Top 4 Reasons for Heartburn

Acid reflux, and the heartburn that accompanies it, is a very uncomfortable condition which tens of millions of people around the world suffer from each day. In this article, you will find out what the top 4 reasons for heartburn are so you can avoid these in the future.

While we know that we get acid reflux when stomach acid leaves the stomach and enters the esophagus, and this occurs when the Lower Esophageal Sphincter (the band of smooth muscle which normally seals the junction between the stomach and esophagus) is not functioning properly.

The real question is – what causes this malfunction in the first place? What are the real underlying reasons for acid reflux?

Reason for Heartburn #1 – Obesity

The primary reason for the number of heartburn and GERD cases exploding in the last 20 years is due to the growth in obesity. Out of all the lifestyle factors linked to heartburn, obesity has by far and away the strongest link between acid reflux and heartburn.

Obesity causes more than just heart problems as it is one of the major heartburn causes. If you are overweight and you are getting acid reflux, that might be your body’s way of telling you it is time to lose weight.

Reason for Heartburn #2 – Diet

I do not think it comes to a surprise to anyone that the foods you eat may be triggering heartburn. However, you may be surprised to know that the perfect acid reflux diet is not just based on eating the “good” foods and avoiding the “bad” foods.

Everyone responds to foods differently, so a list of foods that are “safe” or “bad” will not be applicable across the board. There are huge variations between individual people. Some people get heartburn when eating fatty food while others get heartburn from sugary foods. Some people can handle spicy food and cannot have diary, whereas others are the exact opposite.

Perhaps the biggest way diet leads to acid reflux is in the amount of food you eat. Most people do not respond favorably to being very full. Overeating causes the stomach to expand, which increases the pressure inside of it, which leads to more pressure against the Lower Esophageal Sphincter as food tries to push its way out the top of the stomach and cause acid reflux.

On the plus side, adding in certain nutrients may actually reduce heartburn. Using supplements like fish oil in addition to make sure your salt is iodized may improve acid reflux over time. As mentioned in our article on heartburn every morning, a high protein meal can also help reduce acid reflux.

Reason for Heartburn #3 – Smoking, Alcohol, and Caffeine

These three substances are the vice of many (personally I love coffee – in fact I am drinking a cup as I write this!) but all three of them can lead to heartburn. There are some ways we can manage our vices and still reduce acid reflux.

Having a drink or two with dinner on Friday nights is not likely to give you heartburn that night, let alone all week. Alcohol becomes more of a contributor to acid reflux when drinking is regularly (a few drinks every day), excessive (a 8+ drink binge), or both.

Smoking will likely always be a problem and causes heartburn on two fronts: through nicotine (which is thought to stimulate acid production) and through cigarette smoke, which triggers inflammation.

Understand that nicotine is not a healthy substance and if you are a smoker you should look to quit immediately. However, if you have no intentions of quitting smoking, consider picking up an electronic cigarette. You can get these online and they are fairly inexpensive. While you will still get the side effects of nicotine, the lack of cigarette smoke will cut down on inflammation in the body and may help reduce heartburn related to smoking.

If I drink coffee on an empty stomach, I get acid reflux. However, I cannot give up on coffee so easily. I have found that adding in a positive factor, in this case a protein shake (protein tightens the LES), I can drink coffee with no issues. This may be something you want to try if you are not ready to give up on coffee.

Reason for Heartburn #4 – Medication, Illness, or Injury

While these may not seem related, these are three of the top causes of heartburn that appears “out of the blue”. It is not uncommon for example to get acid reflux as a side effect from medication. Alternatively, some people experience reflux after getting sick, particularly with a stomach virus, food poisoning, or the flu. A third option would be to have some sort of internal injury such as a hiatal hernia, which increases your chance of getting reflux significantly.

If you have no history of heartburn then all of a sudden you start getting very regular heartburn, you need to see a doctor and mention this immediately. Make note of any medications you may have started recently, including over the counter medications and even supplements.

There are a lot of reasons why people get acid reflux, but this top 4 list covers the usual suspects. You can reduce heartburn significantly just by losing weight (should you be overweight), getting your diet and vices under control, and paying attention to any sudden changes in your health. See a doctor if you get acid reflux two times per week or more.

Acid Reflux and Diabetes

Just recently in a very popular heartburn book, I read that diabetes was a major cause of acid reflux and that getting your blood sugar in check was a major step in controlling your acid reflux.

Up until that point in time, I had never come across any research or read any other reports that would indicate that this was true (or false), so I decided to look into whether or not there was any validity to this claim.

So are acid reflux and diabetes related? Additionally, do certain treatments have the side effect of acid reflux?

You are about to find out the answer to these questions as below I will be revealing what I found after digging in to the literature. I will start with laying out the research for both sides and then interpreting the validity of each study.

The specific book I was reading referenced a study that looked at diabetic patients who used insulin therapy and those who did not. The researchers reported that those who used insulin therapy for their diabetes were more likely to GERD and esophageal damage from their reflux than those who did not use insulin therapy (1).

Additionally, I was able to find another study where researchers were able to demonstrate that the longer individuals were afflicted with diabetes, the likely they were to have GERD and other esophageal disorders (2).

While the first two studies were interesting if nothing else, this is where the support for the link between diabetes and acid reflux ends.

By far the largest study I was able to find (looking at over 1,500 patients) reported that there was no difference in rates of acid reflux or instances of acid-related esophageal damage when comparing regular people with diabetes (3).

Another group of researchers reported they were unable to find any differences in GERD rates between different types of treatment protocols for diabetics, in direct opposition to study 1 (4).

Finally, one group of researchers even reported that those with the highest blood sugar levels (very poor glucose control) actually had much lower rates of acid reflux than those with slightly better glucose control (5).

There are a few confounding factors that should be made known about the particular pieces of research cited in this article. First off, the initial study reporting that people who use insulin as being much more likely to get heartburn was written in Russian; only the abstract (a brief summary) was available in English, which makes me curious as to how the author in the book I mentioned was able to interpret it (I am guessing they did not read the original piece).

The second study (in support of acid reflux and diabetes being linked) and fifth study (reporting that those with the highest blood sugar levels had less reflux) both used very small sample sizes, which could make their results be up to chance rather than reliable evidence.

The safest study is the third one referenced, which supports no difference between regular individuals and diabetics. This is simply because they had such a large sample size (over 1500 people) and adjusted for confounding factors and other risk factors.

Based on what I have read of the research, right now there is simply no way you can say with complete certainty that diabetes or diabetic treatments are linked with acid reflux.

It is much more likely that the things which dispose individuals to type-2 diabetes (obesity and a high-carbohydrate diet) also dispose individuals to acid reflux. Obesity in particular is very strongly linked with acid reflux and diabetes.

Furthermore, another thing to consider is gastroparesis. With the translation of stomach paralysis, this may occur with nerve damage (particularly to the vagus nerve) and lead to acid reflux.

Patients with particularly severe cases of diabetes (particularly left untreated) may end up with vagus nerve damage and ultimately develop gastroparesis. This also helps explain the findings of study 1 and 2.

Study 1 was conducted in Russia; health care in Russia does not rank well on a world scale, which would make insulin-dependent diabetics more likely to develop gastroparesis.

Study 2 reported that longer-term diabetics often had worse acid reflux, which could be the result of nerve damage due to prolonged periods of elevated glucose levels.

According to our current set of research, well-managed diabetes is not likely to lead to acid reflux or heartburn. Obesity is one of the strongest risk factors for both diabetes and acid reflux, which is why the two may be correlated (but not necessarily directly related). Finally, prolonged periods of very poorly managed diabetes may result in gastroparesis, which can lead to acid reflux.Individuals with diabetes and acid reflux should focus keeping their glucose levels at a healthy level and weight loss (should they be overweight or obese). An acid reflux diet should be secondary to managing glucose and weight loss.

References

1. Fedorchenko IuN, Korneeva NV. Influence of the insulin therapy on the course of gastroesophageal reflux disease with type 2 diabetes. Eksp Klin Gastroenterol. 2010;(11):35-9.

2. Kinekawa, F., et al. Esophageal function worsens with long duration of diabetes. J Gastroenterol. 2008;43(5):338-44

3. Holub JL, Silberg DG, Michaels LC, Williams JL, Morris CD, Eisen G. Acid-related upper endoscopy findings in patients with diabetes versus non-diabetic patients. Dig Dis Sci. 2010 Oct;55(10):2853-9.

4. Horikawa, A., et al. Prevalence of GORD (gastro-oesophageal reflux disease) in Type 2 diabetes and a comparison of clinical profiles between diabetic patients with and without GORD. Diabet Med. 2009 Mar;26(3):228-33.

5. Lauffer A, Forcelini CM, Ruas LO, Madalosso CA, Fornari F. Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease is Inversely Related with Glycemic Control in Morbidly Obese Patients. Obes Surg. 2011 Jul;21(7):864-70.

Heartburn food - Top 5 groups food heartburn to avoid or to consume with moderation

Majority of stomach symptoms are food-related. A person has an advantage if he knows the food appropriate for the prevention of heartburn, especially groups of five foods high in order to avoid or to consume with moderation. Otherwise, a person will be subject to certain complications if its indigestion incidents have become a regular presence.

If you are the type who could not care less if eat you salt, food foods oily, spicy, hazelnuts foods, fatty, food food "feel good"and all the other assortment of foods that can trigger disturbances in your body, then you are a candidate for heartburn. If you continue to be stupid about what happens inside your digestive system, you will soon feel its unpleasant effects.

Click here to discover how you can get rid of your acid reflux naturally.

Once you feel a little more tight around the chest with a kind of pain, it will seem to stab you as it develops slowly in your body. Gradually, it rises and reaches your throat, neck and jaw make you feel very nauseated and miserable. You feel like sleeping, but which may aggravate your condition.

No, you do not have to call 911; you're not a heart attack if there was nothing wrong with your heart before you began gorging yourself with food. You are actually suffering from indigestion or heartburn. Just ask some antacids, wait for it to take effect and you will soon pass the gas.

Your eating habits can also lead to these episodes. Dining at a fast pace, wearing tight fitting clothes and lying flat on your back after a full meal are triggers you must monitor. Most often, the symptoms are related foods. In fact, if you are the type that tends to have indigestion, you should know the most common heartburn-inducing foods to avoid.

1 Spicy and very acidic fruit, including tomatoes. especially if taken too much acidity with an empty stomach can cause pain of gas. Tomatoes and other foods of tomato based; they can be nutrients for their lycopene content, but they are also regarded as very acid.

2. Garlic and onions or food preparations with too much of these two; acid vapours onion can we even cry to tears, while the smell of garlic acid juice can fill an entire room. That is how strong are these acidic foods.

3 Food spicy, responsible for all types of pepper, Chile and other spicy condiments. Try dipping your finger with the natural juices of pepper and feel how it consumes. It is the same thing, that is the case for the linings of our intestines.

4 Peppermints, chocolates and alcohol. they are good "feel" food after a hearty meal. They are in reality the heartburn triggers because they relax at the opening of your esophagus and let out your stomach acid to spread around your chest.

5 Fat-rich foods; fat slows down digestion and creates pressure on the esophageal sphincter. As a result, acid will roll back the food, causing regurgitation. Juicy Ribeye, nuts, lawyers, and cheese are a few examples.

Now if you really are the type who experiences problems of indigestion of almost anything, make a record of the food you've eaten just, take note and include in your diet for the prevention of heartburn. Food is glorious, food is divine, but food may be too dangerous because this is where to begin all our health problems.

Discover how you can stop your acid reflux instantly using proven and effective relief of reflux. No drugs and no side effects. Click here for more information and to return your life today!