If you have a burning pain in your chest or travelling up your throat after eating, you're probably experiencing acid reflux - a feeling more commonly described as heartburn. Some foods are more likely to trigger this annoying and uncomfortable symptom. So, if it keeps revisiting you after meals, it may help to look at how you eat as well as what you eat.
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Acid reflux, also known as gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD) is caused by acid from the stomach leaking up into your gullet (oesophagus). When we say we have heartburn, we're describing the feeling of acid reflux - that burning pain in your chest. Acid reflux can also cause this sensation in your throat.
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The symptoms can be caused by several different factors in the body.
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It is helpful to try to identify whether there are any particular foods which trigger your acid reflux. It might be a good idea to keep a food diary for at least a week, recording what you eat and drink and what symptoms you have.
There is quite a big list of foods which are said to cause acid reflux. However, they may not all apply to you. For some people, acid reflux may not be triggered by particular foods at all but by other factors. Sometimes the trigger may be a combination of foods and other factors.
There are lots of factors around eating which can make these symptoms worse:
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There are some foods which individual people find make acid reflux worse. An acid reflux diet doesn't have to mean missing out on all these foods - your food triggers may be different. But these foods have all been suggested as reflux triggers, so it's worth noting if you get symptoms after eating any of the following:
An acid reflux diet involves cutting all of the suggested foods out of your diet for one or two weeks to see if your symptoms disappear. If they do disappear then you could add these foods back into your diet one at a time to see if they are what is causing your reflux.
If your symptoms come back, perhaps because of other factors as listed above, you may need to cut out potential triggers again until the symptoms have settled down.
There aren't any specific foods to eat to treat that feeling of heartburn, but in general, a healthy diet is associated with a lower risk of acid reflux symptoms. In particular:
Indigestion and heartburn are rarely due to a serious cause, but there are some possible warning signs which should be checked out by a doctor. See here for more information.
The information on this page is peer reviewed by qualified clinicians.
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