Search:

Causes of Heartburn: Drill Down To The Real Reasons For Heartburn

By: Jeff Martin Notwithstanding the many popular texts that point to aspects of lifestyle and eating particular foods, the real underlying reasons for heartburn encompass a larger selection of factors with genetic, lifestyle and dietary elements. Just like other chronic illnesses, heartburn is a result of overlapping and multiple causes.

Although people in good health may experience heartburn once per week or less, if heartburn happens twice per week or more, this may indicate a graver medical condition known as acid reflux disease, and also referred to as GERD (Gastro Esophageal Reflux Disease). Heartburn can be identified as the sensation of burning or searing in the area of the chest or throat. This feeling often comes after having eaten.

A sphincter, the LES or Lower Esophageal Sphincter, should normally only open to let food and drink flow into the intestinal system and should not allow stomach contents to flow in the opposite direction. But in reflux situations, the LES is debilitated and stomach contents can reflux into the esophagus, damaging the cells in the wall lining and causing pain. GERD is the result of two physiological issues: the first is excess stomach acidity; and the second is the weakened sphincter (LES) which no longer functions correctly to cordon off the stomach from the esophagus.

As referred to above, several linked elements lead to a weakened LES or too concentrated a level of digestive acidity. Amongst these factors we find:

1. Characteristics that are inherited genetically.

2. Lifestyles, where habits such as smoking ruins the digestion, attacks the immune system and aggravates Candida multiplication, which then leads to the disease of acid reflux. Stress from lack of sleep, emotional pressure or excess of work also provokes these problems.

3. Candida infections. Candida is normally present anyway in the human body, including the intestinal and genital areas. In usual circumstances, Candida is balanced by beneficial bacteria and does not harm the body. But under certain conditions Candida microbes grow rapidly and spread. These microbes can then ferment and reflux stomach contents back into the esophagus, where inflammation and damage to the esophageal lining then take place.

4. Diet patterns, as in the regular and frequent eating of foods that provoke acid production, such as chocolates, peppermint, tomatoes and citrus fruits. Also, eating foods that are fatty or spicy and that weaken the LES, or foods that are hard to digest, can worsen acid reflux.

To cut out heartburn and to stop it from coming back, the root causes must be resolved. Whereas conventional treatments only superficially treat the symptoms, a holistic, all-natural approach gets to the real underlying causes to provide the only true safe and effective cure for acid reflux.