Double whammy
You got diagnosed with H. Pylori and followed the standard medical recommendations of triple antibiotics and you gained a significant amount of weight. Now your pathogen free and obese. Isn't there a better way?
What is H. Pylori? It is a bacteria pathogen that causes stomach ulcers. On the brighter side, H. Pylori infections decrease fasting blood glucose levels, increase leptin levels, improve glucose tolerance and suppress weight gain.
Factoids
The lowest H. pylori rates were in Australia (15%) and the highest was in Portugal (85%). The higher rate of H. pylori infection correlated to lower rates of obesity as shown from 49 studies with a total of 99,463 subjects. The GDP or gross domestic product per capita and H. pylori prevalence was inversely correlated. Children who were never infected with H. pylori or cleared the infection gained weight faster than those who had a chronic infection.
Why did individuals gain weight after treatment for H. pylori?
Maybe their appetite was improved. There is a hormone called ghrelin which regulates appetite and food intake. Ghrelin in the blood increased in one study after patients were treated for H. pylori. The treatment caused increased appetite and weight gain and contributed to an increase in overweight and obesity.
I have another theory. Following the standard treatment of triple antibiotics for a few months alters the intestinal microbiome. The antibiotics wipe out the good and bad flora which controls our caloric extraction from foods. The H. pylori infection was eradicated, but the antibiotics changed all of the other microbiome genetic signals which led to the weight gain.
Naturopathic medicine offers safe and effective treatment to cure H. pylori infection. I recommend testing and diagnosis in blood, stool and breath. Once an infection is determined I have several treatment options that support the gastrointestinal microbiome, kill the infection without disturbing the good colonization.
