Study Suggests Water Can Reduce GERD Risk Among Women
Drinking water rather than coffee, tea, or soda—3 beverages associated with an increased risk of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)—may modestly reduce the risk of GERD, according to a new prospective study presented on May 20, 2019, at Digestive Disease Week (DDW).
The researchers analyzed data on 50,111 women aged 42 to 62 years who did not have GERD. The participants, who were part of the Nurses’ Health Study II, also did not have cancer and were not on proton-pump inhibitor/histamine H2 receptor antagonist therapy.
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In 2007 and 2011, the participants had reported their beverage intake by completing a food frequency questionnaire. Then, in 2009 and 2013, they had completed a self-administered questionnaire that the researchers used to assess for the incidence of GERD, which was defined as a report of symptoms of heartburn/acid reflux that had occurred at least once a week during the past year.
During 277,167 person-years of follow-up, there were 8013 incident cases of GERD.
Participants who consumed 6 or more daily servings of coffee, tea, or soda—the highest recorded intake of each beverage—had higher multivariable hazard ratios than those who did not.
Similar results were observed after stratification of caffeine status; however, there was a stronger association between decaffeinated tea and the risk of GERD.
The results demonstrated no association between the consumption of milk, water, or juice and GERD risk. In fact, replacing 2 servings per day of coffee, tea, or soda with 2 servings of water was associated with a reduction in GERD risk.
—Colleen Murphy
Reference:
Mehta RS, Song M, Staller K, Chan AT. Beverage intake and the incidence of gastroesophageal reflux disease: a prospective study in US women. Presented at: Digestive Disease Week; May 18-21; San Diego, CA. https://www.gastrojournal.org/article/S0016-5085(19)37044-1/pdf?referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gastrojournal.org%2Farticle%2FS0016-5085%2819%2937044-1%2Ffulltext. Accessed May 20, 2019.