Can Ginger & Water Beat Out The Multi-

Billion Dollar Acid Blockers?

Did you know that the multi-
billion drug category known
as acid blockers, despite
being used by millions
around the world daily, may
not work as well as the hum-
ble ginger plant in relieving
symptoms of indigestion and
heartburn?
Ginger is a spice, a food, and has been used as a medicine
safely for millennia by a wide range of world cultures. Re-
search on the health benefits of ginger is simply staggering
in its depth and breadth. In fact, the health benefits of gin-
ger have been studied extensively for over 100 health condi-
tions or symptoms, making it one of the worlds most
versatile, evidence-based remedies.
The biomedical literature on acid blockers, on the other
hand, is rife with examples of the many adverse health ef-
fects that come with blocking stomach acid production with
xenobiotic, patented drugs, i.e.proton pump
inhibitors and H2 antagonists. What started out as
heartburn which in its chronic form is now called acid
reflux or gastroesophageal reflux disorder soon be-
comes stomach acid barrier dysfunction, when these
drugs remove the acid which protects us from infection, helps
to break down food, and facilitate the absorption of minerals
and nutrients.
The list of 30+ harms is extensive, but here are a few of the
most well-established adverse effects you may not be aware
of:
Clostridium Infections
Diarrhea
Pneumonia
Bone Fractures
Gastric Lesions and Cancer
Back to our friend our plant ally ginger. What happens
when Pharma meets Farm in a biomedical face-off? When
acid-blocking drugs are compared in efficacy to our little
spicy ginger root? Well, this is what the journal Molecular Re-
search and Food Nutrition found back in 2007
Titled, Inhibition of gastric H+, K+-ATPase and Helicobac-
ter pylori growth by phenolic antioxidants of Zingiber
officinale, the study set out to determine the anti-ulcer and
anti-Helicobacter plyori (a bacteria commonly implicated in
ulcer formation) capacity of ginger extracts versus conven-
tional acid-blocking agents, such as lansoprazole (trade
name Prevacid).[i] Researchers found that one fraction of
ginger exhibited six- to eight-fold better potency over lanso-
prazole at inhibiting acid production (specifically, gastric cell
proton potassium ATPase activity).
But, this was not all. Ginger was also found to have potent
antioxidant properties, protecting both lipids from peroxida-
tion (rancidity) and DNA damage, leading the researchers to
conclude that specific fractions within ginger have potential
in-expensive multistep blockers against ulcer.
Also, whereas drugs which interfere and/or remove the
stomach acid barrier also deactivate acid-dependent protein-
digesting (proteolytic enzymes) such as pancreatic protease,
and increases the risk of infection as a result of the loss of the
anti-infective effects of the stomachs acid, ginger actually
has an exactly opposite set of benefits: it contains a proteolytic
enzyme several hundred times more potent than the one
found in papaya (papain) and has broad-spectrum antibacte-
rial, antiviral and antiparasitic properties, to name but only
a few of its 40+ distinct pharmacological actions.
While this study focused on specific isolates of the whole
ginger plant, it must be remembered that whole plants are
not drugs, nor should be reduced to nutraceutical magic-
bullets in order to become new palliative drug alternatives,
which is to say, symptom-repressors, leaving the real healing
job of changing the underlying nutritional, environmental,
emotional context to lead to the problem in the first place,
unchanged.
While taking a ginger pill is usually a better choice than a
chemical one, for most folks, ginger should be consumed in
whole forms, in moderate and balanced quantities, along
with a nourishing, organic, whole-food and traditional foods
diet, in order to move beyond the paradigm of popping pills,
or proprietary fractions of herbs in order to balance out the
pendulum of extremes.
Published in the journal Digestive Diseases & Science, re-
searchers took 12 healthy subjects who were screened to be
negative for Helicobacter pylori infection, and gave them a
single oral dose of the following agents:
A glass of water (200 ml)
Antacid
Ranitidine (Zantac)
Omeprazole (Prilosec/Losec)
Esomeprazole (Nexium)
Rabeprazole (AcipHex)
Gastric pH was recorded for six hours after drug intake.
The study found it took the following duration to increase
gastric pH >4:
Water increased pH >4 in 10/12 subjects after 1 minute
Antacid increased pH >4 in 2 minutes
Rantidine increased pH >4 in 50 minutes
Omeprazole increased pH >4 in 171 minutes
Esomeprazole increased pH >4 in 151 minutes
Rabeprazole increased pH >4 in 175 minutes
What would you rather do? Get instant relief with a glass of
water, which has loads of side benefits to your health, or
wait between 50 minutes to 175 minutes (close to 3
hours!) as the excess acid burns the lining of your stomach,
using a chemical class of drugs which have the potential to
cause the following unintended, adverse side effects:
1. Clostridium Infections
2. Diarrhea
3. Pneumonia
4. Vitamin C Deficiency
5. Gastric Cancer
6. Bone Fractures
7. Magnesium Deficiency
8. Myopathies
9. Vitamin B12 Deficiency
Of course, water will only water down a problem that is
often a direct result of bad food combining, excessive
portions, food-body incompatibilities, acute or chronic stress,
undiagnosed overgrowth of pathogens, and environmental
allergies, to name but a few known contributing factors.
But, water can do no harm, whereas using chemicals to poi-
son the proton pumps or histamine receptors on the parietal
cells in the stomach into shutting down acid production has
an obvious set of serious side effects that can and should be
avoided, whenever possible.
Remember that before the symptoms of chronic heartburn
were reified and concretized into the disease of acid reflux,
also known as Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD)
people took responsibility for and control over their condi-
tion by going back to the basics, e.g. diet, lifestyle, stress, etc.
Either way, I think its time with awaken from the sorcery-
like spell of pharmacia (Greek word meaning: drug, potion,
charm, spell, poison), and realize everything we already
need is likely in our backyard, our refrigerators or cupboards
if not altogether within ourselves.
Source: http://www.greenmedinfo.com/
Eddie (2235 Posts)
Eddie L. is the founder and owner of
WorldTruth.TV. This website is dedicated to edu-
cating and informing people with articles on powerful and
concealed information from around the world. I have spent
the last 30+ years researching Bible, History, Secret Societies,
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