A new study found that acid reflux is on the rise and it is likely due to the growing obesity rates. The findings indicated that over the last decade, the weekly incidence of symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), such as heart burn and acid reflux (when stomach contents leak backward into the esophagus), grew by almost 50 percent. The study is the largest that has been conducted about GERD and followed more than 30,000 people for 11 years in Norway. At the start of the study, 11.6 percent of the participants reported having acid reflux weekly, and by the end of the study, 17.1 percent of the people reported weekly symptoms - a 47 percent increase. While the study does not explain why this increase has occurred, the researchers point out that it is most likely because of the increasing rates of obesity in industrialized countries. A troubling consequence of suffering with acid reflux for a long period of time is that it is a risk factor for esophageal cancer, a dangerous and once rare form of cancer that is now becoming more common. It is estimated by the American Cancer Society that nearly 17,000 new cases of esophageal cancer were diagnosed in the U.S. in 2011 and nearly 15,000 Americans died from it.
More
Added on 01/30/2012
by NORTHWEST WEIGHT LOSS SURGERY
No comments have been added yet to this post.
Post a comment - top
Please register to leave a comment.
