Reflux

A systematic review by Pan et al. (2019) concluded that people who consume alcohol are more likely to be diagnosed with GERD than those who don’t drink regularly, in a dose-dependent manner.  When looking at subgroups, they found that studies conducted in Asia resulted in a statistically significant relationship between alcohol consumption and GERD, while the results were not statistically significant in studies conducted in Europe.  The authors note that although the studies were not experimental in design, the fact that the relationship increased with dose and frequency suggests that alcohol could indeed be a causal factor for GERD, but it must be acknowledged that there could be other diet or lifestyle factors associated with alcohol consumption that are the real cause of GERD. 

 

Mehta et al. (2020) looked at data from 48,308 women who participated in a prospective cohort study called the Nurses’ Health Study II, and who did not have GERD at baseline.  The study began in 1989, and more data was obtained through Food Frequency Questionnaires in 2007 and 2011, as well as self-reported frequency of heartburn or acid-reflux in 2005, 2009, and 2013.   There were 7,961 women who reported that these symptoms were occurring weekly or more often, with more than 90% of the original participants continuing to respond to the questionnaires each year.  The results showed that women who drank either coffee, tea, or soda were more likely to report symptoms than those who did not.  Interestingly, they found that decaffeinated tea had an even stronger association with symptoms than regular tea.  Their concluding advice is to drink less than three servings per day of coffee, tea, and/or soda. 

 

Wang et al. (2021) also did a prospective cohort study, this one in Melbourne, Australia.  They found a correlation between GERD and consumption of a higher fat to carbs ratio, but only for men, not for women.  It didn’t matter whether the fat was saturated, polyunsaturated, or monounsaturated.  Other foods that they found the people who went on to get GERD had been eating were fish, chicken, cruciferous vegetables and carbonated beverages, but not citrus, red meat, processed meats, dairy, tea, coffee, chocolate, high-fat added-sugar foods, or tomato.  The authors note that people with symptoms could have been avoiding the latter.  They did not find an association between GERD and eating vegetables other than cruciferous, while fruits, including citrus, showed an inverse relationship with GERD. 

 

References:

 

Mehta, R. S., Song, M., Staller, K., & Chan, A. T. (2020). Association Between Beverage Intake and Incidence of Gastroesophageal Reflux Symptoms. Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, 18(10), 2226–2233. 

 

Pan, J., Cen, L., Chen, W., Yu, C., Li, Y., & Shen, Z. (2019). Alcohol Consumption and the Risk of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Alcohol and Alcoholism (Oxford, Oxfordshire), 54(1), 62–69. 

Wang, S. E., Hodge, A. M., Dashti, S. G., Dixon-Suen, S. C., Mitchell, H., Thomas, R. J., Williamson, E. M., Makalic, E., Boussioutas, A., Haydon, A. M., Giles, G. G., Milne, R. L., Kendall, B. J., & English, D. R. (2021). Diet and risk of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease in the Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study. Public Health Nutrition, 24(15), 5034–5046.