Acid Reflux Symptoms

Posts Tagged ‘Heliobacter pylori’

Here’s a bacterium you should know about: Heliobacter pylori (also called H. pylori). Most bacteria can’t survive in the acid of the stomach. This one can. Even though you may not have heard about it, it’s the cause of a lot of common stomach problems.

I learned about this unique bacterium when I read an article written by one of my favorite health writers Dr. Joseph F. McCaffrey (his site is: www.JFMcCaffreyMD.com).

Eradicating H. pylori has become an important part of maintaining G.I. health.

But it’s not easy to get rid of H. pylori. Physicians typically prescribe at least to antibiotics as well as acid suppression drugs for as long as a month at a time. Despite this aggressive treatment, the infection often persists. At least 20% of people require additional courses of therapy.

Now there’s good evidence that a simple green sprout added to your diet can reduce or eliminate H. pylori.

The sprouts is question are broccoli sprouts.

We all know we’re supposed to eat more vegetables. Cruciferous vegetables, including broccoli, are especially healthy to include. It has many beneficial nutrients but one that has been studied extensively is sulforaphane.

Sulforaphane is a plant nutrient that causes the stomach to release beneficial enzymes. The enzymes protect DNA and reduce free radical formation.

Multiple studies show that eating a diet sulforaphane containing vegetables reduces the risk of developing heart disease arthritis and even cancer.

Broccoli sprouts contain much higher levels of this beneficial chemical then mature plants do. In fact, researchers have developed a special strain that has levels 50 times higher.

In addition to the benefits I just mentioned,research now shows that broccoli sprouts can reduce or even eliminate H pylori infections.

In a study in mice infected with H. pylori, a diet high in sulforaphane cleared H. pylori infection in 70% of the treated mice while the placebo diet cleared none.

Additional studies have shown that sulforaphane is effective against even strains of its pylori that are resistant to antibiotics.

A  study in humans infected with H. pylori showed significant suppression of H. pylori infection, if not complete eradication, in people who ate about 2 ounces of broccoli sprouts a day.

You can make your own sprouts, but you can probably find them in your local grocery store.

Even if you don’t have stomach problems, including broccoli sprouts in your diet regularly has a lot of other health benefits.  They should definitely be part of the 5 to 9 servings of fruits and vegetables we need to include in our diet every day.

By the way, there’s an interesting “inside story” about the Australian researcher who first recognized importance of H. pylori. It seems he was a bit of a wild man that his colleagues ignored at first. You can read all about it on the Another Reason to Eat Your Broccoli page on Dr. McCaffrey’s site.

And since you’re interested healthy eating you may want to check out:

Healthy Eating in 10 Easy Steps

You’ll learn a simple way to painlessly transform the quality of your diet.

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