absurd, especially since it is a diet and lifestyle-related condition that could be remedied by weight loss including a change in diet. Then the fat dissolves in the liver and the inflammatory processes that have arisen decrease.
Liver specialist says ketogenic diet can cause fatty liver
A high-fat diet, on the other hand, such as the ketogenic diet, according to Rosen, can cause fatty liver, as studies on mice have shown. In the ketogenic diet, 80 percent of calories are consumed in the form of fat, so the formation of fatty liver in the mice is not surprising, says Dr. Rosen.
Since the University of Southern California does not provide its mouse studies, it is not possible to verify how specifically the mice were fed, what the quality of the diet was, whether they were also given vegetables, whether they were actually in ketosis, and whether only the energy requirement was met or whether it may have been exceeded.
It depends on the quality of the ketogenic diet!
The ketogenic diet can also be designed quite differently. If it is composed of healthy fat and protein sources, the food is natural, if you consume the permitted amounts of carbohydrates in the form of vegetables (especially leafy greens) and if you are careful not to exceed your energy needs, it is hard to imagine that it should harm the liver.
Presumably, Rosen refers to overweight people who are looking for a way to lose weight quickly, who then read on the Internet or other media that you can achieve exactly that with a “flash diet” called a ketogenic diet and now simply eat any fatty foods without any background information, possibly in far too large quantities. In this case, it would not be surprising if fatty liver disease developed or worsened.
Ketogenic diet can even regress fatty liver
However, if the ketogenic diet is implemented correctly, it can contribute to the regression of fatty liver (as several studies on humans (!) show (3 ) ( 4 ) ( 5 ) ( 6 ) – of course always in combination with exercise, optimization of the supply of vital substances, intestinal cleansing and alcohol abstinence. Alcohol in particular rapidly deteriorates liver health, especially if the liver is already ailing, i.e. fatty.
For example, the 2018 review by Gershuni et al. found no connection whatsoever between a properly administered ketogenic diet and fatty liver. Here, the state of ketosis has been found to improve metabolic and inflammatory markers, including lipids, HbA1c and highly sensitive CRP, and to support weight management (7).
Therefore, headlines such as “Ketogenic Diet Contributes to Fatty Liver” (2) do not contribute to a concern as long as they implement this form of diet CORRECTLY.
by Ela Gold | Mar 8, 2024 | HGA |
A study shows how acid blockers negatively affect your liver. The most common type of drug is proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), which are often prescribed for gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD.
Acid Blockers- Stress for the Liver
Acid blockers seem to cause enormous stress to the liver, as Californian researchers have shown.
If you have also been prescribed acid blockers or so-called stomach protection because of stomach problems or “just” as an accompaniment to antibiotic or painkiller therapy, then take a look at the package. If there is an active ingredient name ending in -prazole (e.g. omeprazole, pantoprazole, lansoprazole or similar), then you are swallowing acid blockers of the proton pump inhibitor (PPI) type.
PPIs are among the top 3 most prescribed medications
According to the drug prescription report, these acid blockers are in third place among the most commonly prescribed drugs – ahead of antihypertensive drugs and statins. This means that they are taken in millions and bringing millions in profits to the pharmaceutical industry. Americans alone spend $11 billion a year on acid blockers.
However, PPIs give the pharmaceutical giants great pleasure not only because of the sale of the drugs, but also because of the resulting secondary diseases, which then have to be treated with other drugs.
Side effects of acid blockers include nutrient deficiencies and their various consequences, food intolerances, chronic kidney disease, an increased risk of infection, digestive problems, and – if pregnant women take PPIs – increasing risk of allergies and asthma in the child. PPI’s also make you dependent (9). And another study (8) has shown that people who had no problems before taking PPI’s (usually prescribed ‘just in case’) had Reflux after stopping the medication.
It had also been observed that long-term PPI intake worsened liver values. Researchers at the University of California/San Diego found that acid blockers can affect the intestinal flora in such a way that this condition can now lead to three different chronic liver diseases: non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, non-alcoholic liver inflammation (steatohepatitis) and an acceleration of alcohol-related liver damage ( 2 ).
It is tragic that people with liver disease are particularly likely to take acid blockers and thus do not become healthier, as they hope, but worsen their state of health even further.
Acid blockers allow harmful bacteria to migrate through the body
In Nature Communications (October 2017), the Californian researchers led by Dr. Bernd Schnabl, Professor of Gastroenterology, wrote: “One of the reasons why our stomachs produce stomach acid is to kill the bacteria that arrive with food. If you take drugs that inhibit this acid formation, these bacteria survive and multiply.”
As early as 2014, a study (JAMA Pediatrics) had shown that the intake of acid blockers in children led to increased bacterial growth in the stomach. However, the bacteria do not remain in the stomach. Dr. Schnabl goes on to explain: “From the stomach, the bacteria eventually reach the lymph nodes and the intestine and change the composition of the intestinal flora in the latter ( 4 ).”
The so-called Enterococcus bacteria are then able to spread there. These migrate through the intestinal mucosa into the blood and directly into the liver, where they trigger inflammation or intensify pre-existing liver problems. In addition, those who drink copious amounts of alcohol and take PPIs at the same time develop liver disease more quickly than from alcohol alone.
It was already known that the state of the intestinal flora can affect the risk of developing liver disease. The present study once again confirms these earlier findings.
Increasing prevalence of liver diseases
Chronic liver disease is currently on the rise in Western countries – and cirrhosis is one of the twelve most common causes of death worldwide, with only half of all liver cirrhosis being alcohol-related. An important cause of common liver disease is obesity, which can lead to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) (1).
The latter is the inflammation of a non-alcoholic fatty liver, i.e. a fatty liver that is not caused by alcohol consumption, but usually occurs together with the so-called metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome, on the other hand, includes four ailments: high blood pressure, high blood sugar, high blood lipid levels, and obesity.
Professor Schnabl suspects that the increased use of acid blockers in recent years may have contributed to the growing incidence of liver disease.
Take PPIs only if you have a good reason
So we recommend that you think carefully about taking acid blockers. There are great alternatives available.
Any measure that lowers the stomach acid concentration can change the intestinal flora and thus lead to an increased risk of liver damage. One way to treat heartburn is to reduce excess weight, limit alcohol and caffeine consumption and consume less high-fat or spicy foods.
For the liver’s sake: it’s better to use natural measures instead of acid blockers
From a naturopathic point of view, most of the complaints that lead to the prescription of acid blockers in conventional medicine can be countered with holistic measures – without any side effects.
However, since acid blockers can be downright addictive to the type of PPI, a gradual “withdrawal” is first necessary.
Here are some measures that can be used instead of acid blockers to calm the stomach and naturally regulate acid production.
- Nux Vomica D6 Homeopathics
- Multiminerals with Kalium, Calcium, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Zinc, Mangan, and Copper
- Natriumhydrogencarbonat (Baking Soda) 1/4 tsp in water
These measures not only protect the liver but even lead to better liver health.
Check that there is not a stomach acid deficiency
A stomach acid deficiency manifests itself with very similar symptoms to an excess of stomach acid and is a common cause of stomach complaints, especially in people over 50.
This can lead to heartburn, stomach pressure, nausea after eating, and reflux because the stomach lining produces LITTLE stomach acid. But how can stomach acid rise up the esophagus if there is too little of it?
If enough gastric acid is formed in the stomach, the so-called gastric acid closes. Esophageal sphincter, a type of sphincter between the esophagus and stomach. If only a small amount of stomach acid is produced, the pH value in the stomach is never so low that the sphincter would close. It remains open – and stomach contents can rise to the top. And even if it is not acidic enough for the correct (closing) sphincter response, it is still sufficiently acidic to cause pain in the esophagus.
If such a gastric acid deficiency is present, then the administration of acid blockers is, of course, all the worse, since the already insufficient stomach acid formation is then inhibited even further. (10).
If a gastroscopy is due, the acid status can also be checked at the same time. A probe can also be used to measure the pH value of the stomach over the course of 24 hours (pH meter).
If none of these medical examinations are pending, you can self-carefully try out whether the symptoms can be improved with stomach acid-stimulating home remedies, e.g.
- Bitter substances (e.g. Swedish Bitter – Digest-Pure),
- Cranberry juice,
- Sauerkraut
- Lemon juice or Apple Cider vinegar (diluted with water)
- Wild plants (e.g. Dandelion as a salad or tea, also plantain, yarrow etc.)
- bitter salads ( Rocket, endive, radicchio – also in a smoothie)
If it goes better after these measures, you can even (temporarily) use capsules with a substance similar to stomach acid: Betaine HCL Capsules.
Together with the right diet and good stress management, the body’s own stomach acid production can be stimulated in this way.
In addition, make sure to chew very well, not to drink anything with meals and to take eat calmly and without computer, mobile phone and TV.
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