Notwithstanding the many popular texts that point to aspects of lifestyle and eating particular foods, the real underlying reasons for heartburn encompass a larger selection of factors with genetic, lifestyle and dietary elements. Just like other chronic illnesses, heartburn is a result of overlapping and multiple causes.

Heartburn can be defined as the sensation of burning and of pain in the chest or throat area that is often felt after eating a meal. Although healthy people may experience such a feeling once per week or less, if heartburn occurs twice per week or more frequently, this may be a sign of a more severe medical condition called acid reflux disease, and also known as GERD (Gastro Esophageal Reflux Disease).

The LES or Lower Esophageal Sphincter should normally only relax to let nutritive elements flow into the digestive system and should not allow stomach contents to move back in the opposite sense. But in a reflux situation, the LES is weakened and digestive contents can move back into the esophagus, damaging esophageal cells in the wall lining and an activating the pain sensors. GERD is the offspring of two physiological malfunctions: the first is excess stomach acidity; and the second is the weakened sphincter (LES), which no longer performs its function correctly as a barrier between the stomach and the esophagus.

As indicated earlier, several inter-linked factors make for a weak LES or excessive stomach acidity. These factors include:

1. Characteristics passed on from one generation to another.

2. Lifestyles, where digestion is ruined by habits such as smoking, which preys on the digestion, ambushes the immune system and pushes Candida into replication, which then leads to the problem of acid reflux. Stress from lack of sleep, emotional strain or workaholism also brings forth these problems.

3. Infections from Candida. In certain circumstances, Candida microbes grow fast and spread throughout the body. These microorganisms then ferment and cause stomach contents to be rejected back into the esophagus, where inflammation and degradation of the esophageal cells then takes place. Note that Candida is normally present anyway in the human body, including the intestinal and genital areas. Under normal conditions, Candida is balanced out by friendly bacteria with no negative impact to the body.

4. Diet patterns, ingestion of foods that are fatty or spicy and that weaken the LES, or foods that are hard to digest, can all aggravate existing acid reflux. Similarly, the consistent, frequent ingestion of foods that provoke acid production, such as chocolate, peppermint, citrus fruits and tomatoes, has a similar effect.

Whereas conventional medicine has only a superficial action, limiting any effect to purely the symptoms, a holistic, all-natural program focuses on the basic reasons to put in place the only real secure and workable acid reflux remedy. To halt heartburn and halt its return, the basic contributing factors must be addressed and this is what the holistic principles do.

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