Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease

Gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD) is usually caused by the ring of muscle at the bottom of the oesophagus (gullet) becoming weakened.

Normally, this ring of muscleopens to let food into your stomach and closes tostopstomach acid leaking back up into your oesophagus.

But for people with GORD, stomach acid is able to pass back up into the oesophagus. This causessymptoms of GORD, which can include heartburn and acid reflux.

It's not always clear what causes thisring of muscleto become weakened, but certain things can increase the risk ofit happening (see below).

Who's most at risk of GORD?

The following factors mayincrease your risk of developing GORD:

• being overweight orobesethis can place increased pressure on your stomach and weaken themuscles at the bottom of the oesophagus
• eating large amounts of fatty foodsthe stomach takes longer toget ridof stomach acid after digesting a fatty meal and the resulting excess acid may leak up into the oesophagus
• smoking, alcohol, coffee or chocolate these may relax the muscles at the bottom of the oesophagus
• pregnancytemporary changes in hormone levelsand increased pressure on your stomach during pregnancy can cause GORD (read more about heartburn in pregnancy)
• hiatus herniawhen part of your stomach pushes up through your diaphragm (thin sheet of muscle between the chest and tummy)
• gastroparesis when the stomach takes longer toget ridof stomach acid, which meansexcess acid can leak up into the oesophagus
• certain medicines some medicines can cause GORD or make the symptoms worse, includingcalcium-channel blockers (used to treat high blood pressure),nitrates (used to treatangina) andnon-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)
• stress

GORD can sometimes affect several members of the same family and it's been suggested that the genes you inherit from your parents may also affect your chances ofdeveloping the condition.