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The link between H. pylori infection and subsequent gastritis and peptic ulcer disease has been
documented through studies of human volunteers, antibiotic treatment studies and epidemiological
studies. This well-established link, however, does not reveal much about which one of the two is the
cause and which is the effect. This stomach bug may just as well be a “byproduct” of ulceration rather
than its cause. Such a scenario would not be unusual since bacteria automatically appear wherever there is
dead matter, as occurs in ulcerated tissue. The antibiotic drugs omeprazole and amoxycillin, now
prescribed for stomach ulcers, together with secretion inhibitors, destroy the bug, and the ulcers
disappear. This, of course, brings great relief to many sufferers. Why do the ulcers disappear? Bacteria
produce toxins which prompt the body's inflammatory response (ulceration). However, inflammation is
not a disease but the body's way to heal itself and prevent a much more serious condition than an ulcer
(see explanation below). Most people would be inclined to conclude that the ulcers are caused by the bug.
However, once the antibiotics and acid inhibitors are discontinued, the bug and the ulcers may return.
According to research, H. pylori colonizes the stomach in about 50 percent of all humans, and once you
have it, you have it for life.
In countries with high socio-economic standards, infection is considerably less common than in
developing countries where virtually everyone may be infected. If H. pylori causes stomach ulcers, why
doesn’t everyone in the developing world have them? Instead, stomach ulcers are much more common in
the industrialized world. Although most people in the world have H. pylori bacteria in their stomach right
from early childhood, in most of these individuals, H. pylori infection is asymptomatic. Only 10-15% of
infected individuals will at some time experience peptic ulcer disease. The main question we need to ask
is not whether an individual who suffers from a stomach ulcer is infected with H. pylori, but why this
bacterium is more active or proliferates in some individuals rather than in others. And why does it return
after the ulcer has been “cured” by the drug treatment? In other words, there must be another reason for
the ulceration than simply the presence of a particular bacteria that half of the people on this planet share.
In reality, the prescription drugs have no curative effects at all because the afflicted person depends
on their continual or occasional intake. What they do “accomplish,” however, is to destroy all kinds of
bacteria in your gut, including those that help you to break down toxins and undigested foods which have
accumulated in the stomach, particularly in the lower part, called the antrum. Interestingly, the chronic
infection linked with stomach ulcers is always initiated in the antrum. The H. pylori bacteria naturally
return to the gut when the antibiotics are no longer there to destroy them. Why would they do that? To do
their job. It is their function to go to places where dead, damaged cells and toxins need to be broken down
and removed. If you eat too much food, not all of it can be digested. The presence of undigested food in
the stomach is a cause of continuous irritation and toxicity. In addition, certain foods and food
combinations are so difficult to digest that they stay in the stomach too long, thereby overstimulating acid
secretions. All this damages, weakens or destroys stomach cells. A proliferation of H. pylori bacteria
occurs in direct response to the damage caused by inappropriate foods and eating habits.
To reiterate, these bugs can be found everywhere and in everyone, yet only a few people develop
stomach ulcers. Why do H. pylori “cause” a gastric ulcer in one out of 20 people and not in the other 19,
although the bacterium is found in all of them? Similarly, a trapped nerve can be seen as a cause of
disease in the body, but not every trapped nerve results in disease. Instead of looking for an external
culprit for such a problem, wouldn’t it be far more important to find out why some trapped nerves produce
pathological changes and others don’t? Why does the same frightening situation cause a panic attack or an
infarct in one person and not in another? Could it be possible that these external “causes” of disease may
simply serve as a trigger to ignite the high toxicity bomb already present in a person’s body, thus leading
to a toxicity crisis, which is commonly known as “disease?”