Preventing Esophageal Scarring From Acid Reflux

The problems of acid reflux surfaces when unhealthy food habits and poor lifestyle practices are followed by individuals. Acid reflux  is not experienced by all individuals who eat spicy food though spicy dishes are mostly held responsible for causing acid reflux but there are many other factors apart from food that results in acid reflux. Therefore in order to understand What Is Acid Reflux one needs to know the mechanism involved in digestion of food.
Delineating the course of digestion
In a human body the mouth is the body part that tastes food. Food is chewed and mixed with saliva so that it can be easily passed through the esophagus. This food bolus travels down the esophagus and enters the stomach for digestion. It is important to note that the digestion begins in the mouth itself where the salivary enzymes begin to break down food particles. The food that is present in the stomach is combined with gastric juices. An acidic medium is used for churning food in the stomach for killing harmful organisms like bacteria.
Occurrence of acid reflux
The stomach lining can withstand the acidic contents but when the food cannot be digested or too much acid has caused acidity then the same contents flows into the esophagus. The esophageal lining is delicate and cannot withstand the acidic combination from the stomach, this causes acid reflux or heartburn.
Problems that cause GERD
When this kind of heartburn occurs repeatedly then it gives rise to GERD disease.  This disease is related to the scarring of the esophagus due to frequent flow of acidic contents from the stomach into the esophagus. Antacids are usually used for handling acid reflux problems but when one is diagnosed with GERD then separate GERD Medication is given for handling the problem. Usually for GERD proton pump inhibitors of medicines that prevent or block the formation of acid is given. Lack of acid allows the esophagus to heal thereby preventing further damage.

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