by PRS

Created on: March 15, 2010

Heartburn, or acid reflux, is caused when food that enters the stomach for digestion comes back up into the esophagus.  The lining of the esophagus is not capable of handling the acid found in the stomach and is burned.  While there are many different causes of heartburn, and different treatments exist for each cause.  A commonality among all types of heartburn is that the foods that are eaten can contribute greatly to the initiation, and the strength of the heartburn.  Below is a list of some of the worst offending foods that cause heartburn.

1.  Citrus fruits - While nobody can deny the health benefits of oranges, lemons, grapefruit and kiwi and the vitamins, minerals and nutrients such as antioxidants that they contain, these citrus fruits also are extremely acidic (low pH).  These fruit will actually lower the pH of the already low stomach acids.

2.  Spicy food - While this grouping should be common sense to any heartburn sufferer, some people may not know that food such as normal black pepper will also cause heartburn and acid reflux.  Of course chile and jalapeno peppers are also strongly associated with heartburn and foods containing them should be avoided.

3. Tomatoes and their sauces -  another very healthy food that is bad for heartburn sufferers are tomatoes and their products.  While not as acid as citrus fruit, tomatoes are acidic and will cause stomach contents to have a lower pH, and thus instigate burning in the esophagus.  Also, most sauces made from tomatoes contain pepper, which further increases their ability to cause heartburn.

4. Red meat and other fatty foods -  The reason fatty foods cause heartburn is because fat is slow to digest, and thus stays in the stomach longer.  this will cause the stomach to fill up, and cause food to back up into the esophagus causing heartburn.  Unlike tomatoes and citrus fruit, there are many other reasons to avoid red meat and fatty foods.

5. Coffee -  caffeine is a leading contributor to heartburn.  In this case though, it is more about the quantity of coffee you drink.  A cup or two in the morning is no problem if taken after food, but people who drink more coffee than that per day and do it on an empty stomach are very likely to also have heartburn because of it.

If you are a heartburn sufferer already, some of these may seem like common sense, right up to the point where you have a major attack and then say to yourself ' oh why did I have that 16oz prime rib for dinner'.  Others, like citrus fruit and tomatoes may not be so commonly known and should be looked at if you suffer frequent attacks of heartburn.

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