Sugar -> Inflammation -> Increased Cholesterol -> Plaque

That of course is over-simplified for the sake of our discussion, but it is true.  Let’s explore why too much sugar is a bad thing.  When your blood sugar becomes elevated (by eating to much sugar/carbohydrates) your body realizes it has more fuel than you need, so your body releases the hormone insulin to store that extra fuel for use in the future.  This excess sugar is stored as saturated fat (triglycerides).  In the continued presence of high blood sugar and high insulin, your body becomes resistant to the insulin and your blood sugar remains unchecked, meaning both insulin and blood sugar are high.  You are now inflamed.

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Common heartburn drugs are under fire, as a series of studies from the Archives of Internal Medicine released on Monday demonstrating serious side effects such as increase in fractures and bacterial infections.

Collectively, these drugs are called proton pump inhibitors, but they are better known as Nexium (AstraZeneca), Prilosec (AstraZeneca), Protonix (Pfizer), and Prevacid (Takeda).  These medicines have a total U.S. sales of 13.9 billion annually, as an estimated 113 million prescriptions are filled each year.  Dr. Michael Katz, director for the San Francisco Department of Public Health, states that 60 to 70 percent of people taking proton pump inhibitors do not need to be on them.  This problem is augmented by people being unaware of the risk until now.   (more…)

Permanent health problems result from simply treating symptoms when they arise without taking the time to address the underlying cause of the dysfunction of the body.  People will use medication for the remainder of their lives to try and comfort a dysfunctioning body.  Unfortunately this only buys comfort, not health.  This practice can cause acute or chronic health problems that are easy to correct to become irreversible (permanent).   (more…)