Prilosec is one of most popular drugs sold in America. It’s a proton pump inhibitor (PPI) used to treat periodic and chronic Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease or what we commonly call heartburn. Its stablemate is Nexium. These two PPI’s are owned by AstraZeneca which garners over $1.5 billion in sales of these two popular drugs each year. PPI’s reduce the amount of hydrochloric acid produced in the stomach – which emerging science is now showing in and of itself is a bad idea. And if you want to understand what really causes GERD you can read this article. It’s estimated that 60% of the American population suffer periodic bouts of GERD over the course of a year and some 30% have regular weekly bouts. This lead to close to 300 million PPI prescription being written between 2006 and 2010. It’s a $14 billion a year class of drugs. Wow that’s a lot...
