Benefit More With Probiotic Spores!

Posted by Dr. Nick LeRoy  |  Tagged: bacillus spores, bacterial spores, megasporebiotic, microbiome, probiotic  |  No Comments

Probiotics are fast becoming one of the top-selling supplements available—and for a good reason! Research is establishing a powerful link between what happens in the gut and the rest of the body. Alterations in the microbiome are confirmed to be associated with Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Crohn’s disease, asthma, cervical dysplasia and even obesity.

Spread completely flat, the intestines have the surface area of a tennis court. In contact with this surface, and in fact “communicating” with it, are about 100 trillion bacteria; that’s 10 times the number of cells in the human body! It is now known that these bacteria are incredibly important players in the activity of your entire immune system and they also influence the amount of inflammation your body will generate.

Probiotics: They’re Not Just for Your Gut!

Posted by Dr. Nick LeRoy  |  Tagged: gut bacteria, human microbiome project, inflammation, microbiome, probiotics  |  No Comments

In 2008, the National Institutes of Health began the Human Microbiome Project, a 5-year international research initiative to identify the associations between bacteria and human health and disease. Bacteria inhabit every nook and cranny of every surface of our body—inside and out. Termed the “microbiome”, these thousands of bacterial species that are associated with the human body are responsible for a healthy immune response, protection against unhealthy or “pathogenic” bacterial and viral invasion, the production of vitamins, and the digestion and absorption of the food we eat. 

Of the trillions of cells that make up a human, ninety percent are bacteria, viruses and other microbes. That’s right. You are more bacteria than human! In fact, the Human Genome Project has found that we have only about 22,000 genes while the bacteria associated with each of us totals 8 million genes! This finding has profound implications for human health.

Oh My GERD!

Posted by Dr. Nick LeRoy  |  Tagged: acid reflux, food allergy testing, GERD, prilosec, rhabdomyolysis  |  89 Comments

Recently I saw a patient who has been taking Zantac, an acid-blocking drug prescribed for ulcers and reflux, for the last seven years! Zantac and other similar medications including Prilosec, Nexium, Tagamet, Pepcid and Prevacid, all belong to a group of drugs used to treat gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and ulcers. All of these drugs are recommended by their respective manufacturers to take for four to eight weeks–not seven years!

To further enlighten myself I went to WebMD to see what kernel of wisdom could be gotten from “medical experts”. Regarding the treatment of GERD, WebMD stated the following:

“Doctors usually try to choose a treatment that uses enough medicine to control your symptoms but not so much that side effects become a serious problem. Depending on how bad your symptoms are, you may need to take medicines every day or only now and then when GERD symptoms occur. Long-term-often lifelong-medicine treatment is usually needed for GERD symptoms that are more severe, because symptoms tend to return when the medicine is stopped. Surgery is the only other effective option to prevent GERD symptoms from recurring.”

Food Allergy Diet Found Effective for IBS

Posted by Dr. Nick LeRoy  |  Tagged: food allergy testing, IBS, irritable bowel syndrome  |  6 Comments

A recent study in The Journal of International Medical Research found that immunoglobulin G (IgG) food allergy testing was an effective means to treat patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome. IgG food allergy testing is a blood test whereby antibody levels to foods can be identified. Treatment subsequently consists of eliminating the offensive foods for 8-12 weeks. In my practice I test over 150 foods as well as other food additives and chemicals when indicated. The aforementioned study found that after 12 weeks of eliminating reactive foods there was a significant improvement in abdominal pain, bloating, diarrhea, abdominal distention, and general feelings of distress.

How Many Specialists Does it take to Screw in a Light Bulb?

Posted by Dr. Nick LeRoy  |  Tagged: acid reflux, candida, food allergy testing, GERD  |  No Comments

Recently I had a patient call to make an appointment who claimed to be suffering with GERD (acid reflux) and oral candida (yeast infection). She inquired whether I could perform some tests for her including food allergy testing, GI testing for candida, and blood histamine levels. Whether or not she made an appointment hinged upon my ability to perform these tests, which I do perform, and subsequently I saw her a few days later.

She began by explaining to me that this past January she noticed an “orange” tongue for which she went to an EENT who was certain it was a candida infection and put her on an antifungal lozenge. About the same time she saw her internist who did a culture that was negative for candida. Despite this, the EENT stuck to his guns insisting that she had candida. She did not respond to the first antifungal so he put her on a second one. She also indicated that about the same time—last January—she started having stomach and lower esophageal pain, saw a GI doc, and was diagnosed with GERD.

Treating the Cause of Acid Reflux Disease

Posted by Dr. Nick LeRoy  |  Tagged: acid reflux, Dr. Nick LeRoy, food allergy, GERD, leaky gut syndrome  |  62 Comments

Gastro-esophageal Reflux Disease (GERD) is an increasingly common complaint that affects up to 40% of the American population. It is caused by stomach secretions passing above the valve at the top of the stomach into the lower esophagus. These secretions are highly acidic and irritate the esophagus eliciting upper abdominal and/or chest pain. If left untreated, the chronically irritated esophagus (Barrett’s esophagitis) can become cancerous in some individuals.

Current medical treatment focuses on decreasing the acidity of the stomach secretions in an attempt to limit esophageal irritation. This is accomplished with a variety of acid-blocking medications such as Nexium, Prevacid, and Prilosec. However, the cause of GERD is almost never too much acid, but rather acid that is in the wrong place: the esophagus. GERD medications never address why acid is refluxing. In fact, the stomach is supposed to be acidic—a requirement for the proper digestion of foods. By ignoring the actual cause of GERD and by treating the symptoms rather than the causes, conventional treatment results in lower gastrointestinal problems over time. This is due to improperly digested foods finding their way into the intestine where billions of bacteria are waiting with fork and knife to feast on the food you intended for yourself. The result is increased bacterial fermentation that will cause bloating and potentially damage the selectively permeable nature of the intestine (Leaky Gut Syndrome). Additionally, all of these drugs can have severe side-effects.