Some Unusual Research - Advances in Acid Reflux

In this quick article, I wanted to just give you a few cool new bits of information I have found out recently about heartburn. The list is in no particular order, just some cool pieces of research I have found out about acid reflux recently that I thought 1) most people wouldn't know about 2) might change the way you look at your heartburn.

• Many researchers have found recently that unless your diet is extremely high in fat (some 45% or more of your total daily caloric intake), you have no increased risk of heartburn or acid reflux. This sort of flies in the face of the notion that you need to eat a really low-fat diet to stop avoid heartburn. Sure, you don't want all your calories from fat, but if you eat 2500 calories a day, 75g of them coming from an assorted blend of healthy fats is not going to be a recipe for heartburn like once thought.

• H pylori, a bacteria responsible for stomach ulcers, seems to actually be considered a negative risk factor for GERD. In other words, people who have H pylori are LESS likely to have GERD, and NOT having H pylori seems to increase the average person's risk rate for GERD. We have always considered this bacteria to be quite harmful but it turns out it may have some usefulness for humans. Only time will tell.

• Eating a lot of fiber lowers your risk for esophageal cancers. It is unclear whether fiber itself reduces rates of heartburn or whether simply people who eat a lot of fiber have something in their diet that helps protect the esophagus. Either way, it's a good idea to eat a lot of fiber, and the best source of fiber is from fresh fruit and vegetables. Psyllium husk is a decent supplement if you cannot get in enough fiber.

• Many developing countries have lower reported rates of heartburn than industrialized nations, despite having higher rates of stomach illnesses. Between obesity and lifestyle, there is something about the modernization that significantly increases our rates for heartburn, which may be negatively affecting our overall health.

Hope you found these 4 tidbits on acid reflux interesting, I know I sure did when I first read them!