Gastric ulcer patients beware of milk

If there is one food that brings to mind the image of a soother, it is milk. Last week, I had mentioned that milk soothes and dulls...

If there is one food that brings to mind the image of a soother, it is milk. Last week, I had mentioned that milk soothes and dulls the sensory receptors in the mouth and stomach. Therefore it seems plausible that it would soothe the stomach ulcerations by a similar action. Unfortunately, this is not true and this widely prevalent but false notion has led to great discomfort and damage to people’s health. Surprisingly, even the medical fraternity was inclined to believe this well into the 1980s.

It will therefore not come as a surprise that for nearly 70 years, prescriptions of diet in patients suffering from gastric ulcers, had relied on milk and cream feeding at frequent intervals.

It was only about 30 years ago that researchers first found that such a diet prescription led to more acid production than the 3-meal pattern consisting of regular foodstuff. Considering that this data has been around for the past three decades, I still have a hard time convincing some of my patients.

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Their common and oft repeated retort is based on the immediate relief that they seem to get from drinking milk. They do not realise that the acid neutralizing effect of milk is very transient and after a period of time, it is counterproductive.

In fact, the body, as a reaction to the milk, produces even more acid and for a longer period of time and that too with acid levels actually increasing, more so in patients who are already afflicted with stomach ulcers.

Going by hard scientific evidence, my advice to persons suffering from stomach ulcers would be — beware of milk. Here is some even more surprising evidence.

Some of the hot fiery foods that have been regarded for so long as being bad for ulcers may actually be good for ulcer healing. So much for popular belief.