Prescription stomach acid drugs lead to magnesium deficiency

Sunday, March 06, 2011 by: Jonathan Benson, staff writer
Tags: stomach acid, magnesium, health news

(NaturalNews) Popular prescription proton pump inhibitor (PPI) drugs like AstraZeneca Plc's Nexium and Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd's Prevacid will now contain new labels warning patients that long-term use may cause magnesium deficiency. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says that the more than 21 million patients who take prescription PPIs for conditions like ulcers and acid reflux disease many need to cease use if magnesium supplementation does not correct the problem.

According to health officials, using prescription PPIs for as little as three months can lead to magnesium deficiency. Since most users take the drug for at least six months, the overall risk is high among users. At least 25 percent of patients who tried to take magnesium supplements as a remedy, however, were unsuccessful, resulting in them having to cease the medication altogether.

PPIs are among the most widely prescribed drugs for common ailments like indigestion and heartburn. A 2010 study published in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine found that PPIs are highly over-prescribed, even though they are fraught with negative side effects like an increased risk of bone fractures and life-threatening infections (https://www.naturalnews.com/028878_proton_pum...).

Interestingly, prior to the FDA's recent announcement about PPIs and magnesium deficiency, the agency actually approved the drugs' use in young children with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Even though the drugs can cause an increase in heartburn, indigestion, and reflux symptoms following the discontinuation of their use, the FDA claims the drugs are safe for children as young as one year old (https://www.naturalnews.com/023016_child_stom...).

Other prescription PPIs implicated in causing magnesium deficiency include Takeda's Dexilant, AstraZeneca's Prilosec and Vimova, Santarus Inc's Zegerid, Pfizer Inc's Protonix, Johnson & Johnson and Eisai Co Ltd's Aciphex, as well as generic varieties of many of these PPIs.

as young as one year old.

Sources for this story include:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/02/us...