If you consume just one chocolate/candy bar and cola each day, you are quadrupling the normal level of blood sugar that your body is evolutionarily wired to handle. And acid reflux is just one of the potential consequences.

In a study of overweight people and the effect of diets, Dr John Yudkin noticed that as he reduced the level of sugar in their diets, folk with acid reflux/heartburn experienced less pain and a reduction in symptoms.

Interested to find out more, he took seven healthy men and measured the level of acid their stomachs produced. He then put these men on a high sugar, low grain diet. Within two weeks, there was a 20% increase in acid and pepsin production in the stomachs of his subjects.

The findings were reported in the British Medical Journal, where Yudkin concluded that an excessive amount of sugar (cane sugar, fructose, sucrose), combined with a diet low in starch (whole grain), promotes unusually high stomach acid production and acid reflux.

It was hardly a large, long term study – but nevertheless not to be dismissed – especially if you suffer from acid reflux.

So, back to the candy bar and cola – this kind of sugar hit can cause your blood sugar mechanisms to go crazy. Although acid reflux is often caused by low levels of stomach acid, this and other studies seem to indicate that a reduction in refined sugars can bring much relief – and many other health benefits as a bonus.