Compared with people with normal weight, overweight individuals with a body mass index of 25 kg/m2 to 30 kg/m2 are fifty percent more likely to have GERD, and obese individuals with a body mass index greater than 30 kg/m2 are twice as likely to have the disease.

Furthermore, the chances of getting GERD seemed to rise in a dose-response relationship with the ballooning of weight. An increase of 3.5 body mass index units leads to a 2.7 times increased risk of GERD. In contrast, a decrease of 3.5 kg/m2 of BMI cut your chances of having GERD by 40%.

The system causing the relation of obesity with GERD is still unknown. However, it was noted that being overweight has been associated with increased intra-abdominal pressure, impaired gastric emptying, decreased lower esophageal sphincter pressure, and increased frequency of transient sphincter relaxation, all of which can lead to increased esophageal acid exposure.

Being overweight and obesity are risk factors for acid-related esophageal diseases. It was suggested that future studies should examine the mechanism by which being overweight and obesity cause these complications, as well as the potential effects of weight loss. In the meantime, however, it is prudent to counsel all overweight patients who present with GERD-related diseases that weight loss may help improve symptoms.

It was observed in a research as well that there is an obvious connection between BMI and GERD in both sexes. Compared with persons with a body mass index below 25, the likelihood of developing gastro-esophageal reflux disease is 3.3 times greater for severely obese men with a body mass index over 35. Severely obese women are 6.3 times more likely to develop GERD than women with normal weight.

It is even more dangerous to those females who have a BMI higher than 35 who have used estrogen-only hormone substitutes. They are 33 times more likely to have gastro-esophageal reflux disease compared to that of normal-weight, non-hormone users.

This study shows a clear link between GERD and with both being overweight, and estrogen use in women. It is believed that overweight females generate more substances similar to estrogen in their fatty tissue, which may actually be the reason why losing weight decreases the likelihood of having GERD. So, this provides another reason to attack overweight aggressively.

Extra weight places pressure on your stomach, which can prevent the lower esophageal sphincter from opening and closing properly.

If you are fat, weight loss of just ten to fifteen pounds can prevent gastro-esophageal reflux disease. Doctors also recommend that people who have gastro-esophageal reflux disease wear looser clothing to keep extra pressure off their stomachs.

GERD Is Common If You Are Overweight is a post from: eHealth-Nut