I know that this article is supposed to talk about one of the acid reflux causes, but before we get there, let us first talk about what acid reflux is. In the medical world, this is defined as the acid moving backward and gets into the esophagus. As a result, you end up with what is commonly known as “heartburn”. If you just remember your lessons in high school anatomy class, your esophagus is that hollow tube that connects your mouth and your stomach. As you can just imagine, it is the part in your body that carries the food that you just ate from your mouth and into your stomach.

Symptoms of Acid Reflux

When you have an acid reflux, what do you end up experiencing? First things first since the acid from your stomach is backing up and gets into your esophagus, you will end up tasting it in your mouth. If it is not acid that you taste, it could be digested food.

Another thing that you will experience when you have acid reflux is that you will feel a burning sensation either at your chest or at the throat. This is entirely due to the acid touching the lining of your esophagus or your throat.

So what are the acid reflux causes? For the main part, the reason behind why people develop acid reflux, or more popular called as Gastric Acid reflux Disease or GERD, is multiple. What are these? Here are is one that is very important in the lot.

Weakened Lower Esophageal Sphincter

This is considered as one of the main causes why you can have acid reflux. The lower esophageal sphincter, or LES, is located at the lower end of your esophagus. It is the one that keeps your stomach contents in your stomach and not go back up the esophagus. As a matter of fact, the only time this sphincter opens is when you are swallowing your food. In this way, you let your just eaten food into your stomach for further digestion as well as your saliva.

Normally, the muscle that makes up the LES is active. Simply put, it is constantly contracting and closing the passageway between your esophagus and stomach. You see, even when you are not eating, the sphincter still relaxes to let the saliva you swallowed in. for a few seconds it relaxes and then it contracts again.

So far, there are two reasons why the LES causes you to have acid reflux. One is when it has weak contractions. Simply put, it means that this sphincter is not able to close fully making the backing up of acid or food up your esophagus possible. The other is when your sphincter makes abnormal relaxations. Supposedly, it relaxes at a regular rate when you are not swallowing food. But when it is making abnormal relaxations, also called transient relaxation, then the food or acid content in your stomach is able to slip through the sphincter and back up to your esophagus.

There are a lot acid reflux causes. But of these, the action that your lower esophageal sphincter has is the one that is considered as the most important since it is well- researched based and involves anatomical abnormalities.

More info on Acid Reflux from around the web…

Acid Reflux Causes, Symptoms and Treatments for Acid Reflux | www … – from james sameulAcid RefluxAcid reflux, also known as reflux esophagitis, is an inflammation of the esophagus caused by regurgitation of the contents of the. Getting Rid Of Acid Reflux by Being Familiar with the Symptoms of … – More than a few people that are suffering from repeated heartburn will lose weight or their appetites. It does so because/for the foods they eat will often cause sore burning sensation. If you feel the symptoms of acid reflux, … Benefits and Side Effects of Colon Cleansing | Acid Reflux Disease … – Information On Acid Reflux Disease (0); Food that cause acid reflux (0); Acid reflux disease cure (0); 5 Ways to Care for Yourself During Pregnancy (0); Sleep Apnea And Acid Reflux Symptoms (0); June 4/09 Hildy’s 11th Month B-day and … Eating Disorder Talk » Blog Archive » Chocolate = Acid Reflux – Almost right after I have a chocolate bar, I get acid reflux. While this sucks big time, it also is a huge blessing for my addiction. I just can’t have chocolate all the time. It is what it is and I’m grateful for it. …