PREVENTION OF ULCERS

• There is nothing one can do about one’s family history of ulcers but if there is a history it makes all the more sense to adopt as many of these preventive measures as possible to try to reduce your chances of developing an ulcer.

• Stress is definitely a provoking factor in ulcers but not just the classical stress of the business executive. It is probably not the stress itself that is the problem but more how you react to it. Being a doctor is probably one of the more highly stressed occupations yet studies of doctors fail to find an excess of ulcers. Potential ulcer patients are usually highly strung and have been subjected to long periods of anxiety and emotional tension. Even children under such stress can get ulcers. One study of twenty-four teenage and pre-teen ulcer patients found that ten of them had lost or almost lost a close relative or personal friend within the year of the ulcer diagnosis.

Stress produces high gastric-acid levels in everyone but in the very tense and emotional individual who seems to have to ‘work’ hard at everything in life there seems to be a perpetual overproduction of acid. Any signs of upper abdominal pains or heartburn in such people should be taken as a warning sign that an ulcer could be on the way.

Don’t take sedatives and tranquillizers – favour natural methods such as yoga, meditation, relaxation and exercise.

• Cut out all caffeine-containing drinks and medications. This includes cola drinks.

• If you need a pain-reliever use soluble aspirin or paracetamol for the odd headache. If you need more serious long-term pain relief for a medical condition talk to your doctor if you have ever had ulcer symptoms or if there are ulcers in the family.

• For years milk and a bland diet were the mainstay of the treatment and prevention of duodenal ulcers. Today they are considered to be useless and even possibly harmful. There is no evidence that such a bland and unappetizing diet is of any value and it deprives the ulcer patient of valuable vitamins and minerals he or she would otherwise be getting.

Milk neutralizes acid in the stomach for a while but kicks back by increasing acid secretion later by as much as 20 per cent! In one study some men had more than 30 per cent more acid after drinking milk. Other foods high in calcium also increase acid production. These include cheese and other dairy products.

• Sugar and white flour appear to promote ulcers too. One study of forty-one people with chronic stomach problems (with and without ulcers) found that twenty-eight were better on a reduced carbohydrate diet. A study at the University of Manchester of white and whole-meal bread led the researchers to conclude that ‘The substitution of whole-meal bread for white might be of benefit to patients with duodenal ulcers and non-ulcer dyspepsia.’

• Historically, ulcer patients have been advised to eat frequent, small meals. Recent research, however, shows that this makes more acid even though the food buffers some of it. The best eating pattern has now been found to be three main meals a day, rich in dietary fibre and low in refined flour and sugar. Something’ late at night is often helpful to soak up acid that could irritate the stomach or duodenum overnight. The best policy is to take antacids at this time.

How you eat could be more important than when. Most nervous, tense individuals (ulcer-type personalities) bolt their food. This is harmful because a substance called urogastrone which is produced by the salivary glands and protects the lining of the intestine is in short supply

• Smoking should be stopped because it does three harmful things in the context of ulcers. First, it stimulates the stomach to produce more acid; second, it reduces the amount of acid-neutralizing bicarbonate produced the pancreas, and third, it lets liquid parts of a meal out of the stomach ahead of buffering solid parts so that more acidic fluids hit the duodenum than should be the case.

• Zinc has been shown to be of value in healing duodenal ulcers in humans, and given that it is of proven preventive value in animal experiments it is probably worth trying as a preventive.

• Various pieces of research suggest that vitamins A and E when taker together offer a degree of protection against ulcers which is greater than any other known preventive. Take 50,000 IU vitamin A and 100 IU vitamin E daily.

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