Air swallowing not the cause of GERD

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People with gastroesophageal reflex disease (GERD) swallow air and belch more frequently than those without GERD, a new study confirms, but the air swallowing does not appear to cause or worsen the condition.

Acid backs up into the esophagus when the muscle closing it off from the stomach relaxes momentarily, Dr. Albert J. Bredenoord of Sint Antonius Hospital in Nieuwegein, the Netherlands, and colleagues note, while excess air is allowed to escape the stomach in a burp via the same mechanism.

People with GERD complain of frequent belching, but the connections among air swallowing, GERD and burping are not well understood, Bredenoord and his team report in the American Journal of Gastroenterology.

To investigate, the researchers measured pressure, liquid and acidity in the esophagus of 12 people with GERD and 12 healthy individuals before and after air was infused into their stomachs.

People with GERD belched about 52 times during the 24-hour study, compared with 7 times for the controls, and they swallowed air 287 times versus 176 times in the controls. Infusing air into the esophagus boosted the reflux of gas from the stomach in both GERD patients and controls, but it did not have any effect on acid reflux.

It is still not clear why people with GERD swallow air and burp more frequently, the researches note. They suggest it could be related to salivary secretion or perhaps to these individuals taking larger swallows.

SOURCE: American Journal of Gastroenterology, August 2006.