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Causes
By Mayo Clinic staff
Heartburn occurs when stomach acid backs up into your esophagus.
Normally when you swallow, your lower esophageal sphincter — a circular band of muscle around the bottom part of your esophagus — relaxes to allow food and liquid to flow down into your stomach. Then it closes again.
However, if the lower esophageal sphincter relaxes abnormally or weakens, stomach acid can flow back up into your esophagus, causing heartburn. The acid backup is worse when you're bent over or lying down.
- Heart burn. American Gastroenterological Society. http://www.gastro.org/wmspage.cfm?parm1=848. Accessed April 17, 2009.
- Ferri FF. Ferri's Clinical Advisor 2009: Instant Diagnosis and Treatment. Philadelphia, Pa.: Mosby Elsevier; 2009:1232.
- Eat right to avoid heartburn. American Dietetic Association. http://www.eatright.org/cps/rde/xchg/ada/hs.xsl/home_18578_ENU_HTML.htm. Accessed April 23, 2009.
- Feldman M, et al. Sleisenger & Fordtran's Gastrointestinal and Liver Disease: Pathophysiology, Diagnosis, Management. 8th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2006:115.
- Lee RA. Anxiety. In: Rakel D. Integrative Medicine. 2nd ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2007. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/133303323-7/0/1494/0.html. Accessed April 23, 2009.
