If you find yourself frequently taking heartburn medications, there’s some troubling news about some of those remedies. According to a recent study, those “harmless” little pills just might raise the chances of dementia especially in folks over 75.

There are lots of these products on the shelves and some of the better known names like Prilosec, Nexium and Prevacid are among the medications that can cause the problem. All these heartburn remedies are known as Proton Pump Inhibitors (PPI’s) and basically, they simply lower the amount of acid produced by the stomach.

The German report says that, among people aged 75 or older could have a whopping 44% better chance of developing dementia than those not taking the meds. According to the report, they are not saying that the heartburn meds cause the dementia, but they feel they have found a definite link.

Earlier studies seem to back up the findings of the most recent report on the link between the meds and dementia. In that earlier study, a link was found between heartburn meds known as H2 blockers. One doctor connected with the study, is telling his patients to steer clear of H2 blockers of Tagamet, Pepcid and Zantac.

It’s estimated that more than 15 million Americans use the remedies for heartburn.

Read more about this story at WEB MD

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