It's a warm but not happy feeling familiar to millions of Americans. The burning feeling you call heartburn occurs as acid, produced to digest food, moves unnaturally upward from the stomach into the esophagus. Reflux is fairly common in adults in their 30s and 40s after eating an especially greasy or spicy meal, said Dr. James A. Harris, gastrointestinal surgeon at the Medical College of Georgia. The burning feeling and brackish taste in the mouth occurs when stomach acid defies gravity and anatomy and finds it way into the esophagus. That warm, uncomfortable feeling that accompanies reflux is actually the stomach acid damaging the wall of the esophagus, which was never intended to handle such.
Nature has mechanisms to keep gastrointestinal contents flowing in the correct direction.
At its juncture with the stomach, the esophagus has an area of increased muscle tone that helps keep food moving downward, Dr. Harris said. Location is a plus, because this portion of the esophagus is in the abdominal area where naturally higher pressures provide additional tightness. But with age, muscles and ligaments that keep things in place begin to loosen and the esophagus and upper stomach may work their way into the chest, a condition commonly called a hiatal hernia. The result is uncomfortable and often destructive. Prescription medications, such as Zantac, work through the bloodstream to actually cut acid production.