Nickel Free-diet Enhances the Helicobacter Pylori Eradication Rate: a Pilot Study

Background: The Helicobacter pylori eradication rate with standard triple therapy is very low. H. pylori is known to require the nickel-containing metalloenzymes urease and NiFe-hydrogenase to survive at the low pH environment in the stomach.

Aim: To compare the H. pylori eradication rate of a nickel free-diet associated with standard triple therapy and standard triple therapy alone as the first-line regimen.

Methods: Fifty-two sex- and age-matched patients at the first diagnosis of H. pylori infection were randomized 1:1 into two different therapeutic schemes: (1) standard LCA (26 patients): lansoprazole 15 mg bid, clarithromycin 500 mg bid and amoxicillin 1,000 mg bid for 7 days with a common diet; (2) standard LCA plus a nickel free-diet (NFD-LCA) (26 patients). Patients followed 30 days of a nickel-free diet plus a week of lansoprazole 15 mg bid, clarithromycin 500 mg bid and amoxicillin 1,000 mg bid starting from day 15 of the diet.

Results: All patients completed the study. A significantly higher eradication rate was observed in the NFD-LCA group (22/26) versus LCA group (12/26) (p < 0.01). Only a few patients (9 of 52) reported the occurrence of mild therapy-related side effects, without any significant differences between the two groups.

Conclusions: The addition of a nickel-free diet to standard triple therapy significantly increases the H. pylori eradication rate. The reduction of H. pylori urease activity due to the nickel-free diet could expose the bacterium to gastric acid and increase H. pylori's susceptibility to amoxicillin. Further studies are necessary to confirm this preliminary result.