Millions of patients experience heartburn and acid reflux on a daily basis. Acid reflux, also referred to as gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), occurs when stomach acid flows backward via the stomach acid into the esophagus, triggering burning and heartburn. While there are OTC medications available for heartburn, many of these cause various side effects (i.e., nausea, etc.).
Doctors often recommend simple dietary changes that exclude certain heartburn inducing foods from the diet:

1. Fried foods
Greasy, deep fried foods are one of the main culprits of heartburn. This is because when we consume them, it stops the esophageal sphincter from fully tightening, essentially forcing stomach acid to go upwards. In addition to that fried foods are much harder to digest as the stomach empties itself of it more slowly than other kinds of food. This triggers heartburn as well.

2. Salty foods
Consuming high sodium foods can make your GERD symptoms worse. The medical community is still in the midst of understanding why this causes acid reflux. However, what is known is that as you consume high sodium foods over time, it can lead to acid reflux. Studies have consistently shown that people who use table salt on their food experience a higher risk of acid reflux compared than those that don’t. Common salty food to avoid include:

• Ramen noodles
• Sausage
• Salted pork
• Salted fish

3. Spicy foods
It’s a well known fat that spicy foods are problematic for people who experience heartburn regularly. This is because peppers are rich in a compound called capsaicin, which slows down our body’s ability to digest food. This causes our food to stay in our stomach much longer which is a known risk factor of acid reflux. Besides that, spicy foods can aggravate an esophagus that’s already inflamed from a previous bout of heartburn. This furthermore leads to a worsening of acid reflux related symptoms.

4. Citrus fruits
Citrus fruits such as grapefruit, oranges and orange juice are regarded as high acid reflux foods. This is because citrus foods are very acidic, and because of this high level of acidity, they can trigger heartburn related symptoms, especially if they are eaten on an empty stomach. Common citrus foods to avoid include:

• Oranges
• Pineapple
• Grapefruit
• Mangoes
• Limes

5. Chocolate
Chocolate is one of the lesser known foods that can actually cause heartburn. Just like other kinds of high-fat foods, chocolate causes the lower esophageal sphincter to relax. This relaxing motion causes more stomach acid to go into the esophagus subsequently causing heartburn. Besides that, chocolate is also made from the cocoa plant which consists of the hormone serotonin. Serotonin causes the esophageal to relax and allow stomach acid to go into the esophagus as well.

6. Garlic and onions
Statistics indicate that garlic and onions don’t necessarily cause heartburn in everyone. But, studies also suggest that they have a severe impact on a significant amount of people. As such, the medical community recommends that patients who experience heartburn should minimize their onion and garlic intake. Onions in particular, are very acidic and can aggravate heartburn symptoms.