Jonathan Aviv - The Acid Watcher Diet: A 28-Day Reflux Prevention and Healing Program

A mber, a thirty-seven-year-old work-at-home mom, is very worried because for the past seven months she has felt a lumplike sensation in her throat. She has difficulty swallowing solid foods, and sometimes even pills seem to get stuck in her throat. Her voice is strained, occasionally raspy, and she feels thick mucus in her throat and a postnasal drip. She is constantly clearing her throat, day and night. She saw her primary doctor, who started her on some allergy medications, but her complaints persisted.

Amber confided her concerns to a friend who had similar symptoms and suggested that Amber see an ear, nose, and throat (ENT) doctor. She was ultimately referred to me, and when I saw Amber in my office I first asked her about her diet and lifestyle. She started every morning with the first of three cups of coffee, and a glass of either orange juice or grapefruit juice. Lunch typically was some sort of tomato-based salad with a lemon-vinaigrette dressing. Family dinner during the workweek was at 6:30 p.m., when she had one or two glasses of wine at dinner. Generally, around 10:00 p.m. she had a snack of a chocolate square or two with a cup of herbal tea.

Examination of her throat with a small camera showed that the normally thin, vibrating vocal cords were swollen like kielbasa and there was a great deal of swelling in the back of the larynx, in the area where the esophagus begins.

As the clinical director of the Voice and Swallowing Center at ENT and Allergy Associates in New York City, I see patients like Amber every day: people who have acid reflux disease but who break the mold for what used to be considered the typical acid-damaged individual. (If youve ever seen Alka-Seltzer commercials from the 1970s and 1980s, you know what I meanto have acid reflux, you had to be a white, overweight, middle-aged man who had just overindulged in burgers, pizza, and meatballs and was complaining of heartburn.) Today, acid damage is a more universal problem; it doesnt just manifest itself in heartburn, and it afflicts people of all races and ages, including the very young. It keeps both men and women up at night and clearing their throats all day.

Whats also changed is the definition of acid damage. You were once thought to be dealing with excess acid only if you demonstrated the classic symptom of heartburn, which, despite its name, is caused by the regurgitation of stomach acid into its adjacent organ to the north, the esophagus, not the heart. But as youll discover in The Acid Watcher Diet, this is a narrow, misleading, and in some instances dangerous definition. In addition to heartburn, the symptoms of acid damage can include the following:

hoarseness

a chronic, nagging cough

a sore throat that appears out of nowhere

a feeling of a lump being stuck in your throat

postnasal drip

allergies

shortness of breath

abdominal bloating

These symptoms may be present with or without heartburn or indigestion. For this reason, millions of people with acid reflux are going undiagnosedand putting themselves at risk of long-term side effects and potentially deadly diseases, including cancer.

M ore alarming than the evolving demographic of the acid-injured, the expanding list of symptoms, and the seriousness of potential consequences is the sheer number of people affected: At least sixty million Americans have acid reflux diseasethe most common of acid-related disorders. This is more than the number of people affected by heart disease, diabetes, and celiac disease. And a growing number are succumbing to esophageal cancerthe most extreme manifestation of acid damage. Esophageal cancer has seen a 650-fold increase since the 1970s and is poised to replace colon cancer as the second most common cancer in the United States. Interestingly, the rise in esophageal cancer occurred over the same period that the battle against other forms of cancerincluding breast cancerhad made great strides.

There are a number of possible contributing factors to the astounding increase in cases of esophageal cancer:

Delayed treatment: Too many people tolerate the inconvenience of reflux-related symptoms for years, letting acid damage go unchecked. Because of a misunderstanding of symptoms, they may not even know that acid is to blame. For example, did you know that acid reflux disease is the most common nonlung, nonallergy cause of chronic cough?

Incorrect treatment: When it comes to excess acid, solutions based on pseudoscience abound, including the use of pH value (acidic versus alkaline) to distinguish healthy from nonhealthy foods. Some of these supposed solutionsespecially dietarynot only are ineffective but can dangerously worsen acid damage and pave the way for precancerous conditions to develop.

Missed diagnoses: Many healthcare professionals are often perplexed by reflux symptoms. Are your symptoms due to allergies or a lung or digestive issue, and to which type of doctor should you be sent first? Many of my patients have seen multiple doctors and been seeking the right treatment for years before they land in my office. Meanwhile, their acid reflux has continued on unchecked.

Misuse of and/or overreliance on acid-blocking medications: A significant percentage of people whove been prescribed antacid medication do not follow the medications instructions to a T, a strict requirement for it to be fully effective. The other issue with medications such as proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), which can play a critical role in treating acid reflux when prescribed and taken correctly, is that many people continue to ingest acidic foods and beverages, thereby letting the acid damage continue despite a lessening of symptoms.