GERD Risk Factors that You Should Know About | Health

By JeffMartin
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Find out below what dangers may await you with this disease :

Although the most common symptom linked with GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease) is heartburn, many different factors may be involved including being overweight, pregnant, asthmatic, diabetic, delaying the emptying of stomach contents, connective tissue disorders and hiatal hernias. However, it is the weakening of the lower esophageal sphincter muscle that turns out to be a common factor in most GERD cases.

Here are some other elements increasing the danger levels:

GERD can happen when this protrusion of the stomach is big enough to affect the lower esophageal sphincter muscle. This is the result of a hernia that may be hiatal or diaphragmatic in nature, where part of the stomach distends beyond its normal dimensions to invade the lower chest. Stomach juices flow back into the esophageal channel, resulting in serious heartburn.

As another consequence due to overweight, pressure on the lower esophageal sphincter causes it to malfunction and lets gastric acids reflux back to the esophagus, which engenders heartburn. GERD can therefore also come from being overweight. To avoid GERD, reduce any excess weight. Excess weight strains the stomach and the diaphragm that is in between the stomach and the abdomen.

Risk factors that come from lifestyle and diet plans:

Lifestyle and diet habits can also have a negative effect. Smoking or drinking or indeed eating to excess will put you in danger of GERD.

There are also indications that coughing excessively and breathing problems from asthma also put extra strain on the stomach and boost the risk of GERD. Because of this, asthma is also indirectly involved because the medicaments that are prescribed to enlarge the air path also relax the muscle of the lower esophageal sphincter muscle. This is what provokes the flow of gastric fluids back to the esophagus.

The risk is further compounded by the fact that pregnancy boosts production of progesterone, a hormone that acts to relax several muscles, among them the muscle of the lower esophageal sphincter. Pregnancy also puts extra pressure on the stomach. Pregnant women therefore may be at considerably more risk from GERD.

Tackling the risks of GERD:

This is where holistic solutions are much better adapted for results, as they focus in the true causes to arrest or even banish GERD. Although classical medicine attempts to treat GERD, any lasting benefit only comes with a holistic program. Conventional drugs unfortunately do nothing but target the symptoms, without resolving any of the basic, causal elements.

GERD is a complex condition and the causes are also multiple, including diet habits, lifestyle, genetically inherited characteristics and even candida infections. Taking a holistic approach is therefore important to treat the body as a whole. This is why the holistic cures work so much better to eliminate GERD.

About the Author

Jeff Martin is a certified nutritionist and author of the #1 best-selling e-book, Heartburn No More . For Further Information: Acid Reflux

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