Comments on: Heartburn Cured

By: Dwight

Dwight — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 15:34:34 +0000

For dozens of years I suffered with some form of acid reflux, especially when drinking orange juice in the morning, or spicy foods anytime. I had a friend challenge me to go on Atkins strictly following his book because I was 40+ pounds overweight (245 lbs). I thought he was crazy at first (just the thought of eating bacon gave me heartburn!), but after about 2 days of sticking to the Atkins induction my heartburn/acid reflux was gone. Amazing! I went thru 3 weeks of the induction, then transition for about 3 months, and finally maintenance. I lost over 40 lbs, have no issues with my stomach, and now after 5+ years I can still eat some carbs with no heartburn!!! I didn’t know why the high protein diet did this until this article (I guessed that I was allergic to certain carbs). Thanks for confirming what I experienced!

By: Grandma Ann

Grandma Ann — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 21:33:32 +0000

Really? Low carb cures GERD 100% of the time? Then why am I having so much trouble? I bought and read Robillard’s book a few weeks ago when I started having severe reflux symptoms–so severe, I had heart pounding and PVCs after eating that would last for hours. My gastroenterologist put me on Prilosec which cleared up the symptoms immediately but caused a whole host of problems further down the system. I got off of it as soon as I could, but my symptoms came back and this time the Prilosec took a week to clear them up. One of the things the Prilosec caused was reflux! So now my problem is, how do I get off of it?

Robillard is right that it’s carbs that cause gas and push up on the LES. But I have read Jonathan Wright’s book, “Why Stomach Acid is Good For You,”

http://www.amazon.com/Why-Stomach-Acid-Good-You/dp/0871319314/ref=sr_1_1/103-4383952-4019015?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1194642675&sr=8-1

and I think he makes a good point, too. The problem as he sees it is not too much acid, but not enough. Without enough acid, the LES doesn’t get the signal to stay shut tight. (Which may be why the Prilosec causes more reflux.) He treats his patients with HCL and pepsin. I was wondering if eating too many carbs and not enough protein might cause our parietal cells to die off from lack of stimulus and that’s how we get less stomach acid as we age, which causes the LES to get lax. Do you think that eating a very low carb diet may cause parietal cells to regrow or something like that?

Another factor that I have been wondering about is the role of melatonin. There was a study recently reported in the LA Times that showed that melatonin was just as good as Prilosec at curbing acid. (Of course, the cocktail given the test subjects included HCL Betaine, so how do they know it was the melatonin?)

http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1600-079X.2006.00359.x?prevSearch=allfield%3A%28heartburn%29

I sometimes feel that if I could just get a good night’s sleep, I would feel so much better.

At any rate, I’m so glad your blog is searchable and that you do not close off comments. Thanks for the recommendation of Robillard’s book and thanks for listening.

Hi Grandma Ann–

Interesting comment! I said that in my experience a low-carb diet cures LES 100 percent of the time. But I’m sure that there are people for whom it doesn’t work. Obviously you are one of them.

I agree that part of the problem may be not enough stomach acid, but another part is that the stomach acid doesn’t stay where it is supposed to. I think Robillard is right, too, about the increased bacterial count in the bowel due to excess carbohydrate intake and the resulting gas pressure pushing open the LES.

Your comment is interesting because the little supplement company that MD and I own along with a couple of other people obtained from the Brazilian scientist who developed it the world rights to make and distribute the supplement cocktail mentioned in the LA Times article on heartburn. We are going to market it under the name Protexid. It will be available around Dec. 1 of this year. If you would like, I will be happy to send you some to try. Email me through the proteinpower.com website if you’re interested.

Cheers–

MRE

By: Paul H.

Paul H. — Sun, 24 Dec 2006 22:01:22 +0000

Wheat products tend to be present in lots of high carbohydrate foods such as pasta, bread, dough nuts, pizza dough, etc. It’s very hard to avoid.

I totally eliminated wheat from my diet and now only eat whole foods such as corn, potatoes, rice and oats. Problem solved. It is no less than a miracle for me.

1 in 133 Americans have Celiac Disease and a symptom of that is GERD (Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease). People with Celiac Disease need to avoid foods containing gluten such as wheat, rye and barley. Oats seem to be ok with these folks for some reason.. we aren’t quite sure why.

Food allergies are another cause of GERD. Wheat allergy can be hard to diagnose, but it’s not that uncommon and the stomach can overproduce acid in its reaction to the wheat.

Carbs aren’t necessarily a bad thing. Fruits and vegetables, which we all should eat, contain carbohydrates.

Hi Paul–

“Fruits and vegetables, which we all should eat, contain carbohydrates.”�� Actually, we don’t need to eat a single fruit or vegetable and we can do just fine.� We eat those to add variety to our diet and because we think we should eat them, not because we necessarily need them for health.

Best–

MRE�

By: Maggie

Maggie — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 10:46:42 +0000

Is the South Beach Diet a good diet to stay on for life?

I just started it and I’m doing quite well but by Phase 3 of the diet, it allows more carbs.

What do you think?

By: Cindy

Cindy — Sun, 25 Dec 2005 08:58:14 +0000

Hello I tried to find something on Thyroid in your blog but could not . My husband has lost 30 lbs LC and a coworker told him that after 6 years LC both he and his wife’s thyroid’s are shot and this guy said both he and his wife’s doctor believe it was from locarbing for the last 6 yrs. I do not believe this so I asked my DH if their weight went up and down over the last 6 yrs because I know alot of people lose and gain over and over and that maybe this could be their problem and not because of LC . He said they did the best they could but that they did go up and down in weight . Just wondering about this .