“If you take omeprazole Prilosec or The Purple Pill that is heavily advertised, consider switching to a non-PPI drug. Called H-2-receptor blockers, these medications include cimetidine (Tagamet HB), famotidine (Pepcid AC), nizatidine (Axid AR) or ranitidine (Zantac).” Bill Chesnut, MD
To go back to New Health News: http://billchesnutmd.com/new-health-news
PPIs may be linked to an increased risk of CKD, study reveals AMA Morning Rounds, April 15, 2016.
ABC World News Tonight (4/14, story 10, 0:25, Muir) reported that a study has linked “proton pump inhibitors including Nexium [esomeprazole magnesium] and Prilosec [omeprazole] to an increased risk of chronic kidney disease [CKD].”
According to CNN (4/14, Christensen), some “173,321 people who used PPIs and 20,270” who “took a PPI alternative known as histamine H2 receptor blockers” were included in the five-year study.
The CBS News (4/14, Welch) website reports that “over five years of follow-up…15 percent of people using PPIs were diagnosed with chronic kidney disease, versus 11 percent of those on H2-blockers,” which “translated to a 28 percent increased risk of developing kidney disease for PPI users.” While just “a few patients in the study – less than 0.2 percent – developed end-stage kidney failure. The risk was 96 percent higher for those on PPIs.” The study was published online in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.