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Weight Loss Helps GERD (acid reflux disease) The heavier you are, the more likely it is you will have recurrent heartburn or gastro-esophageal regurgitation. The glad tidings: weight loss reduces these painful symptoms. People in industrialized (affluent) nations are getting fatter and fatter. And GERD -- gastroesophageal reflux disease -- is becoming more and more common. It's not just a coincidence, report Magnus Nilsson, MD, of Sweden's Karolinska Institute, and colleagues in the July 2 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association. After combing through huge public health surveys conducted in Sweden, the researchers found that as body mass increases, so does the risk of GERD. It's a particularly strong link for women. "This study demonstrates a strong and dose-dependent association between increasing body mass and symptomatic reflux in women and a moderate association among men," Nilsson and colleagues conclude. "The study also reveals that weight loss is associated with reduced risk of reflux symptoms." Dr. Cinque's comments: This makes sense to me. Medicine attacks the problem of GERD by administering strong drugs which cripple the acid-producing cells of the stomach. But those cells are supposed to produce strong acid, and even the normal amount of acid would irritate the esophagus. As is often true in Medicine, this is a case in which they are treating an impairment in one place by creating an impairment someplace else. So the real problem is the regurgitation itself, not the degree of acidity. But what causes the regurgitation? There is a powerful muscular valve between the stomach and esophagus called the cardiac sphincter. It takes a lot of pressure from below to overcome the strength of that valve to allow stomach contents to escape into the esophagus. Excess pressure is the problem. So what causes the increase in pressure? Well, there can be several factors involved, but one of them is weight. When people gain weight, it often affects the mechanics of the abdomen, crowding the internal organs and impeding the ability of the stomach to churn and contract and perform its peristaltic action in a normal way. The net effect is an increase in intra-gastric pressure, made worse by eating a large volume of food. Taking off weight helps to normalize the mechanics of the abdomen, freeing the stomach from this unnatural strain. So if you have GERD, losing weight may be your most pressing need. E-mail to a friend Previous Article