6 ways to avoid getting stomach ulcers

Stomach ulcer pain is no joke: it can leave you debilitated. Fortunately, there's ways to lower your risk of getting an ulcer by following these six steps.

• Once upon a time, people with stomach ulcers tried to soothe the gnawing pain by eating bland food and chugging thick, tummy-coating antacids.
• Today experts know that a tiny bacterium called Helicobacter pylori is responsible for two-thirds of all gastric ulcers (those in the stomach) and duodenal ulcers (those in the beginning of the small intestine).
• Using nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as aspirin and ibuprofen causes almost all the rest.

Here's how to lower your ulcer odds.

• If you regularly take low-dose aspirin for your heart or use ibuprofen or naproxen for your arthritis, you're raising your risk of an ulcer. These drugs interfere with mechanisms that protect the lining of the stomach from corrosive stomach acids.
• They thin the stomach's protective mucus coating; reduce production of an acid-neutralizing chemical called bicarbonate (yes, it's similar to the stuff in baking soda); and reduce blood flow, which helps stomach cells repair themselves.
• NSAIDs can also interfere with blood clotting. If an ulcer bleeds, it may do so even more freely. In a study of more than 3,000 people, British researchers found that those who had taken NSAIDs recently were two to 30 times more likely to have bleeding ulcers than those who avoided these pain relievers.

• If you're relying on antacids and a bland diet to control ulcer pain, it's time to update your strategy. The only way to prevent dangerous complications such as bleeding and stomach perforation is to get tested to confirm a Helicobacter pylori infection, which causes most ulcers, then start treatment.
• A course of antibiotics, usually given along with an acid-reducing proton-pump inhibitor, is the only way to knock out the spiral-shaped germ. This germ burrows into the protective mucus layer lining the stomach wall, releasing toxins that burn holes in the stomach lining.

• Nicotine in tobacco increases the amount of acid in your stomach and makes it more concentrated.
• Studies show that smoking raises the risk of ulcers seven times higher than normal. Some experts suspect that chemicals in tobacco smoke may somehow work with the H. pylori bacterium to create stomach ulcers.

• Alcohol irritates and erodes your stomach lining and boosts acid production. While it may not cause ulcers all by itself, scientists believe that it boosts risk in people with an H. pylori infection and those who use NSAIDs regularly.
• Considering that half of all adults are infected with this bacterium by age 60, holding the line at happy hour sounds like a good idea.

• In a Harvard study of more than 47,000 men, those who ate seven servings of fruit and vegetables a day had a 33 percent lower risk of developing ulcers than those who had less than three servings daily.
• Eating lots of soluble fibre—the type found in beans, barley, pears and oatmeal—cut risk by a whopping 60 percent. Experts aren't sure why these foods are protective.
• One possibility is that soluble fibre becomes a thick, smooth gel in your digestive system and may help protect the walls of your upper small intestine from damage by digestive juices.

• Veggies such as spinach, lettuce, radishes and beets are rich in chemicals that raise levels of nitric oxide in the stomach. The ulcer connection?
• Swedish researchers say higher nitric oxide levels seem to strengthen the stomach's inner lining so it can better protect itself from digestive acids.