As stated in the post below, it has been suggested that changes in our diets will have no affect on whether we suffer from heartburn or not. Researches go on to suggest that what really causes heartburn is the position we sleep in at night or if we're overweight.

What causes your heartburn? Do you sleep with your sleep elevated but still suffer from heartburn? Or can you eat whatever you want and not suffer from heartburn, as long as you sleep with your head elevated and you keep those extra pounds off? Please take a moment to share your answer in the poll below.

Related Resources:

• Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease
• Preventing nighttime heartburn
• Foods with little risk of causing heartburn
• Foods with the greatest risk of causing heartburn

If you have gastroesophageal reflux disease, you know how unpleasant the symptoms, especially heartburn, can be.

One of the first things doctors tell people with GERD to do is to change their diet to reduce the occurrence of heartburn. This advice often means eliminating the following foods:

• Fatty meats
• Fried foods
• Citrus fruits
• Citrus juices
• Chocolate
• Peppermint
• Excessive alcohol consumption (especially red wine)
• Tomatoes and tomato-based products
• Caffeinated beverages (coffee)
• Carbonated beverages (colas)
• Peppers
• Garlic and onions

Now a research review of over 100 studies of these dietary and other lifestyle measures, as reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine (Volume 166, page 965), has found that, while consuming these foods and beverages may make GERD symptoms worse, there was no scientific evidence that banning them from your diet will improve heartburn, or fix the underlying problem of acid reflux.

According to the research review, what will work for GERD is sleeping with the head of your bed elevated, and losing weight if you're overweight. See more information on preventing nighttime heartburn. Of course, if you experience heartburn after eating a certain food, you avoid that food to see if your symptoms improve.

If the symptoms don't improve, see a doctor about taking medication for GERD, such as H2 blockers and Proton Pump Inhibitors (PPIs).

If you are one of those persons who dismiss your symptoms as 'just' heartburn, it is important to remember that untreated GERD can lead to serious complications, such as esophageal ulcers, esophageal strictures, Barrett's esophagus, and esophageal cancer.

It is, therefore, important to not self-diagnose, and inform your doctor of any change in symptoms or severity of your symptoms.

Related Resources:

• Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease
• Preventing nighttime heartburn
• H2 blockers
• Proton Pump Inhibitors
• Esophageal ulcers
• Esophageal strictures
• Barrett's esophagus
• Esophageal cancer.

With the following "Screening Quizzes" you can check symptoms to see if you may have a heartburn-related condition. With the "Test Your Knowledge" quizzes, you can test your knowledge of various disorders or see how much you know about preventing your heartburn.



Screening Quizzes

• GERD Screening Quiz
• Infant Reflux Screening Quiz
• Hiatal Hernia Screening Quiz
• Peptic Ulcer Screening Quiz
• Gastritis Screening Quiz
• Gastroparesis Screening Quiz

Test Your Knowledge

• Do you know how to prevent heartburn?
• How Much Do You Know About Heartburn?
• How Much Do You Know About Hiatal Hernias?
• How Much Do You Know About Peptic Ulcers?

Photo by Avolore (stock.xchng)

Nearly eight in 10 heartburn sufferers experience symptoms at night. But staying up all night to fend off heartburn isn't practical. Here are several lifestyle and food tips to help you feel better and get a good night's rest -- free of heartburn.

The link between gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and obesity has long been established. What hadn't been established was whether obese patients with GERD should be treated differently than normal-weight patients with GERD.

Two studies about obesity and its relationship to GERD were presented at the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) Annual Scientific Meeting recently. The results of both studies showed it didn't matter whether a patient with GERD was considered obese or not, treatment should remain the same.

"With obesity on the rise and more patients at risk for GERD than ever before, it's especially important that we understand how to treat overweight patients with GERD," said Prateek Sharma, MD, FACG, University of Kansas School of Medicine, an author for both analyses. "These analyses show that obese patients with GERD can probably follow the same treatment protocol as patients with GERD who are not overweight, with the same anticipated outcomes."

In the first study, data from two randomized, double-blind trials comparing the taking of a PPI, Nexium, at a dosage of 20 mg or 40 mg once daily with placebo were pooled and analyzed. A total of 704 patients with non-erosive reflux disease (they experienced frequent heartburn but had no evidence of erosion in the esophagus) were included. The analysis showed that the patient's weight had no significant effect on resolution of heartburn.

The second study looked at a total of 11,027 GERD patients with erosive esophagitis. About one in three people with frequent, persistent heartburn also have erosive esophagitis. Researchers analyzed five randomized, double-blind multi-center clinical studies that compared the use of Nexium at 40 mg once daily with Prilosec at 20 mg once daily or Prevacid at 30 mg once daily. The analysis found a patient's weight had no significant effect on healing of erosions than normal-weight patients, if both groups were using PPIs.

A bland diet isn't bad for heartburn sufferers. In fact, it may make them feel better. But the bland diet alone will not cure heartburn caused by Gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD.

Certain foods, however, can aggravate your heartburn symptoms, and it's best to limit or avoid completely those foods and drinks that result in acid reflux. There are other foods that have little or no potential for causing heartburn. The foods listed in the charts below will give you suggestions on safe foods and foods to avoid.

Food Charts

Foods with little risk of causing heartburn

Foods to be consumed with discretion

Foods to be avoided

These are by no means the only foods you can eat or should avoid. In your personal situation, you may either find you can eat the foods from the "Avoid" group with no problem or have problems with foods that are safe to eat for most heartburn sufferers.

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Dining Out Guide For Heartburn Sufferers
Just as at home, eating certain foods in restaurants can trigger heartburn. There are methods you can use to use to limit acid reflux. Acid reflux sufferers need to make heartburn-friendly food choices, know how the food is prepared, select beverages and portion sizes that will prevent the acid reflux.

Fast Food Nutrition Facts Calculator
-- From About's Pediatrics' Guide --
This calculator will help you find out how many calories and how much fat is contained in your favorite fast food meal. It's important for acid reflux sufferers to avoid high-fat meals as fat can slow down/delay stomach enpytying, which can then lead to more reflux. This calculator could be useful for planning your acid reflux diet when dining out.

What if every Monday brought about a new, healthier behavior? At the end of one year, you'd have done 52 things to improve your health and increase your longevity.

Make every Monday the day you recommit to living your healthiest life. Sign up for our free Healthy Monday newsletter full of tips on reducing stress, eating right, getting into an exercise routine, and more. About.com is a proud participant of Healthy Monday, a project of Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.

The Healthy Mondays Newsletter

The chances of heartburn occurring can increase because of our lifestyle habits -- what we do and how we do it.

Some of these lifestyle habits are:

• Eating large meals
  Large meals expand your stomach and increase upward pressure against the esophageal sphincter. It is better to eat smaller, more frequent meals.

• Lying down shortly after eating.
  Gravity helps to keep the stomach juices from backing up into the esophagus and assists the flow of food and digestive juices from the stomach to the intestines. When laying down, especially on a full stomach, the chances of refluxed stomach contents increases. It is best to wait at least two hours after eating to lie down.

• Lying flat when sleeping at night.
  Lying down flat presses the stomach's contents against the LES. You should elevate your head when sleeping. With the head higher than the stomach, gravity helps reduce this pressure. You can elevate your head in a couple of ways. You can place bricks, blocks or anything that's sturdy securely under the legs at the head of your bed. You can also use a wedge-shaped pillow, to elevate your head.

• Wearing tight clothes or belts
  Clothing that fits tightly around the abdomen, such as slenderizing undergarments, will squeeze the stomach, forcing food up against the LES, and cause food to reflux into the esophagus. It is a good idea to wear looser-fitting clothing, and not cinch up belts too tightly.

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Additional Resources:

• Safe Foods
• Foods to Avoid
• Lifestyle changes
• Heartburn Symptoms

Acid reflux can affect the body in several ways, and isn't limited to just the burn and pain in your esophagus.

Acid reflux has been linked to the following conditions:

• Asthma
• Hoarseness
• Chronic cough
• Laryngitis
• Non-cardiac chest pain.

Other Resources:

• GERD and Asthma
  Studies have shown that approximately 75% of asthma patients also suffer from GERD. It has also been found that asthmatics are twice as likely to have GERD as non-asthmatics.

• Erosive Esophagitis
  Your sore throat, hoarseness, chronic cough or laryngitis may be caused by something other than a virus.

• Non-cardiac chest pain
  Characteristics of chest pain caused by heartburn.

Many physicians perceived that the three areas of patients' lives that were most affected by GERD were sleep disturbances, limitations in physical activities, and lack of energy or tiredness. However, according to many patients the three most frequently affected areas of their lives were dietary restrictions, lack of energy or tiredness, and health concerns.

How are you affected most by GERD? Is the biggest affect having to restrict your diet? Or is the worse effect on your life reflux symptoms at night that interferes with your sleep? Or is it something else that is having a big impact on your life?

Take the poll below, and indicate your top three GERD-related problems that affect your life. You can then explain your choices by clicking on the "comments" link below this post.