The following is a summary of “Impact of Intermittent Fasting on Patients With Suspected Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease,” published in the November 2023 issue of Gastroenterology by Jiang, et al.

For a study, researchers sought to look into what happened in the short term when people who might have gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) were only allowed to eat at certain times. GERD sufferers are often told to change their lifestyle, but it’s not clear what part food plays in the condition. Intermittent fasting has been shown to help people lose weight, deal with inflammatory diseases, and change chemicals in the gut. 

It’s famous in the media. Patients who were sent for 96 hours of continuous wireless pH monitoring off of a proton pump inhibitor to look into GERD symptoms were checked to see if they were eligible. Patients were told to stick to their normal diet for the first two days of pH tracking. For the next two days, they were told to switch to an intermittent fasting schedule (16 hours of fasting in a row and 8 hours of eating). We collected and studied objective measures of bad reflux and GERD symptoms. A total of 25 people were looked at. Only 9 out of 25 people (36%) fully followed the intermittent fasting plan. However, 21 out of 25 people (84%) showed at least some compliance. 

While fasting, the average amount of time spent in acid was 3.5%, while it was 4.3% when not fasting. There was a 0.64 decrease in acid exposure time (95% CI: −2.32, 1.05). This was linked to intermittent fasting. Heartburn and reflux scores for people with GERD went down during intermittent fasting (14.3 vs. 9.9; difference of −4.46, 95% CI: −7.6–−1.32). At first, it may be hard for patients to stick to a time-restricted eating plan. There is only weak statistical proof that irregular fasting lowers acid intake by a small amount. Their research shows that both vomiting and heartburn get better with short-term intermittent fasting.

Source: ournals.lww.com/jcge/abstract/2023/11000/the_impact_of_intermittent_fasting_on_patients.6.aspx