Smoking and salt increase GORD
Smoking and a high intake of salt are associated with a greater risk of gastro-oesophageal reflux symptoms, a recent study has shown.
Researchers at the Karolinska hospital in Sweden carried out a population-based
study involving 3,153 Norwegian patients with gastro-oesophageal reflux
disease (GORD) and 40,210 people without symptoms as controls. They calculated
the risk of GORD symptoms in relation to several lifestyle risk factors:
smoking, coffee and tea consumption, salt intake, alcohol consumption,
fibre intake and physical exercise.
The researchers found that the risk of reflux was increased by 50 per
cent in people who consume salted food at least three times per week
compared with those who never ate salted food. The risk of reflux symptoms
increased by 70 per cent in people who always added salt to their meals.
Long-term daily smoking (20 years or more) increased the risk of reflux
by 70 per cent compared with people who had smoked for less than one
year.
The study also showed that eating bread high in dietary fibre and taking
regular exercise can protect against acid reflux symptoms. Symptoms were
reduced by 50 per cent in people eating predominantly high-fibre bread
and by 50 per cent in people who exercised at least once a week.
Coffee consumption also appeared to reduce the risk of GORD by up to
40 per cent, although the researchers point out that the results may
have been skewed because many people with reflux symptoms avoid drinking
coffee. Drinking tea and alcohol had no effect on the risk of GORD symptoms,
irrespective of the quantities consumed (Gut 2004;53:1730).
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