Indigestion pills double cancer risk

It’s Sir Big Yin, no joke

COMEDIAN Billy Connolly was knighted yesterday – and admitted he asked Prince William if he was still funny.

Sir Billy, 74, known as the Big Yin, said he was “stunned” to be honoured for his services to entertainment and charity. “I’m kind of numb. It means great deal to the people a around me and the fans,” he said. Asked what he chatted to Prince William about, he said: “Just, am I still funny? It was lovely – it was kind of personal.”

The father-of-five, who is being treated for Parkinson’s disease, was joined by wife Pamela Stephenson at Buckingham Palace. INDIGESTION pills significantly increase the risk of stomach cancer, a study has found.

Scientists say people who regularly use proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) – commonly used to treat acid reflux – are twice as likely to develop the cancer. And if people take the drugs long term, the risk soars, rising fivefold after a year to more than eightfold after three years of regular consumption.

Scientists from University College London and the University of Hong Kong suspect the pills stimulate a hormone called gastrin, which triggers the growth of cancerous cells.

More than five million bottles and packets of PPIs, which include omeprazole and lansoprazole, are prescribed each year to treat gastroesophageal reflux, a form of heartburn.

Doctors fear because they are so readily available, people may take them without medical supervision for years.