The Correlation Between Heartburn And Coffee
It is estimated that 68 percent of individuals living in the US have one cup of coffee a week and 56 percent have it once a day. Unfortunately, about 20 percent of Americans cannot have their favorite brew because they suffer from the frequent heartburn. It is one of the biggest causes of heartburn. The correlation between heartburn and coffee can make performing ones' task at work more difficult, but there are a few more changes that can be made that can make drinking it easier.
Heartburn is painful burning in the esophagus and throat caused by acid reflux. Food and stomach acid reflux flows from the stomach into esophagus when the lower esophageal valve gets loose as the result of some foods we eat, or is damaged by being often flushed by the stomach acid. Some foods have also been known to increase stomach acid production which doesn't help the problem. A number of foods can cause this valve to allow stomach acid to back up and coffee is one of the strongest triggers of heartburn.
It was generally thought that the cause of heartburn was the caffeine in the coffee. There are in fact three ingredients creating heartburn and coffee issues - N-alkanoly-5-hydroxyntryptamides, caffeine and catechols - which will initiate an increase in the production of stomach acid which will flow into the esophagus and trigger heartburn. It's interesting to note that coffee has another component, N-methylpyridium (NMP), that halts stomach acid production by counteracting the other three elements found in coffee.
What is most interesting is that this beneficial component of coffee is not present in raw beans, but gets activated by roasting the beans. The weaker the coffee the less NMP coffee contains. This mean that weaker kinds are coffee are less aromatic and have less beneficial substances than stronger, darker types like French roast, for example.
Coffee is not only popular all over the world, it is also responsible for reducing the risk of illnesses like Alzheimer's. heart disease, diabetes, and stroke.
Dr. Veronika Somoza from the Austrian University of Vienna and Dr. Thomas Hofmann from the Munich Technical University in Germany were the one who discovered what the components of coffee did to the stomach. These results give hope that new techniques for roasting coffee can be developed with reduced acid-forming components. And heartburn sufferer can enjoy their coffee without any consequences.
For sixty million American who experience heartburn this is considered a bit of a success. It is happy news for many of them to know that they can drink coffee again. The results of the research is also beneficial to coffee retailer and manufacturers who could be potentially getting sixty million more coffee drinkers.
Coffee is very powerful in our society. It's not only enjoyed as a drink. It is also a powerful stimulant whose ingredients can be found in energy drinks, diet supplements, and numerous soft drinks. The experience of heartburn and coffee can be greatly reduced if coffee is less irritating to the stomach.
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