Do Dairy Products Really Relieve Heartburn and GERD?

Foods dairy products, dairy products diet, dairy products and heartburn GERD

It’s an old wives tale that milk, ice cream, and cottage cheese will stop heartburn and GERD or Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease. Let’s take a look at the facts.

First of all, milk can provide some form of relief, but some believe that it must not be taken with any meat product for the milk to be helpful for people with GERD. In addition, it is a fact that fat in any food or drink can trigger more stomach acids to be produced. This is why most diets for people with heartburn and GERD is to limit the fat content in their food, especially at night.

Thus, putting these theories to work, one can take milk to help prevent GERD incidents but only if it is skimmed or non-fat milk, and if a light snack of even just crackers is taken soon after.

If regular milk is taken, there may be temporary relief, but it can soon develop into a heartburn if there is nothing in the stomach to counter the effects of the new production of aid from the milk.

There is a National Heartburn Alliance which has come out with a list of food and drinks that should be avoided to prevent heartburn and GERD. In this list, milk and other dairy products like cottage cheese, sour cream, milk shakes and ice cream are in the danger zone. In other words, they recommend that dairy products be avoided or at the very least, be taken carefully.

The dairy products that they consider safe to take are low fat dairy products, yogurt, cheddar cheese, mozzarella, and skim milk.

You might be surprised to find out that the one beverage that you should worry about more is not milk, but beer. Beer can double the amount of stomach acids produced in one hour.

Going back to milk and heartburn and GERD, it has been determined that in babies, an allergy to cow’s milk is very similar in symptoms to GERD. They both manifest regurgitation or vomiting, discomfort, and pain.

In conclusion, milk can help GERD patients but only if taken carefully. Some patients who have been told about the relief one can get from drinking milk, have started to drink milk more often. With GERD, as with any other disease or condition, everything should be taken with moderation.

First and foremost, the guiding rule of heartburn and GERD is to avoid overeating. This will also apply to milk, even if it is skim or non-fat, cottage cheese, cheese, yoghurt, and other dairy products that are considered safe to take.