If you suffer from heartburn, you know that the foods you eat have the power to help or hinder your condition. Choosing wisely and avoiding your triggers can mean avoiding a day of discomfort.
“You have a sphincter between your stomach and your esophagus that normally keeps acid within the stomach and keeps it from refluxing back into the esophagus,” explains Joseph Salhab, MD, a board-certified gastroenterologist and medical content creator who goes by “The Stomach Doc” on TikTok. “When that sphincter is loose, it allows acid to go back into the esophagus and cause symptoms.”
Salhab adds that heartburn is “partly a lifestyle disease” and may not be managed through medication alone. “You’re going to want to know your trigger foods, and you’re going to want to eliminate them out of your diet to lower the risk of your having symptoms,” he shared in a recent TikTok post.
Though these triggers can be individualized, there are also a handful of foods that commonly cause problems for people with heartburn or GERD, experts say. Read on to learn which sneaky foods are most likely to cause heartburn.
1. Caffeine
ShutterstockIf you begin your day with a cup of joe, you may be priming your digestive system for heartburn.
“If you’re drinking lots of coffee or tea you need to be aware that coffee can increase more acid as well as relax that lower esophageal sphincter, to allow the food to reflux back into the esophagus,” says Alan Mandell, DC, a chiropractor and popular medical content creator.
2. Carbonated beverages
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Carbonated beverages can also trigger heartburn symptoms.
“If you like that soda, be careful because it might have caffeine as well. But the carbonation causes more pressure in the stomach where it will push that food or acid back up into the esophagus, and that can make the condition worse as well,” explains Mandell.
Janine Bowring, ND, a naturopathic doctor and medical content creator, recently shared on TikTok that diet soda may be especially likely to cause heartburn: “This will offset your healthy microbiome, and the carbonation makes acid reflux worse.”
3. Spicy foods
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Bowring says that if you don’t have a high tolerance for spicy foods, they can worsen your symptoms of acid reflux.
“This will slow digestion down and will increase irritation within the esophagus and the stomach,” agrees Mandell.
4. Fried or fatty foods
ShutterstockIf you suffer from acid reflux, you should plan on minimizing your intake of highly processed, fried, and fatty foods.
“Fatty foods will allow foods to stay in your stomach a lot longer. It slows digestion down. It relaxes the lower esophageal sphincter, allowing acid to make its way back up the esophagus, and it will allow the stomach to secrete more acid,” Mandell says.
5. Tomatoes
ShutterstockTomatoes are rich in antioxidants and lycopene, a plant compound that can help reduce your risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease. However, they may also worsen your symptoms of acid reflux.
“Tomatoes contain malic and citric acid, which are very acidic and can make that heartburn worse,” Bowring cautions.
6. Citrus fruits
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Some fruits—especially high-alkaline fruits like bananas and melons—can improve symptoms of GERD. However, Bowring warns that citrus fruits and juices have the opposite effect since they’re so high in acid and fructose.
7. Alcohol
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Finally, alcohol is another common trigger for heartburn, since it irritates the throat, esophagus, and stomach lining, and can increase stomach acid.
“Of course that can always make heartburn worse—especially the harder types of alcohol,” says Bowring.