Close-up view of a man's torso and he is having heartburn pain.

The American College of Gastroenterology reports that over 15 million Americans have daily heartburn. However, having it more than twice a week is a sign of a reflux disease instead of just eating bad food. What you eat plays a big role in how often you will have heartburn, but your body’s makeup also has a lot to do with it as well. Learn more about the main causes of heartburn and what you can do about it!

 

What Is Heartburn?

Heartburn is stomach acid that has been caught in your esophagus. Food travels down your throat (which is the esophagus) until it reaches the lower esophageal sphincter, which connects your esophagus to your stomach. When you eat, that sphincter relaxes to allow food to pass through, and then it closes up again. However, if this sphincter doesn’t close, stomach acid will escape up into the esophagus.

 

That acid is meant to break down your food, so it is very hard on your esophagus, burning it and causing sensations such as burning or pain. Many people who experience heartburn will have a burning pain in their chest that happens soon after they have eaten. Others will have this burning sensation when they go to sleep at night. This happens if the sphincter does not close properly, and stomach acid comes into the esophagus because you are lying down.

 

Not everyone experiences burning in their chest with heartburn. Some may simply have pain in that area of their chest or they will have a bad or bitter taste in their mouth. Stomach-acid reducing medicines (like Tums) generally use calcium mixed with other minerals to neutralize stomach acid so it’s no longer burning you. However, that is only a quick fix. You should never have heartburn that happens for more than two weeks at a time. Having heartburn frequently (more than 2 or 3 times a week) is a sign of a bigger issue that needs to be addressed.

 

Man that has eaten fast food and is having heartburn and an upset stomach.

What Causes Your Symptoms?

Some foods that you eat (like greasy ones) will change how your body’s digestion is working because it affects how certain muscles and sphincters work. For example, chocolate (listed below) is a food that can lower a person’s esophageal sphincter function. This means the sphincter that closes off your esophagus from your stomach can become relaxed. That makes it easier for stomach acid to escape and get up into your esophagus. This is what will cause that burning or hurting sensation that is heartburn. Most foods that cause heartburn are causing it because they relax that specific esophageal sphincter.

 

There are common foods that most people find to be especially irritating to the stomach. Those include:

  • Fatty or greasy foods, which can even include avocados, nuts or cheese
  • Citric foods or drinks
  • Chocolate
  • Spicy foods
  • Foods with lots of cinnamon
  • Salty foods, as salt has a higher chance of causing a reflux reaction in the body
  • Onions and tomatoes because of their acidic nature
  • Alcoholic beverages, which increase stomach acid and damage the esophagus lining
  • Carbonated beverages such as soda and sparkling water
  • Coffee
  • Whole milk, which could be due to the fat content

 

Food Intolerances and Your stomach

Have you ever had a food not sit well with your stomach, but you’re not quite sure why? Everyone will have this at some point or another, and it’s not your mind tricking you. Foods may actually sit wrong with your stomach and may actually cause you low-grade health problems throughout the day. When you eat something that doesn’t work well with your body, your body will try to reject it in a way, yet it’s not an allergy. With allergies, you may have aggressive health symptoms that are medically serious, but with food intolerances, your body will react to let you know that food doesn’t work with your body.

 

Many patients with intolerances will have frequent or daily heartburn, seemingly without a cause. They may also feel like they have constant fatigue, or will have insomnia issues, or they find that they are having very frequent headaches and migraines. Food intolerances have also been linked to problems such as:

  • Digestive disorders
  • Migraines
  • Obesity
  • Chronic Fatigue
  • ADD/ADHD
  • Joint pain and aches
  • Skin disorders
  • Irritable Bowel Syndrome
  • Problems with weight gain or loss
  • Mental fog or difficulty concentrating
  • Arthritis or worsening arthritis
  • Sinus allergies
  • Skin rashes and eczema
  • Inflammation throughout the body

 

You may not know what food will trigger the heartburn to come on or the other symptoms, but if you feel that you have persistent health problems, make sure you are charting what you are doing and eating when you get those symptoms. Over time, you will likely see a pattern emerge.

 

Woman that is holding her neck with a model view of her upset stomach and esophagus with heartburn.

Food Allergies

Food allergies can be a different story. Your body will view an allergy as something foreign to your body that shouldn’t be there. Allergies can happen based on genetics, or they can simply develop. This can happen if you are introduced to a new environment your body isn’t used to or if you have foods you’ve never had before. Your body will literally try to attack the food as if it was a virus. That is why patients will get symptoms such as swelling, hives, wheezing and more. That is why getting tested is so important. ALCAT testing is a widely-used form of allergy testing that can take samples from your blood and can see how your body reacts to different foods and allergens. Then, you avoid the ones that don’t work with your body.

 

Improve Your Heartburn Today

We believe it is critical to treat the body as a whole system. The foods you eat can cause you heartburn and inflammation that can exaggerate and intensify pain experienced in the body. Plus, that inflammation can actually age you and shorten your lifespan if you deal with low-grade health symptoms over a lifetime. Improve your symptoms today and get tested for food intolerances by calling Spine Correction Center of the Rockies at (970) 658-5115!