VIDEO: Acid Reflux Medications and Nutrient Depletion

Host: Welcome to Dr. Stengler's Natural Healing. Today we have a very interesting topic. We're going to be talking about prescription drugs, over-the-counter drugs, and what nutrients they may be depleting from your body. It's a huge wake-up call to a lot of us — too many people out there are using these drugs. This is freaky: I'll read the statistic — in 1986 there were fewer than 900 prescription medications, and now there are over 8,000. And that's prescription, that doesn't mean over-the-counter, right?

Dr. Stengler: That's prescription. So that doesn't count the over-the-counter medications. If you did, that would be even more.

Host: It is astounding. We know that Americans spend 200 billion dollars a year on prescription drug medications. We know that the average American over age 57 takes five or more prescription drugs — at least one-third of Americans 57 years and older take five or more prescription drugs. But what a lot of people don't realize is the side effects.

Dr. Stengler: Medications deplete you of nutrients, which leads to things like fatigue and other side effects, and people just don't realize that's possibly coming from their drugs.

Host: Right, so they may have another ailment and they don't realize, "Oh, that's a common side effect of this drug I'm taking." There are some more statistics that are a little alarming that have come out of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Why don't you read that off?

Dr. Stengler: At least 106,000 people each year die as a result of adverse effects from pharmaceutical medications. We know that five percent of hospital admissions are due to negative drug side effects. Now, those numbers are probably a lot higher, but nevertheless, that's the minimum for the statistics — 106,000 people die each year. That's like a little war going on right inside America. It's just one more reason to incorporate natural medicine for the common ailments that people use prescription drugs and over-the-counter drugs for.

Host: Let's talk about some of these. First question for you, Mark: when a patient comes to you and they are on a load of prescription drugs, are they even aware of some of these side effects?

Dr. Stengler: No, they're really not. And their doctors usually aren't aware of the nutrients that can be depleted. There are actually very few books out there on what drugs deplete which nutrients, so people aren't aware at all. One of the things we do with patients is educate them — look, even beyond these drugs, you should at least take these nutrients, get these nutrients in foods or in supplements, so you don't have deficiencies and more health problems. Ultimately, of course, we like to work on the root causes of why they're sick to begin with, and then try to wean them off some or all of those drugs and replace them with a more holistic, natural approach.

Host: So if someone is taking a prescribed drug, in the little drug leaflet, does it say that these nutrients may be depleted from your body?

Dr. Stengler: No. That is not a typical type of information included in the insert package.

Host: So how do you know? You wrote this huge book, Prescription for Drug Alternatives — it's a very interesting book. How do you know all this information?

Dr. Stengler: There's published research on the nutrients and what they can be depleted by with different drugs. So the research is out there, it's just not on the drug package. There's a lot of research out there on the nutrients depleted by these drugs — it's not widely known information. I've looked through the research; it's there. But there are a lot of drugs out there where we don't know what nutrients are depleted. So that's why people need a good diet and need to take nutritional supplements to guard against these deficiencies, especially if they're on medications.

Host: So let's talk about one of the most popular drugs used in America — that would be a drug for acid reflux. First, what are some of the most common ones?

Dr. Stengler: The big class really is proton pump inhibitors — very common medications, about 100 million prescriptions a year. They're used to suppress stomach acid so people get relief from heartburn and reflux.

Host: So what nutrients do they deplete?

Dr. Stengler: Several. Remember, if we go back to general physiology — and a lot of doctors aren't even aware of this — you need stomach acid to absorb B12, calcium, magnesium, and many of your minerals. So you can see all the effects you could have systemically if you become deficient. For example, B12 you need for energy and memory, and calcium obviously for the bones. One study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that those on these types of acid-blocking medications had a forty-four percent increased risk of breaking a hip, because they can't absorb their calcium — and a lot of seniors are taking these medications, so now they're even more prone to these nutrient depletions. Optimally, we'd want people to work with natural ways to balance out why they're getting reflux, with their diet and natural substances, but if you're going to be on these medications, you certainly have to supplement the nutrients they're depleting to prevent further health problems down the road.

Host: And is there an easy way they can take those nutrients, if they don't want to swallow them — do they get a liquid form?

Dr. Stengler: Your supplements are available in dissolvable capsules, powders, or liquids. Many capsules will dissolve and break down well too.

Host: All right, we're going to take a break, and when we get back, we are going to continue our talk about pharmaceutical medications and the nutrients they deplete.

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