Gerard Mullin, associate professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University, who was not involved in the Gut study. “It does seem like it’s paralleling the prevalence of obesity.” Cigarette smoking and stress can also lead to acid reflux, Mullin said. And the risk of developing acid reflux increases with age, especially for women. Women older than 60 reported feeling symptoms of acid reflux nearly 6 percent more than younger women, according to the study. The researchers speculated that this may be because hormone replacement medications can raise a woman’s risk of developing acid reflux. Lifestyle changes, such as diet and exercise, are often the first-line of treatment recommended by doctors to kick the reflux. Fisher lost 40 pounds, but the pain still persisted. She said acid reflux symptoms and subsequent lack of sleep made her tired and irritated. She also lost interest in activities she used to love. “It obsesses you after a while,” she said. “You don’t enjoy food preparation, and everything just becomes ‘blah.'” Over-the-counter acid blocker medications are arguably the most popular method for keeping acid reflux at bay. Around 98 percent of those with severe acid reflux and about 31 percent of those with more mild cases reported taking medication, according to the study. But long-term acid suppression can lead to thinning bones and gastrointestinal infections, said Mullin.
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Study: Acid Reflux on the Rise
The prevalence of weekly heartburn and other symptoms of acid reflux rose nearly 50% over the last decade, according to one of the largest studies ever to examine the issue. The study followed more than 30,000 people in Norway for 11 years. When the study started, 11.6% of the people reported acid reflux symptoms at least once a week. That percentage rose to 17.1% by the end of the study. That’s a 47% increase. Obesity May Explain Reflux Rise The study doesn’t explain why heartburn and other acid reflux symptoms rose, but obesity is the most likely reason for the findings. And that makes the finding relevant to the U.S. and other industrialized countries, says researcher Eivind Ness-Jensen of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. The findings are particularly troubling, Ness-Jensen says, because people who’ve had acid reflux for a long time may be more likely to develop cancer of the esophagus — a once rare, but increasingly common malignancy. Jensen’s study didn’t track esophageal cancer , and most people who have acid reflux don’t develop esophageal cancer. The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2011, nearly 17,000 new cases of esophageal cancer were diagnosed in the U.S.
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