Can Vitamins Help Eradicate H.Pylori?

Believe it or not, half the world has H. pylori. And if you’ve got it, you’ll want to get rid of it. A huge new study suggests that certain vitamins can help.

If you’re one of the many people infected with H. pylori, you want to get rid of it because it is a leading risk factor for ulcers, gastritis, gastric cancer and mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue–associated lymphoma.

H. pylori can also damage the protective barrier of the stomach, affecting absorption and causing vitamin deficiencies.

This large meta-analysis included 48 high quality studies of the relationship between vitamins and H. pylori. It found three important things.

The first is that, perhaps because of the malabsorption it causes, people with H. pylori have lower levels of vitamins B12, folic acid, C and D.

The second is that people who are successful at eradicating H. pylori have higher levels of vitamin D than those whose treatment is unsuccessful.

And the third is that adding antioxidants to standard therapy increases the chance of eradicating the H. pylori. The antioxidants they considered were vitamins C and E.

This meta-analysis suggests that people with H. pylori may want to consider supplementing B12, folic acid, vitamin C and vitamin D to address deficiencies, and that the last two may also help eradicate the infection .

Front Nutr  2021; 8: 781333.

 

Melatonin And L-Theanine: Helping You Sleep

Sleep is vital for everyone. For cancer patients, insomnia is often ignored, but it can make the overall condition worse. This study explored the ability of melatonin and L-theanine to improve sleep in cancer patients suffering from insomnia.

120 people between the ages of 18 and 55 who had cancer and were struggling with insomnia were given either a placebo, 3 mg of melatonin or 200 mg of L-theanine 2 hours before bed for two weeks.

Melatonin is a well known natural sleep aid. It is a hormone secreted by the pineal gland during darkness that regulates the sleep-wake cycle and circadian rhythm. It effectively induces and maintains sleep. L-theanine is less well known, but no less exciting. It is an amino acid found almost uniquely in green tea. L-theanine improves calm by increasing alpha brain waves, which leads to relaxation and better focus, and deceasing beta brain waves, which reduces nervousness, hyperactivity and unfocussed thoughts. L-theanine will not put you to sleep, but it will improve your sleep.

The L-theanine worked better than the placebo, and the melatonin worked even better than the L-theanine.

Interestingly, this is the second recent study to demonstrate the power of melatonin in sick or hospitalized people. A recent comparison study with the drug trazadone found melatonin to be at least as good for hospitalized patients with insomnia (Hosp Pharm. 2023 Apr;58(2):165–170).

This new study adds to the evidence that melatonin and L-theanine are helpful supplements for insomnia and suggests that L-theanine is also beneficial for cancer patients with insomnia and that melatonin is even better still .

Indian J Palliat Care. 2024 Apr-Jun;30(2):176–181.

 

Celery Seed for Heart & Mind

Celery seed extract is a great herb for high blood pressure. But, here’s something new.

Anxiety and depression can worsen high blood pressure, and high blood pressure can worsen anxiety and depression.

This triple-blind study found that 4 weeks of 1.34g a day of celery seed extract standardized for 3-n-butylphthalide significantly lowers anxiety and depression on the Beck Inventories while it significantly lowers blood pressure

Inflammopharmacology. 2023 Feb; 31(1):395-410.