Over 7 billion dollars a year is spent on over-the-counter and prescription digestive aids for symptoms including acid indigestion, digestive upsets, gas, bloat, poor elimination, and more. Every cell, tissue, and organ in your body depends on the healthy digestion, absorption, and assimilation of food.

Unfortunately, cooking and processing methods destroy enzymes in our food that are so necessary for proper digestion. Our bodies can't manufacture enough of the right ones. As a result, our bodies attempt to compensate by withdrawing enzymes needed for digestion from its own "bank". Over time, these heavy withdrawals coupled with skimpy deposits lead to a bankrupt digestive system and ultimately, a lifetime of improper digestion, poor nutrient absorption, and less than ideal cell regeneration-degeneration. Tagamet, Pepcid, Tums, and other antacids, designed to reduce stomach acid, are merely masking the symptoms and may make a bad situation worse by disrupting the body's natural digestive process.

When there is insufficient hydrochloric/gastric acid, whether naturally or from taking antacids, nutrients cannot be absorbed. Antacids also reduce hydrochloric acid so that food isn't broken down completely, resulting in fermentation, allergic symptoms, and painful intestinal problems. Meat needs large amounts of acid to be broken down. Without adequate stomach acid it rots in the intestine, inviting bacteria that can cause painful gas, bloating, and if chronic, colon infections and eventually cancer. In masking the symptoms in the stomach, are we neglecting the real cause of the problems in the pancreas? The pancreas is a digestive organ in the abdomen, located just below the stomach. The primary job of the pancreas is to produce enzymes required for the digestion and absorption of food.

Each day the pancreas secretes about 1.5 quarts of pancreatic juice into the small intestine. The enzymes secreted by the pancreas break down food by breaking the chemical bonds that hold food molecules together. Enzymes secreted include lipases which digest fat, proteases which digest proteins, and amylases which digest starch molecules.

Health Through Self-Education... June's Quest For Digestive Health

Essentials Of Life was officially established in 1994, but was actually founded in the mid 70's, unintentionally, by my wife June, as a result of health problems she had when we were living in Vermont. Despite one doctors' suggestion that she examine alternatives before electing to have surgery, a dairy product triggered an attack that left no choice but to have her gall bladder removed. After the operation, we assumed that her digestive problems would be history.

By the time we moved back to New Hampshire, in 1982, June's digestive problems had resumed. Doctors, even a referred specialist in gastroenterology (digestive system) didn't seem to have the answers. She was diagnosed with IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), but even the recommended dietary changes made little difference. All too often, stomach pain became a normal interruption to her sleep pattern. She read all of the medical books and related articles she could find.

Frustrated and determined to get well, she began reading about natural alternatives. A whole new world opened up when she discovered digestive enzymes. Unlike harsh OTC drugs that interact with and deplete stomach acid, digestive enzymes work in the pancreas to properly break the food down. Foods were once rich with built-in enzymes but have become deficient. Less than two weeks after taking enzymes with meals, stomach cramps previously occurring within a half hour after eating, became a rarity instead of the norm. For under $20.00, years of pain and thousands of dollars in medical costs were virtually erased and Essentials Of Life was being born.

We realize that digestive enzymes may not be the single remedy for every stomach disorder. But, we know that it isn't normal to be sick. Behind every symptom there's a cause. June's dedication to learning about her illness ultimately led to the quality of life she can finally enjoy. More than twenty five years before Essentials Of Life was established, Dr. Jim Perry in Vermont unknowingly planted a seed as he implied that there may be other options to surgery. We only wish we had explored those options then and discovered what we know now.

Learn More About "Natural" Enzymes That Support Digestive Health

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New Hampshire medical experts and state officials are taking notice of a potentially deadly bacterium that has developed a more virulent strain and may be spreading beyond medical facilities, where it once was thought to be concentrated.

As reported by the Fosters Daily Democrat (Deadly Germ Getting Worse by Nate Pardue 1/15/06), the bacterium, Clostridium difficile, or C. diff, was historically found in nursing homes and hospitals. Some recent reports show that people who only have visited medical facilities briefly, or not at all, are also acquiring the bug. One CDC study, published in the Dec. 2 CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, highlighted 33 cases of C. diff infections in Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and Ohio. A New Hampshire mother acquired the more dangerous strain after only a brief stay at a hospital to give birth.

C. diff causes diarrhea and other serious intestinal maladies like colitis. Over the past two years, several states have reported the more dangerous strain, which is more severe and has higher mortality rates, according to the CDC. The cases involved 23 people from Philadelphia and four surrounding counties who hadn't been hospitalized. The other 10 cases involved women who, as in New Hampshire's case, were hospitalized only briefly to give birth One of the 33 people died. The results were surprising because the areas affected were thought to have been low risk, especially outside of medical facilities.

Gastric acid protects the stomach from C-diff. Suppress gastric acid, and the stage is set for C-diff to flourish. A recent issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association carries a study from Montreal's McGill University. Using information from the United Kingdom General Practice Research Database, The McGill team identified more than 1,600 cases of C-diff and matched each case against ten control subjects.

Results showed that people who used a class of drugs known as H2 receptor antagonists (such as Zantac and Pepcid) had twice the risk of C-diff infection compared to nonusers. And the results were even more worrying for users of proton pump inhibitor drugs (such as Prevacid and Prilosec): They were three times more likely to experience a C-diff infection compared to those who used no heartburn medication.

Use of non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) was also associated with an increased risk of C-diff infection. Overuse of antibiotics is already a known factor in the alarming rise in the number of C-diff cases.

New Hampshire health officials say they've seen signs that cases of C. diff are on the rise locally, but since medical facilities are not required to report positive findings to the state, most of the evidence is anecdotal. Still state health officials have taken notice since the CDC warned that the newer strain is resistant to antibiotics that once weakened it. "We are aware. It appears the spectrum of the illness, C. diff, may be more severe than in the past," said Elizabeth Talbot, New Hampshire's deputy state epidemiologist.

Unlike Eastern Equine Encephalitis, AIDS, or influenza, the severity of the impact of C. diff in New Hampshire only can be measured through word-of-mouth accounts, as there are no statewide figures available to measure the number of C. diff cases. State health officials do mandate that "all unusual occurrence or clusters that may be of danger to public health" be reported, but Talbot said the presence of C. diff has not seemed to reach that threshold.

Some hospitals in the United States and Canada have seen a spike in C. diff-related deaths. A New England Journal of Medicine article published Dec. 8 examined the occurrence of C. diff in 12 hospitals in Quebec, Canada, where researchers counted 1,703 patients with C. diff illnesses. The research found that 422 patients died within 30 days.

The bacterium was blamed last year for 100 deaths over 18 months at one hospital in Quebec, and there were reportedly 21 deaths related to C. diff in the Cleveland area, most in 2005, The Associated Press reported. Ohio health care facilities now must make weekly C. diff reports to their local health department.

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Heartburn Drugs May Raise Risk Of Hip Problems

As reported by the Associated Press ( Study Links Heartburn Drugs, Broken Hip by Carla Johnson 12/06), a large study conducted in Britain found that taking popular heartburn drugs such as Nexium, Prevacid or Prilosec for a year or more can raise the risk of a broken hip, markedly in people over 50. The study raises questions about the safety of some of the most widely used and heavily promoted prescription drugs on the market, taken by millions of people.

Nexium, Prevacid and Prilosec are members of a class of drugs known as proton pump inhibitors. The study found a similar but smaller risk of hip fractures for another class of acid-fighting drugs called H2 blockers. Those drugs include Tagamet and Pepcid. The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, looked at medical records of more than 145,000 patients in England, where a large electronic database of records is available for research. The average age of the patients was 77. The patients who used proton pump inhibitors for more than a year had a 44 percent higher risk of hip fracture than nonusers. The longer the patients took the drugs, the higher their risk. The biggest risk was seen in people who took high doses of the drugs for more than a year. That group had a 2 1/2 times greater risk of hip fractures than nonusers.

The researchers speculated that when the drugs reduce acid in the stomach, they also make it more difficult for the body to absorb bone- building calcium. That can lead to weaker bones and fractures. Hip fractures in the elderly often lead to life-threatening complications. As a result, doctors should make sure patients have good reason to stay on heartburn drugs long term, said study co-author Dr. Yu-Xiao Yang of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. "The general perception is they are relatively harmless," Yang said. "They often are used without a clear or justified indication for the treatment."

Some people find relief from heartburn with over-the-counter antacids such as Tums, Rolaids and Maalox. But for others, those medicines do not work well. Moreover, heartburn can be more than a source of discomfort. People with chronic heartburn can develop painful ulcers in the esophagus, and in rare cases, some can end up with damage that can lead to esophageal cancer.

Yang said that for every 1,262 elderly patients treated with the drugs for more than a year, there would be one additional hip fracture a year attributable to the drugs. For every 336 elderly patients treated for more than a year with high doses, there would be one extra hip fracture a year attributable to the drugs.

Dr. Alan Buchman of Northwestern University, who was not involved in the research, said the study should not change medical practice, since doctors already should be monitoring the bone density of elderly people taking the drugs and recommending calcium-rich diets to all patients. "Most people are not taking enough calcium to start with," he said. He also wondered if a similar result would have been found in a sunny climate, because vitamin D from sunshine helps with calcium absorption.

Also, Buchman said it not known whether the acid-fighting drugs prevent esophageal cancer. He said the risk of esophageal cancer has been exaggerated in the marketing of these drugs. "I think the risk has been overplayed and scared the community," Buchman said.

Men in the study had a higher drug-associated risk of hip fracture than women, possibly because women may be more aware of osteoporosis and may get more calcium in their diets, Yang said. He plans more research on whether calcium-rich diets or calcium supplements can prevent the problem.

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