The Best Foods to Fight H. Pylori

What food can eradicate H. pylori in the majority of patients?

The salting and pickling of fish produce a novel DNA-mutating chemical called CMBA, which is formed from a reaction of salt, nitrite preservatives, and methionine, an amino acid found concentrated in animal proteins. The nitrites can also interact with other protein components to form N-nitroso compounds, a powerful class of carcinogens found in cigarette smoke. This may explain why processed meats such as bacon, ham, hot dogs, lunch meat, and sausage have been tied to increased stomach cancer risk, but this extends to fresh, unprocessed, unsalted meats as well.

But isn’t most stomach cancer caused by an infection with a stomach bacteria called H. pylori? There is a synergistic interaction between H. pylori-induced inflammation gastritis and diet in the formation of stomach cancer. Check this out: Researchers in China discovered that even genetically vulnerable individuals infected with a particularly pathogenic strain of H. pylori did not appear to be at increased risk of stomach cancer, unless they ate about an ounce or more of pork per day. (An average pork chop is about six ounces.) You can see the evidence below and at 1:22 of my video How to Treat H. Pylori Naturally with Diet.

This is a striking example of how our diet can sometimes trump both our genes and environmental influences like cancer-causing infections. But is there a way to wipe out the H. pylori in the first place?

Normally, a triple antibiotic cocktail of drugs is used to kill off H. pylori, but patient compliance is difficult to maintain due to the quantity of drugs taken and the adverse side effects. Is there anything we can eat to wipe them out instead?

Decades before its detoxifying and anti-cancer abilities were discovered, sulforaphane, the remarkable compound in cruciferous vegetables, was originally described for its antimicrobial activity. After hearing anecdotal reports of individuals with H. pylori-induced peptic ulcer disease experiencing dramatic and sometimes unexpected relief after eating three-day-old broccoli sprouts, researchers at Johns Hopkins University and elsewhere decided to put broccoli sprouts to the test. Not only did broccoli sprout extracts kill antibiotic-resistant strains of H. pylori in a petri dish, but some patients who were given as little as a third of a cup of broccoli sprouts a day for a week were able to eradicate their H. pylori infection. In a randomized controlled trial comparing broccoli sprouts with alfalfa sprouts, those given the equivalent of two to three servings of broccoli a day in broccoli sprouts were able to significantly cut down on markers of both H. pylori colonization and stomach lining inflammation.

Though broccoli sprouts may be able to eradicate H. pylori in the majority of patients—56%—the standard triple-drug antibiotic therapy is much more effective with about 90% eradication. Still, for those who don’t meet the criteria for drug treatment, cruciferous vegetables may present a safe, natural way to combat H. pylori and the development of stomach cancer. A compilation of 22 population studies found that eating more cruciferous vegetables was associated with a significantly lower stomach cancer risk. Broccoli has never been directly put to the test, but garlic has.

Observational studies dating back to the 1960s on Japanese migrants have suggested that allium family vegetables—such as garlic and onions—may be protective against stomach cancer, as you can see below and at 3:43 in my video.

To date, there have been dozens of such studies published, and overall, eating lots of allium vegetables was indeed associated with significantly lower stomach cancer risk. There is evidence of publication bias, though, meaning there appears to have been other studies that failed to show such an effect, but they were shelved and never published. Even if this weren’t the case, observational studies never prove cause and effect.

For example, maybe low garlic and onion consumption didn’t contribute to stomach cancer, but rather stomach cancer contributed to low garlic and onion consumption. Decades of H. pylori stomach inflammation leading up to the cancer may have led to people choosing bland diets to avoid discomfort. You can’t know if garlic really helps until you put it to the test.

Louis Pasteur was evidently the first to describe the antibacterial effect of garlic and onion juices.

Petri dish studies have shown that garlic is effective in suppressing the growth of H. pylori at concentrations achievable in the stomach with a single clove. Even some antibiotic-resistant strains appear to be susceptible. But does this translate into stopping the growth of cancer? A randomized, double-blind, controlled trial was launched to find out.

Thousands of people at high risk for stomach cancer from 13 villages in China were randomized into various combinations of antibiotics, garlic supplements, and antioxidant supplements. Just a few weeks of antibiotics led to a significant decrease in subsequent precancerous stomach growths 7 years later and a significant decrease in subsequent stomach cancer by 15 years. What about the garlic? No benefit by 7 years and only a non-statistically significant reduction after 15 years. But in 2019, we got the 22-year update, 15 years after the study ended, and those who had taken the garlic did indeed have a significantly lower risk of subsequently dying from cancer, though interestingly the protective effect of garlic only seemed to manifest among nondrinkers.

Doctor’s Note

If you missed the previous blog, see Pickled Paradox: Kimchi’s Link to Stomach Cancer.

For more on cruciferous and allium family vegetables and cancer, see: