Ratio between IL-8 and pepsinogen A/C: marker for atrophic gastritis
Atrophic gastritis is the wearing away of the portion of the stomach that contains the parietal cells–the cells that produce stomach acid.
This article finds that markers in the blood can identify patients with this condition. This makes things very, very interesting in a time with the “purple pill” that is advertised everywhere totally shuts down acid production (it wasn’t important anyway…). Next time a physician suggests you go on acid suppressive therapy, ask him/her for this test. Despite popular opinion (and contrary to medical research and clinical presentations) most people make less and less stomach acid as we get older, making acid suppressive therapy baseless.
Synergy Abstract –