Ways to Relieve Heartburn

If after a good meal you regularly suffer from the burning chest pain of heartburn, you might minimize the problem by foregoing that after-dinner cappuccino or chocolate mint.

While most people experience heartburn occasionally, about 15 million Americans endure this discomforting condition nearly every day. Heartburn occurs when acidic juices from the stomach spill back up into the wall of the throat, literally scorching the throat.

Stomach acid isn’t supposed to escape like that. A band of muscle at the stomach’s entrance is supposed to relax when you swallow to allow food to enter the stomach. And that muscle is also supposed to contract after the food enters, creating a tight stopper to keep acid in the stomach where it belongs.

Research has shown, however, that certain food and drink can cause this muscular stopper to relax when it’s supposed to contract, increasing the risk of acid refluxing up from the stomach and igniting heartburn. Onions and garlic seem to have a similar relaxant effect, as do high-fat foods. Some of the biggest offenders include alcohol, coffee, chocolate and oil of peppermint.

Studies by Donald O. Castell, a gastroenterologist and professor of medicine at Graduate Hospital in Philadelphia, have shown that foods high in fat cause the stopper to relax within 10 to 15 minutes of eating. He recommend that heartburn sufferers with this distressing complaint eat a diet low in fat.

Besides removing certain foods from the diet, it is also important to minimize pressure buildup inside the stomach. Shedding excess weight is a crucial step because the accumulation of fat around the abdomen squeezes and squashes the stomach, increasing the pressure inside, which can physically force open the muscular stopper.

The strain to pass stools associated with constipation may have a similar effect, with pressure in the colon backing up through the digestive tract into the stomach, forcing open the stopper. Adding more whole-grain cereals, fruits and vegetables to your diet, and drinking six to eight glasses of water daily, can help.

When increasing fruit intake, try to avoid oranges and grapefruit, which are more acidic and can aggravate the throat, according to the American Gastroenterological Assn. Tomato sauce, ketchup, mustard, vinegar and citrus fruit juices are best avoided for similar reasons.

Also, try to stay away from coarse food, such as dry toast or crisp bread, and spicy ones, such as curry and chili dishes.

You may also want to steer clear of large meals and extremely hot or cold drinks.

Trial and error will help you discover which, if any, of these dietary steps relieve your heartburn. If symptoms persist, check with your doctor. If heartburn (formally known as gastroesophageal reflux) persists, it can permanently damage or scar the lining of the throat, leading to more serious problems such as difficulty swallowing, a chronic cough, bronchitis and asthma.

*

Amanda Ursell, a dietitian and nutritionist, is a London-based freelance journalist. Her column appears twice a month. She can be reached at amanda@ursell.com.