Food Myths

People may think eating or drinking certain types of foods, such as milk, will reduce their stomach acid. According to Dr. Spechier, who is a member of the American Gastroenterological Association's Committee on GI Research, this generally doesn't work.

Milk may appear to work as well as an antacid at first. However, as Dr. Spechier states, "Most of the foods that we eat buffer acid, but they also stimulate the stomach to produce acid later." This is why physicians often prescribe a specific treatment for heartburn. Part of that treatment begins with avoiding foods that will trigger that heartburn.

This may be harder than one may at first think. Dr. Spechier explains, "As a general rule of thumb anything that tastes really good is likely to give you heartburn. And the reason is the fat content. Fat does a lot of things that promote heartburn. It stops the stomach from emptying well, so now you have more material in the stomach that's ready to reflux. It also further weakens that leaky valve."

Other foods most likely to cause heartburn are:

• Fried foods
• Citrus fruits
• Tomato products
• Caffeine
• Alcoholic beverages
• Citrus fruit drinks
• Chocolate
• Peppermint
• Pepper

There are foods that most heartburn sufferers can eat, and you can find what those foods are in the safe foods chart.