Symptoms of GERD, short for gastroesophageal reflux disease, affect almost 18 percent of Americans on a weekly basis, according to a 2004 article in the "World Journal of Gastroenterology." Commonly experienced as heartburn, GERD results from a combination of factors that include diet. Conventional wisdom dictates that tea can contribute to the occurrence of GERD symptoms. However, experimental and epidemiological research suggests that tea does not have a significant effect on GERD symptoms. If you have personally experienced heartburn after drinking tea, the effect may have resulted from the more general effect of consuming a liquid.
Heartburn
Heartburn occurs when partially digested food and gastric acid flow up from the stomach through the lower esophageal sphincter, or LES, into the esophagus. The LES is a muscle that relaxes to allow food to pass into the stomach and tightens to prevent the contents of your stomach from flowing back up the esophagus. When the LES malfunctions, enzymes and digestive acid act on the lining of the esophagus, causing discomfort and, over time, damaging the esophagus so that it resembles the intestinal lining. This condition, called Barrett's esophagus, increases the risk of esophageal cancer by 30 to 125 times what might normally be expected, according to a Mayo Clinic study reported on the the website EurekAlert. When acid reflux occurs on a chronic basis, it's called GERD.
Causes
Various factors can lead to acid reflux or GERD, including obesity, surgery, medications, a tendency to overeat, hernias and chronic vomiting. Certain foods appear to trigger acid reflux symptoms, including high-fat foods, alcohol, chocolate, peppermint, high-sugar foods, spicy food, citrus and tomato products. Some foods, such as chocolate and peppermint, appear to relax the LES, while other foods, such as citrus and tomatoes, increase the acidity of the stomach contents.
Tea
Some health experts and websites advise against drinking tea if you have GERD. However, empirical research suggests that tea has little effect on the risk of GERD or the occurrence of GERD symptoms. For example, a study published in 2004 in "Gut" found that tea had little relation to the risk of GERD. Likewise, an epidemiological study published in 2004 in the "World Journal of Gastroenterology" found no relation between tea and GERD symptoms. An experimental study published in the March 2007 "Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics" found that tea had an effect on reflux comparable to water.
Caffeine
Some teas, including green tea, contain caffeine. Many health experts suggest that you avoid caffeine to reduce GERD symptoms. However, research on the effect of caffeine on GERD yields mixed results. For example, the study noted above published in the March 2007 issue of "Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics" found that the addition of caffeine to water or the decaffeination of tea had no effect on gastroesophageal reflux. Decaffeination of coffee lessens reflux, but the authors conclude that ingredients in coffee besides caffeine likely contribute to reflux symptoms.
Minimizing Reflux
If tea aggravates your GERD, examine your tea-drinking habits. Any fluid, including water, can distend your stomach, buoy enzymes and digestive acids up toward your esophagus and place pressure on the LES. Likewise if you eat a lot of food and mix it with tea, you place more pressure on the LES. Don't drink tea and then lie down, as gravity will move the contents of your stomach toward your esophagus, which can cause reflux if you already have a problem with GERD. Also, tea flavored with peppermint can relax your LES and allow reflux. Drinking modest amounts of green tea provides antioxidant polyphenols and has an anti-inflammatory effect that should, if anything, reduce the irritation caused by GERD.
References
- "Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics"; Effect of decaffeination of Coffee or Tea on Gastro-oesophageal Reflux; B Wendl, et al.; March 2007
- EurekAlert!; Mayo Clinic Studies Find Association Between Acid Reflux and Esophageal Cancer; May 2006
- "Gut"; Lifestyle related Risk Factors in the Aetiology of Gastro-oesophageal Reflux; M Nilsson, et al.; 2004
- "World Journal of Gastroenterology"; Jin-Hai Wang, et al.; Epidemiology of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease: A General Population-Based Study in Zi'an of Northwest China; 2004
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