Truth about Painkillers (Aspirin & Paracetamol) and Antibiotics

I came across this information while reading a book over the weekend. I find it interesting and like to share with my readers. If you ever taken Painkillers, you must read this Article.

" In UK alone 650 millions prescriptions are written every years, and the total cost has doubled in the last ten years to 7 Billion Sterling pound. The US annual drug bill is a staggering $200 billion.

In UK $260 million sterling pound is spent each year on painkillers such as aspirin and paracetamol.

Salicylic acid, the active ingredient in aspirin and other painkillers, is a gastrointestinal irritant, increasing the permeability of the gut wall. This in turn upsets the absorption of nutrients, allowing incompletely digested foods to pass into the bloodstream, alerting the immune system and triggering allergy responses to common food. In the long term, this weakens the immune system, encourages inflammation and burns up vital vitamins and minerals needed for healthy immunity, as well as triggering intestinal bleeding.

The alternative is Paracetamol, of which 4 billion tablets are taken worldwide every year. While Paracetamol does not irritate the gut like aspirin, it is bad news for the Liver. As a result, in UK alone, 30,000 people a year end up in hospital as a result of taking paracetamol.

In 1994 in UK, 115 paracetamol-related deaths were reported. According to Professor Sir David Carter of Edinburgh University, 1 in 10 liver transplants is made necessary because of damage caused by paracetamol overdose. While 20 paracetamol can kill you, even one is extra work for liver. If a person takes 6 a day and lacks the nutrients that help the liver to detoxify, this can reduce their ability to deal with other toxins such as alcohol. The combination of alcohol and paracetamol is very dangerous; Paracetamol produces a toxic by-product that can be broken down by the liver only if the body contains sufficient stores of the amino acid glutathione. If you run out, the result is trouble.

Many common drugs have direct or knock-on effects on your nutritional status. Antibiotics, for example, wipe out the healthy gut bacteria that manufacture significant amount of B vitamins. They also pave the way for unfriendly bacteria to multiply, which increases the risk of infection, thereby stressing the immune system. This can then lead to nutrient deficiency. Meanwhile the US national Institutes of Health estimated that more than 50,000 tons of antibiotics are used every year worldwide."

Think about it , have a second thought the next time you want to take a paracetamol or an antibiotics.

Source - "NEW Optimum Nutrition Bible - Patrick Holford's"