Adults plagued by heartburn may want to steer clear of carbonated soft drinks in the hours before bedtime, with a new study linking soda consumption to troublesome acid reflux at night.
“That’s no small matter, because acid reflux during the night tends to be more harmful for patients — it’s associated more with complications, such as narrowing of the esophagus, alterations of the esophagus and, most importantly, cancerous changes of the esophagus and esophageal cancer. That’s a big price to pay for a can of Coke,” said lead researcher Dr. Ronnie Fass, a professor of medicine at the University of Arizona, Tucson.

His team’s study, published in the May issue of Chest, also found strong associations between troubling nighttime heartburn and the use of benzodiazepine sleeping aids such as Ativan, Valium or Xanax.

According to experts, approximately 44 percent of adult Americans complain of heartburn at least once a month, while 14 percent — nearly one out of six — experience weekly bouts of heartburn. Fass described heartburn as “a burning sensation people usually feel after meals, behind the chest bone and rising up to their throat, caused by acid reflux.”

In the study, Fass’ team examined data from the large, ongoing Sleep Heart Health Study, aimed at investigating connections between disturbed sleep and cardiovascular health.

Of the more than 15,000 adults surveyed in that study, more than 3,800 (24.9 percent) complained of heartburn during nighttime slumber.

The researchers pored over the collected data to determine dietary and lifestyle factors associated with nighttime reflux.

“For the first time, we found a close relationship between soft drink consumption and this type of severe heartburn,” said Fass. Individuals who drank one or more servings of carbonated soft drinks per day were at 31 percent higher risk of developing heartburn at night compared to individuals who stayed away from these types of beverages.

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