Helicobacter pylori is listed as a clear carcinogen in the United States, not only with the fire "anti-ghost" concept stock, but also claiming to have "anti-Helicobacter pylori" and "remove bad breath through anti-Helicobacter pylori" and other oral care products have also attracted attention again. The Beijing News reporter's investigation found that not only are there products named by well-known enterprises, but also products that have been recalled are still on sale.
In fact, the State Food and Drug Administration has published a popular science article saying that Helicobacter pylori is mainly present in the human stomach, and there is no evidence to prove that the use of toothpaste can have an effect on Helicobacter pylori present in the stomach.
Toothpaste turns into a cold compress gel and a bad breath drug
On January 14, the Beijing News reporter searched for "Helicobacter pylori toothpaste" on a well-known online shopping platform, and did not find related products, and when the keyword was replaced by "Helicobacter pylori" search, a variety of toothpaste jumped out. Some names are "Helicobacter pylori test paper treatment HP genuine oral antibacterial yuspiroxacin anti-bad breath medicine" "pylori screw HP antibacterial oral cream", and some names are "Helicobacter pylori bad breath type medical cold compress gel". The price of this type of toothpaste is mostly higher than that of ordinary toothpaste, and the price is 34 yuan-88 yuan.
The Beijing News reporter's investigation of 6 "toothpaste products" sold on the market that promote inhibition of Helicobacter pylori found that many of them were well-known enterprise-named products, such as Renhe Pharmaceutical's Helicobacter pylori bad breath type cold compress gel, Sinopharm Group's anti-Helicobacter pylori toothpaste, and Correction Pharmaceutical's Helicobacter pylori bad breath type medical cold compress gel.
Why is the product name Cold Gel instead of Toothpaste? Correction of Helicobacter pylori bad breath type medical cold compress gel explained in the product introduction that cold compress gel refers to the description of the physical state of toothpaste, the use of the same as daily toothpaste washing, suitable for helicobacter pylori caused by oral disease patients cold compress physiotherapy, the product adds patented anti-euphroplastic bacteria, inhibit the growth of euphorbia, build oral health barrier. However, the answer obtained by the Beijing News reporter after consulting the customer service of the online store is that the product cannot treat Helicobacter pylori, but can only play a role in refreshing the breath.
The promotional page also shows that the medical cold compress gel that modifies Helicobacter pylori bad breath is a product of the national drug administration approval: Yuechan Equipment Preparation 20180158, and the record name is Foshan Jianzhishu Medical Supplies Co., Ltd., which belongs to the first class of medical devices. According to Article 17 of the Regulations on the Supervision and Administration of Medical Devices, class I medical device products are filed for the record and do not need to undergo clinical trials.
After inquiry, on July 6, 2021, the website of the Foshan Municipal Market Supervision and Administration Bureau of Guangdong Province published recall information: the cold compress gel and other products filed by Foshan Jianzhishu Medical Supplies Co., Ltd. contained misleading instructions in the specification and model filing information, which exceeded the scope of the product description and intended use of the filing. After on-site inspection by the law enforcement personnel of the Nanhai District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau, it was found that the company did not establish and improve the quality management system suitable for the medical devices produced and ensure its effective operation, did not equip the inspection sites and facilities that were compatible with the production scale, variety and inspection requirements of the product, and the cold compress gel and wound care ointment produced were sold without inspection, and there were quality and safety hazards.
According to the official website of Renhe Pharmaceutical, the main effect of Renhe Helicobacter pylori bad breath type cold compress gel is to freshen breath and improve oral discomfort. Product structure and performance show that it is usually composed of cooling substances and various forms of coats and fixed appliances, and the cooling substances should not contain ingredients that play a pharmacological, immunological or metabolic role, and do not have any effect of inhibiting Helicobacter pylori, but their trade names and e-commerce platforms are mixed with relevant information about Helicobacter pylori.
There is also an anti-Helicobacter pylori toothpaste product, which is manufactured by Sinopharm Group Tianmuhu Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. The Beijing News reporter's inquiry found that on September 20, 2021, Sinopharm Group had issued the "Tips on Preventing suspected counterfeiting of Sinopharm Group's brand image in the market" on its official website, saying that it found a number of incidents suspected of infringing the brand image of Sinopharm Group, the subject suspected of infringing the rights of Sinopharm Group, with Sinopharm Group Tianmuhu Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Sinopharm Medicinal Materials Co., Ltd. and its holding or shareholding enterprises, and other issues, mainly for unauthorized illegal sub-authorization of multiple chains, involving cosmetics, health foods, Vending machines, health centers, project investment and other types of products or business more than 100 pieces. On why illegal sublicensed products are repeatedly prohibited, how to supervise and other issues, the Beijing News reporter sent an email to Sinopharm Group for consultation, but as of press time has not received a reply.
Eradication of bacteria usually requires a combination of multiple drugs
Among the 6 products investigated by the Beijing News reporter, only 3 products issued third-party testing agency reports, such as the correction of Helicobacter pylori bad breath type medical cold compress gel, saying that the bacteriostatic rate of Helicobacter pylori was as high as 99.87%; 1 issued a Pacific insurance product liability insurance policy, and 2 claimed to have the effect of inhibiting Helicobacter pylori, and there was no relevant certificate.
Although some test reports have a high bacteriostatic rate, the experimental conditions and test temperature are quite different from the human environment. Jiang Feng, chief physician of the Department of Gastroenterology at Dongzhimen Hospital of Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, said that even if the manufacturer claims to have a certificate issued by an authoritative institution, the results of these experiments may be under certain conditions and after continuous use for a period of time to achieve such an effect, which is not exactly the same as the daily use of toothpaste by consumers.
Helicobacter pylori is a spiral-shaped, microaerobic bacterium that is very demanding on growth conditions. It was first isolated from gastric mucosal biopsy tissue in patients with chronic active gastritis in 1983 and is the only microbial species known to survive in the human stomach. In 1994, the World Health Organization officially identified Helicobacter pylori as a Class I (i.e., affirmative) carcinogen. On October 27, 2017, the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer published a preliminary list of carcinogens, and Helicobacter pylori (infection) is in the list of first-class carcinogens.
Chi Tianyu, deputy chief physician of the Department of Gastroenterology of Beijing Xuanwu Hospital, introduced that Helicobacter pylori mainly grows in the stomach, and there will also be Helicobacter pylori on the plaque in the mouth, theoretically speaking, if the toothpaste contains some bacteriostatic drugs, after use, it will have a certain inhibitory effect on Helicobacter pylori in the mouth. "However, due to the complexity of bacterial radical treatment, it usually requires multi-drug combination, single medication or short medication time, and usually does not eradicate bacteria."
Helicobacter pylori is mainly transmitted through the oral route and the fecal-oral route, and the "shared meal system" dining method that the Chinese people like is very easy to lead to the spread of Helicobacter pylori. Chi Tianyu suggested that the use of public chopsticks during meals, regular disinfection of tableware, and regular replacement of toiletries have the effect of reducing Helicobacter pylori.
"Many people may have been infected from an early age because of infection in their family, so testing for Helicobacter pylori is important." Chi Tianyu introduced that the way to detect Helicobacter pylori is very simple, mainly for blowing experiments (carbon 13 or carbon 14 exhalation tests), which can be carried out by general hospitals or physical examination institutions.
Chi Tianyu said that the drugs that eradicate Helicobacter pylori today are mainly quadruple therapy, the medication time is 10-14 days, if the patient compliance is good, most of the bacteria can be eradicated. If the patient has a resistance to antibiotics and cannot achieve the effect of eradicating bacteria, then it is necessary to conduct corresponding special tests to detect which drugs their resistant bacteria are sensitive to, and then use drugs to sterilize them in a targeted manner.
The Beijing News reporter noted that there is a Yospiruta Star HP toothpaste, patented as "anti-oral Helicobacter pylori Traditional Chinese Medicine Toothpaste", in addition to the moisturizer sorbitol, friction agent silica, surfactant sodium lauryl sulfate and thickener sodium hydroxymethylcellulose and other commonly used ingredients in toothpaste, but also increase licorice, forsythia extract, lactoferrin and other special ingredients. In this regard, Jiang Feng said that studies have shown that chinese medicines such as skullcap, skullcap, rhubarb, forsythia, bitter ginseng, andrographis, honeysuckle, and banlan root do have the effect of inhibiting Helicobacter pylori, and in order to truly achieve the effect of bacteriostatic, it is also necessary to take oral administration according to the dose for a period of time, not by brushing teeth can play a role. "For drug-resistant Helicobacter pylori infection, it can be treated with integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine to reduce the use of antibiotics and the occurrence of adverse reactions, which has a good clinical effect."
Beijing News reporter Zhang Zhaohui Image source Network screenshot
Proofreading Liu Jun
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