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What Is The True Cause Of Acid Reflux Symptoms?

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Written by Mariah Stewart

Friday, 23 May 2008

by MariahStewart

Although many people call the condition where the stomach contents want to flow back up the esophagus, heartburn, it is more commonly known as acid reflux. Primarily affecting the food pathways it can cover a range of conditions that have almost identical characteristics. Everyone uses hydrochloric acid in our stomach to breakdown the foods we consume. Ideally when eat the food is suppose to say in our stomach but instead acid wants to escape the confines of the stomach and the only way to do that is through your digestive tract, when then causes a burning pain in your chest.

Food is normally trapped in the stomach by the lower esophageal valve after it has passed through to stop this problem. The esophageal sphincter should close and trap the acid but when this doesn't happen and the acid escapes back up the digestive tract the condition of acid reflux or heartburn is the result. Medical science preferably likes to identify acid reflux as: gastroesophageal reflux disorder or also known as GERD for short.

Unfortunately the exact cause of acid reflux condition remains a mystery, but it is believed an individual's diet is primarily to blame; overeating could also add to the problem and cause unnecessary stress on the stomach and its ability to process food.

Eating large amounts of food at any meal can put a lot of pressure on your abdominal walls. The release of this 'pressure' results in the stomach acids trying to flow back up the digestive tract. By lessening the amount of work the stomach has to do at any one time should reduce the instances of heartburn.

Did you know that your mouth, esophagus, and stomach are the first areas of food processing? And that if something goes wrong in those areas, and then it will affect the health of the entire body? One of the main reasons for that is that the stomach has the important task of processing food so it can be broken down into important and vital nutrients used by the body. I bet you would hate to know that you were the cause of mal nutrition to your body, because of the way you ate.

Whilst an immediate solution may be to use the well advertised acid calming drugs available they are not designed for long term usage. Unfortunately they can have side effects when used as the only method to reduce the incidences of heartburn. It may take a while but the best solution is to make adjustments to your drinking and eating habits that may have caused the acid reflux condition. By doing this over time you will notice that you will have less and less heartburn symptoms. If you can reduce the heartburn occurrences, in time you may well be able to slowly start eating those dishes that have needed to be cut out.

Heartburn or acid reflux can be cause my many factors such as:

1) Tobacco products

2) Having allergies to particular foods e.g. peanuts

3) Doctor prescribed medications

4) Consuming too much alcohol

5) Taking a nap after eating

All of these factors are within your control and it only requires a change of habits and behavior on your part. The number of heartburn episodes that occur should diminish. This is how you may be able to clear your acid reflux disorder completely. This is a decision that only you can make but it shouldn't take Einstein to know what the choice should be!

About the Author:

Begin enjoying foods again with out the Symptoms Of Acid Reflux Disease. Get your FREE newsletter that tell you how. Mariah Stewart writes for free reprint articles directory.

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