12 Foods You Should Avoid To Prevent Heartburn – Health Digest

We think it’s pretty fair to say that well-balanced curries, with their complex blends of spices and rich, creamy sauces, are some of the most delicious foods out there. But the very thing that gives a lot of curries their fierce heat is also the thing that might cause your heartburn to flare up. 

The compound that creates that spicy sensation is called capsaicin, states the University of California San Diego’s voluntary assistant clinical professor and integrative gastroenterologist Marvin Singh (via Tums). But capsaicin also affects our gastrointestinal system, making us digest slower. As a result, the food that we eat and our stomach acid are more likely to work their way back up into our upper GI tract, causing heartburn.

It’s also worth bearing in mind that capsaicin-containing foods may also cause irritation while we’re eating them, as well as afterward. Aside from making your mouth feel as though it’s on fire, “spicy foods can act directly as an irritant to the esophagus, which may already be inflamed, and that can also aggravate symptoms,” warns Singh. Some curries specifically may also be higher in fat, thanks to the addition of oil, ghee, or cream. This may also stimulate heartburn in some people.

Source: https://www.healthdigest.com/1020329/12-foods-you-should-avoid-to-prevent-heartburn/