FREE NEJM E-TOC    HOME   |   SUBSCRIBE   |   CURRENT ISSUE   |   PAST ISSUES   |   COLLECTIONS   |   Search Term  Advanced Search

Sign in | Get NEJM's E-Mail Table of Contents — Free | Subscribe

Previous Volume 360:729-730 February 12, 2009 Number 7 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

	Full Text PDF PDA Full Text Purchase this article Add to Personal Archive Add to Citation Manager Notify a Friend E-mail When Cited E-mail When Letters Appear Related Article by Kahrilas, P. J. PubMed Citation

To the Editor: In his article about gastroesophageal reflux disease, Kahrilas (Oct. 16 issue)¹ describes the potential risks of prolonged use of proton-pump inhibitors. However, the author does not call attention to the important relation between sustained hypochlorhydria and vitamin B₁₂ and iron deficiency.

Vitamin B₁₂ deficiency is a major public health problem in the elderly population. Long-standing administration of proton-pump inhibitors can result in malabsorption of cobalamin in food² and contribute, along with conditions such as autoimmune gastritis and lifestyle choices such as vegetarianism, to the development of clinically manifest vitamin B₁₂ deficiency.³ Moreover, it is well known that . . . [Full Text of this Article]

HOME  |  SUBSCRIBE  |  SEARCH  |  CURRENT ISSUE  |  PAST ISSUES  |  COLLECTIONS  |  PRIVACY  |  TERMS OF USE  |  HELP  |  beta.nejm.org Comments and questions? Please contact us. The New England Journal of Medicine is owned, published, and copyrighted © 2010 Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved.