Tuesday

Chew Your Food Slowly Helps To Prevent Heartburn


Heartburn may feel like your heart is on fire, but what’s “burning” is actually your esophagus. Acid reflux, or gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), occurs when the stomach acids enter the esophagus, causing pain and burning sensations. Left untreated, GERD can lead to serious medical consequences, including narrowing of the esophagus, bleeding, or even a condition called Barrett’s esophagus, which increases your risk of developing esophageal cancer.

Read more about Heartburn Can Cause Cancer

In fact, the experts have found a simple way to prevent GERD in the first place: Eat more slowly. Researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston did a case study by feeding 690-calorie meals to 10 healthy volunteers, instructing them to finish the meal in either five or 30 minutes on alternating days. Participants were monitored for 2 hours after finishing their meals. Those who took 30 minutes to eat experienced fewer episodes of acid reflux or GERD compared to subject who finished eating in five minutes.

People need to slow down many areas of their lives, especially mealtime. Besides aiding your digestion, eating your meals slowly can help your waistline too, by giving your stomach a chance to communicate to your brain that it’s full. Time yourself, just to see how long it takes you to eat an average meal. Try to take a full 20-30 minutes (you might have to build up to this slowly) to finish your food. If you are experiencing heartburn or discomfort after meals on a regular basis, see your doctor, before GERD causes irreversible damage.

Besides learning to eat slowly, knowing what type of food to avoid is equally important.

Read more about What Types Of Heartburn Food To Avoid...

NEWS: Non-invasive Surgery for Heartburn Acid Reflux Disease

Hospital Is First In The Northeast To Perform Incisionless Transoral Procedure To Treat Chronic Heartburn

(HealthNewsDigest.com) - Rockville Centre, NY – Mercy Medical Center has become the first hospital in the Northeast to offer a new, revolutionary non-invasive procedure that surgically treats chronic heartburn resulting from GastroEsophageal Reflux Disease (GERD).

A team headed by Shawn Garber, MD, Chief of Bariatric Surgery at Mercy, with colleague Spencer Holover, MD, is one of only a handful in the entire country to offer the technique, known as EsophyXTM Transoral Incisionless Fundoplication (TIF), a form of Natural Orifice Surgery (NOS) in which a device for performing reconstructive gastrointestinal procedures is introduced into the body through the mouth, rather than through an abdominal incision.

“EsophyX transoral incisionless surgery provides an important new option in the treatment of intractable acid reflux disease,” explained Dr. Garber, who heads the New York Bariatric Group. “Unlike conventional laparoscopic procedures for surgical remediation of GERD, the transoral technique that introduces the surgical instruments through the mouth, reduces the risk of infection from incisions, preserves future treatment options, nearly eliminates pain for the patient, and requires less recovery time.”

In the first operation of its kind in the Northeast, the team at Mercy Medical Center recently performed the EsophyX procedure several weeks ago on a 65-year-old New Jersey woman who had been experiencing severe heartburn from acid reflux disease for many years, and had obtained no relief from dietary and lifestyle changes, or any over-the-counter or prescription medication treatments. As a result of the surgery, her GERD has dissipated and she no longer requires medication.

It’s been estimated that as many as one in four people in Western nations suffer from heartburn at least once per month; that 12 percent experience the burning and pain at least once per week; and that more than 5 percent suffer on a daily basis. Those experiencing heartburn twice a week or more over a six month period are likely to have GastroEsophageal Reflux Disease, which results from excess stomach acid backing-up into the esophagus (the tube connecting the mouth to the stomach) due the failure of a muscular valve at the bottom of the esophagus to close properly.

Dietary and lifestyle changes, as well as over-the-counter and prescription medications treat GERD by reducing the amount of acid produced in the stomach. Medications can alleviate symptoms but generally do not stop the progression of the condition, and often must be taken for the rest of a patient’s life. For severe cases, conventional laparoscopic surgery can repair the gastroesophageal valve with instruments introduced into the abdomen through small incisions. The EsophyX transoral procedure, developed by EndoGastric SolutionsTM of Redmond, Washington, eliminates the need for incisions, and the associated pain and risk of infection, by introducing the surgical instruments through the patient’s mouth.

A similar bariatric procedure, called StomaphyXTM, for reducing the size of a patient’s stomach for individuals who gain weight a few years after gastric bypass surgery, has been available at Mercy Medical Center since last July.

Information about transoral surgery at Mercy Medical Center is available by calling: 516-62MERCY or www.chsli.org

www.HealthNewsDigest.com

How To Relief From Acid Reflux

Heartburn acid reflux is a very common health problem for many people worldwide. Thus, you are not alone.

Here is a video that illustrate how you relieve yourself from heartburn acid reflux


Another important factor that you must look into is your diet. Do you know which types of you food will trigger off your heartburn causing your discomfort?

There is a well-written article about the types of food you should avoid in order not to trigger your acid reflux symptoms.
=====> What Types of Heartburn Foods to Avoid?


Also there is a latest update on dietary changes for GERD and acid reflux patients. Click here for more details - Dietary Changes and GERD / Acid Reflux: The Latest Research