Why Some Foods Trigger Heartburn
When you eat, a muscular ring called the lower oesophageal sphincter (or LES for short), helps keep the food down in your stomach. This muscle connects your oesophagus (or your food pipe) to your stomach and its job is to close up at the right times, ensuring food and stomach acid doesn’t travel back up.
But in heartburn, this muscle doesn’t close properly, so your food and stomach contents push back up, irritating your throat and causing that burning sensation after eating.
Some foods affect this muscle, relaxing it too much or putting pressure on it at the top of your tummy, which causes reflux, and then heartburn. Other foods may cause heartburn simply because they’re too acidic.
Below, we review some of these foods.
High-Fat Foods
Fatty foods trigger heartburn in the following ways:
- They’re harder to digest, so your body needs to release stronger substances like bile salts and other hormones to break down the fat. These compounds can irritate your oesophagus. They relax the LES muscle, which increases reflux.
- They lead to abdominal fat, which puts pressure on your tummy, increasing reflux.
Examples of fatty foods you may wish to avoid include
- Processed meat like bacon, sausages, and burgers
- Full-fat cheese, cream, whole milk, and ice cream
- Deep-fried foods or foods fried in butter or fat
- Pizzas, lasagnas and other oily foods
Instead of the above, opt for low-fat alternatives to dairy or choose healthier sources of fats, like olive oil, avocado, and nuts and seeds.
Alcohol Consumption
Alcohol can relax the LES, leading to increased acid production and heartburn.1 It also causes food to move slower through your intestines, hindering digestion and contributing to heartburn.
There isn’t enough evidence to say whether some types of alcohol are more damaging to heartburn than others. To protect your oesophagus and overall health, limit your alcohol intake, regardless of type.
Coffee and Caffeinated Drinks
Coffee can cause heartburn by relaxing the LES muscle; it may also irritate your oesophagus and stomach lining because it’s acidic. Caffeinated (and decaffeinated!) drinks like tea and some fizzy drinks can all cause heartburn. Try drinking water instead, or drink herbal teas without caffeine. Coffee alternatives like drinks made from roasted chicory, barley, or rye may also reduce reflux.
Sodas and Carbonated Drinks
Like coffee, carbonated drinks are slightly acidic; they also relax the LOS, increasing the likelihood of heartburn. Moreover, these drinks tend to be filled with added sugars and artificial sweeteners, which may also worsen heartburn.
Impact of Citrus and Juices
Fruits with high acidity, like citrus fruits and their juices, can cause heartburn. Citrus fruits you may want to avoid include oranges, grapefruit, lemons, and clementines. Surprisingly, pineapples can also trigger heartburn due to their high acidic content.
Instead of these acidic fruits, you may want to opt for alkaline fruit or fruit low in acid, such as apricots, bananas, black currants, and apples.
Tomato-Based Sauces
Tomatoes, like citrus fruit, are also acidic and can trigger heartburn.
To prevent symptoms, limit or avoid fresh and canned tomatoes and tomato-based products like pasta sauce or ketchup to prevent symptoms. Try a simple olive oil for your pasta instead — olive oil is a key component of the Mediterranean diet, which reduces the risk of heartburn.
Mint and Its Effects
Mint, including peppermint and spearmint, can contribute to heartburn because it relaxes the LES muscle. This may come as a surprise, as peppermint tea is often recommended for indigestion and can improve other symptoms like stomach cramps and bloating.
If you experience heartburn, avoid mint-flavoured candies, gums, and peppermint oil or tea.
Chocolate and Heartburn
Chocolate may trigger heartburn because it’s high in caffeine. Chocolate also relaxes your LES muscle, just like coffee, which can contribute to acid reflux. It is also high in fat and sugars, which can contribute to or worsen heartburn, as we’ve seen above.
Dark chocolate contains more cocoa than milk chocolate, so it also contains more caffeine. Milk chocolate, on the other hand, often has a higher sugar content. Limit your intake of chocolate regardless of type to reduce your heartburn episodes.
Spicy Foods and Peppercorns
Spicy foods can irritate the lining of your oesophagus (your food pipe) and increase acid production in your stomach, which can cause heartburn.
Some common spices and foods you may wish to avoid include chilies, peppercorn, red pepper, spicy curries and other spicy dishes.
Onions and Heartburn
Studies found that onions, particularly raw ones, are associated with heartburn. Onions are high in FODMAPs, types of sugars that are harder to digest.
Try cooking onions instead of having them raw or opt for chives or the green part of spring onions instead.
Remember that different people have different triggers, and not everyone reacts in the same way to the foods outlined above. Try keeping a food diary to work out the foods that worsen your symptoms.
What Can Neutralise Heartburn? Bananas, ginger, and more
There are many things you can do to help manage heartburn. Oftentimes, simple lifestyle changes or home remedies are enough to alleviate symptoms.
Foods that can reduce heartburn include:
Bananas
Bananas may be found to help heartburn because they are alkaline foods (with low acidity), which could help neutralise stomach acid. They are also rich in fibre, which improves digestion and helps move food along the digestive tract. This prevents food from lingering in the stomach and causing acid reflux
Ginger
Ginger is anti-inflammatory and can be used to soothe the digestive tract. Like bananas, it can also help heartburn by helping food move along the intestines. You can cook with ginger, make ginger tea, or add it to your smoothie.
Aloe vera
Aloe vera may soothe the digestive system, and people have been using it traditionally for years. Pure aloe vera juice before meals could help acid reflux. This may be due to aloe vera having enzymes that help break down sugars and fats and improve digestion.
Non-caffeinated herbal teas
Teas like chamomile and liquorice root can help calm your stomach and reduce heartburn symptoms. Chamomile has anti-inflammatory properties and can also reduce other indigestion symptoms like cramps and gas. Liquorice root tea may also help because some compounds in liquorice can help reduce acid production in the stomach.
Other home remedies for heartburn
Here are other home remedies for heartburn relief:
- Try eating smaller, more frequent meals. This can reduce stomach pressure and acid production.
- Eat slowly, avoid big meals before bed, and make sure you drink enough water between meals.
- Don’t lie down after meals. Many people find that lying down after eating worsens their symptoms, so avoid it if it causes you heartburn.
Conclusion
As we’ve seen in this article, coffee can cause heartburn, as can fatty or spicy foods, citrus fruits, onions, mint, and chocolate.
It is important to note that not everyone reacts the same way to these foods. Keep an eye out for the foods that trigger you and keep a food diary to help you figure out which foods make your symptoms worse and which ones make them better.
Speak to your pharmacist or healthcare professional if you have heartburn most days or if it keeps coming back.
Your pharmacist or doctor may recommend over-the-counter medications that are great for heartburn relief, such as alginates and antacids like Gaviscon.
To learn more about heartburn relief, read our articles, Heartburn remedies that you should keep on hand, and Remedies for acid reflux.
