Tsticky bone, lumpy feeling in the throat, difficulty in swallowing, chronic laryngitis, hoarseness, lowering of the voice and retrosternal burning. These are just some of the symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux, a disease that affects over 20% of Italians.
Gastroesophageal reflux: what is it?
«A person eats between 2 and 3 kilos of food every day, often without realizing this volume. It can be solid, liquid, cold, hot, raw or cooked food, with different smells, colors, flavors and textures. Everyone has their own style at the table: there are those who eat voraciously, everything and immediately, do not chew but swallow. In short, the proverb “Tell me how you eat, I’ll tell you who you are” is really right. All ingested food arrives through the esophagus into the stomach, where trouble can begin»Explains Professor Pier Luigi Rossi, Specialist in Nutritional Science and in Hygiene and Preventive Medicine and lecturer at the University of Bologna, Catholic University of Rome, University of Sassari.
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Gastroesophageal reflux: the possible causes
«Voracity, dominance of solid food over liquid food, reduced chewing, alcohol, excess of salt and coffee, personal food choices cause a lengthening of the residence time of food in the gastric cavity, causing a possible gastro-esophageal reflux. There is no increase in gastric acidity, but the pains and the “burning” after a meal express the passage of hydrochloric acid into the esophagus, not structured to stem the effects of gastric acid. Also, in situations of stress and anxiety we can have a hypotonus of the vagus nerve, our sixth sense that connects the brain to the intestine and the intestine to the brain. The result is difficulty in advancing and emptying food into the gastric cavity and therefore also gastroesophageal reflux », continues the expert», continues the expert.
Gastric digestion and its timing
«Every minute the stomach makes 3 contractions for gastric digestion, aimed at reducing food to chyme, a “homogenate” that can leave the gastric cavity for the digestive journey into the small intestine and colon. The longer the food remains in the stomach, the higher the risk of hydrochloric acid passing from the stomach to the esophagus. A plate of pasta, for example, stays in the stomach for about 3 or 4 hours, while a plate of cereals in soup only stays for an hour ”, underlines Professor Rossi.
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What and how to eat
“The stomach desires liquid food, such as soups, vegetable purees, vegetable creams, minestrone, centrifuged, vegetable milks, hot food, finely chopped raw food, chopped food reduced to small portions, well chewed food. These conditions of the food, arriving in the stomach, facilitate gastric contractions and significantly reduce the time spent in the gastric cavity. It is therefore necessary to avoid a long stay of food in the stomach to start and have the best gastric and intestinal digestion and thus avoid the problem of reflux», Concludes the expert. In the gallery all the tips.
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