A Natural H. Pylori Treatment

If you’ve been diagnosed with a stomach ulcer, you may already know that stomach ulcers can be associated with a bacteria known as H.pylori. H.pylori can disrupt the mucous lining of the stomach allowing a stomach ulcer to form. For this reason, your doctor may check for the presence of H.pylori before starting ulcer treatment. If it’s present, you may need antibiotics for H.pylori treatment along with other anti-ulcer medications to wipe out the bacteria so your ulcer can heal successfully.

How is H.pylori treatment carried out? Treatment of H.pylori requires a two week course of three separate antibiotics along with anti-ulcer medications to wipe out the bacteria and treat the stomach ulcers. Unfortunately, these antibiotics can have significant side effects in some people. Luckily, a new study suggests that there may be a better H.pylori treatment in the works.

This study which was presented at the American Chemical Society meeting this month showed that yogurt with added antibodies, developed by a Japanese company, may be an effective treatment for H.pylori. This H.pylori treatment takes advantage of the fact that the bacteria need an enzyme called urease to successfully attach to the lining of the stomach. The company has successfully produced an antibody to urease that prevents H.pylori from attaching and causing ulcer related problems.

In a study, this new H.pylori treatment appeared to work on a group of forty-two people who tested positive for the H.pylori bacteria. Instead of taking traditional antibiotics, they were given two cups of antibody fortified yogurt three times a day for a month. When they were retested for H.pylori after eating the yogurt for four weeks, the results showed that the number of H. pylori bacteria had significantly declined.

Could this eventually be the preferred H.pylori treatment? Interestingly, even regular yogurt containing probiotics and no antibodies has been shown in studies to enhance the effectiveness of traditional H.pylori treatment. It appears that the good bacteria found in probiotic yogurt helps to decrease the number of H.pylori present in the stomach when given in conjunction with traditional therapy.  

Effective treatment of H.pylori infection is important not only for healing ulcers, but also to reduce the risk of gastric cancer which has also been associated with infection with this bacteria. Traditional therapy with antibiotics with anti-ulcer medications has a failure rate of up to twenty percent. Hopefully, this new treatment will provide an alternative for those who don’t have success with traditional H.pylori treatment.