You may have heard of or experienced acid reflux, a painful and uncomfortable condition that happens when partially digested stomach contents flow back into your esophagus. Bile reflux is similar but involves the digestive fluid bile flowing into the esophagus instead. According to MayoClinic.com, bile reflux and acid reflux often occur together. Although dietary adjustments won't always provide relief for bile reflux, they may produce some improvement.
Trigger Foods
While acid reflux is often set off by common "trigger foods," bile reflux doesn't always behave the same way, as MayoClinic.com notes. However, since there is some overlap between the two conditions, the clinic recommends avoiding high-fat foods, which can cause the lower esophageal sphincter muscle to relax. The LES muscle separates the esophagus from stomach contents, so preventing it from relaxing irregularly may reduce the occurrence of reflux.
What to Eat
When you consider what to include in a diet for treatment of bile reflux, it's also important to think about how to eat and what you should exclude from that diet. Jane E. Brody, a health reporter for "The New York Times," recommends limiting alcohol, carbonated beverages, spicy foods, vinegar, mint, chocolate and onions. MayoClinic.com also suggests excluding citrus foods and citrus juices, which are acidic enough to aggravate the LES muscle. Eating small, frequent meals instead of large meals can help. As far as what to eat, focus on low-fat or nonfat vegetables, fruits, dairy products, lean proteins and whole grains.
Alternative Remedies
You may discover that you have individual trigger foods that seem to worsen your own bile reflux episodes. If that is the case, try avoiding those foods and evaluating the results. If you find that dietary adjustments aren't improving your bile reflux, however, there are other measures you can take. MayoClinic.com recommends quitting smoking, losing weight if necessary, staying upright after meals and snacks, elevating your bed and using stress relief techniques to reduce tension in your life.
Considerations
Bile reflux can range from uncomfortable at best to life-threatening at worst. Chronic, severe reflux can damage the esophagus to the point of increasing your risk for esophageal cancer. Talk with your doctor if your bile reflux is consistently interfering with your life or if you'd like to explore serious treatment options, which may include prescription drugs, diversion surgery or anti-reflux surgery.
