Yes, this is true, just like my last blog on cholesterol - low stomach acid is the cause of increased cases of COVID-19 and deaths, by extension.
As Mark Twain said, "It's easier to be fooled than to be convinced you have been fooled."
In our chronic disease support program, we started on gut health for a reason. It is the beginning, thus most important aspect, of immune health. Please take a look at the 7 functions of strong acid, which proton pump inhibitors and other antacids adversely impacts.
From the article in Medscape.
People who use proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) may be more likely to get COVID-19, researchers say.
In light of this finding, physicians should consider which patients truly need these powerful acid-lowering drugs, said Brennan Spiegel, MD, MSHS, professor of medicine and public health at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California.
"All it means is that we're going to have a conversation with our patients," he told Medscape Medical News. "We don't normally have that conversation because we don't live in an environment with a high risk of enteric infection. But now we're in a pandemic."
Can you believe this statement... We don't have a conversation on risk, we just TELL the person to take the drug - and they mostly do because they trust their doctor. This is despite a plethora of information on bone health, brain health, etc. all well documented to be impacted by PPIs
More from Medscape
Studies show that the drugs increase the risk for enteric (gut) infections, including infections by SARS-CoV-1, a virus that is related to the COVID-19 virus, SARS-CoV-2, Spiegel said.
SARS-CoV-2 uses the angiotensin-converting enzyme–2 receptor to invade enterocytes. Spiegel theorized that an increase in stomach pH above 3 as a result of use of PPIs might allow the virus to enter the GI tract more easily, leading to enteritis, colitis, and systemic spread to other organs, including the lungs. "There is a reason we have acid in our stomachs," Spiegel said.
Those who took PPIs twice a day were almost four times as likely to have tested positive for the disease
As we discussed in the CDS program, strong acid is an initial defense against a whole host of organisms - INCLUDING VIRUSES. All the more reason to keep on top of gut health and a lifelong pursuit.
Next Chronic Disease Support seminar - Monday at noon.
It's not too late to join this program. I'll send any newbies a link to past presentations....
Stay Well
Thomas J. Lewis, Ph.D.