Is the Citric Acid C - Urea Breath Test Effective to Test for H. Pylori?

Re: The Problem with The Citric Acid C - Urea Breath Test to detect H-Pylori
12/14/2006: Ted writes, "Someone asked me about the Citric Acid C- Urea Breath Test to detect the presence of helicobacter pylori. Using the Urea breath test would invariably make the condition of acid reflux worse as the test requires the stomach to generate more helicobacter pylori colonies needed to detect such presence. In other words, a large carbon dioxide gas is generated from such a test.

The reason WHY you cannot take citric acid or any organic acid ALONG WITH THE FOOD is it SLOWS DOWN stomach emptying, thus increasing the helicobacter pylori colonies, making the acid reflux worse. In many cases the condition is not from helicobacter pylori, but from taking too much antibiotics which bought on the yeast infection issue. It IS o.k. to take apple cider vinegar AND baking soda, provided that you take it on an EMPTY stomach and when you are NOT hungry. This will not effect the slowing down of stomach emptying and thus alkalizing the body increasing the body's immune system, killing the helicobacter from behind (the blood supplying the surface of the stomach lining).

If you are going to KILL helicobacter pylori, it is best to add plenty of spices in your food that must include at least FOUR things: thyme, clove, cinnamon AND oregano! Make teas out of it if you have to, only this time the sweets are going to be either stevia and xylitol! If you want some nice drinks, then licorice extract now and then mixed in your tea should also kill the stubborn helicobacter pylori too.

That is as brief as I can make it. And now for a more detailed look, I present to you SOME insight into the workings of the acid reflux problem.

What is bad about the Citric Acid Urea Breath Test is that by taking citric acid to the food you eat along with urea, it causes the stomach to slow down digestion and as a result, the citric acid - urea stays in the stomach longer than usual. When this happens, fermentation in the stomach acts up, causing a huge belch of CO2 as helicobacter pylori grows while you are doing this test. The reason why stomach digestion slows down is that whenever there is acidity in the food, the intestines need more bicarbonates than usual to neutralize whatever the stomach has plus the extra citric acid. These tests can also use apple juice and other fruit juices, which create even more helicobacter pylori, further worsening the existing problem.

It is therefore much simpler and cheaper to just assume that you MIGHT have helicobacter pylori rather than take this test.

Basically, taking baking soda 1/2 teaspoon plus 1/2 glass of water at least 1 hour before meal would cause the body to have sufficient bicarbonates in the intestines so that the stomach will not be delayed needless waiting for the intestines to produce enough bicarbonates necessary to neutralize whatever excess acid that comes from the stomach.

This is why when we eat excess acid food, we get constipation. The food simply stays in your stomach so long it gets stuck. And when it does stay so long, it ferments, causing an acid reflux in the stomach. So doing the exact opposite would afford the opportunity to prevent that, and thus resolving the issue of acid reflux in the process. Acid reflux due to h. pylori in this case is the issue of fermentation due to excess food acid causing the stomach digestion process to slow down.

One reason why apple cider vinegar does work with acid reflux is that it is alkaline forming from the minerals found in the apple cider vinegar. However, as you see with the citric acid example, taking apple cider vinegar would work BEST, if taken on an empty stomach without the food. We can further the conclusion to make an even better apple cider vinegar by adding some baking soda where 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar plus 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda would neutralize the solution to pH of 7 where there is sufficient alkaline forming minerals from the ACV plus enough bicarbonates to buffer the food. This will lessen the time it stays in the stomach unnecessarily, therefore reducing the fermentation and killing the helicobacter pylori indirectly since food would not stay long enough in the stomach to cause fermentation. This way makes for a more practical remedy rather than testing for it and torturing yourself in the process by expanding helicobacter pylori in the process.

Perhaps I am ignoring the fact that helicobacter is a bacteria, but there are many ways to kill it. Taking a powdered form, 25 mg -50 mg, of zinc acetate or similar amounts in the form of zinc citrate, zinc chloride would invariably kill it too. Also taking colloidal silver, frequently enough, but at each dose one teaspoon every two hour would kill it. On the other hand, drinking salty sea salt drinks would help. TO not overdo this, I think 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt per 1 liter of water that you can drink throughout the day would help. Remember salted fish does not spoil because it is salted! However, it is very important that the salt that use be a GOOD sea salt. No common table salt would work as they are acid forming and will not help your condition.

Am I over killing this helicobacter pylori a little too much? Yes I am, acid reflux, yeast infection can also be the cause too. In which case the treatment would still be the same, only with a couple of more added "home remedies" such as avoiding all whites, such as white flour, white bread, white sugar, and white salt. Apparently these whites are acid forming and lower the immune system since the present day method of processing bread uses bromine, which lowers your body's limited iodine. If you think iodine might be on the low side, just do once a week iodine foot painting and a weekly dose of zinc acetate 25 mg. should at least help.

Chromium, selenium, MSM (methylsulfonylmethane) and garlic supplements have anti-fungal properties and this should further help you reduce the acid reflux issue.

In many cases the medical diagnosis for detection costs have exceeded the home remedies that are needed to treat them, while the remedies presented on Earth Clinic are even cheaper: they are all free! Ted