A food allergy is no worse than other allergies at increasing the risk of stomach reflux in adults, according to findings presented here this week at the annual scientific meeting of the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology. This runs counter to what has been seen in children.

Stomach reflux, also known as gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), occurs when stomach juices leak back into the esophagus. Although the most common symptom of GERD is heartburn, if untreated and severe, the disease can lead to esophagus cancer.

“There seemed to be an association between food allergy and GERD in the patients I was seeing,” senior author Dr. Jacquelynne P. Corey, from the University of Chicago, told Reuters Health. And, “although the association has been reported in children, when I searched the literature, I found almost nothing documenting its existence in adults.”

This prompted the study, which involved a review of the medical charts for 60 patients with allergy - 30 with food allergy and 30 with other types. Specifically, the researchers looked for any reference to GERD, heartburn, acid regurgitation or ulcers.

Data from adults in a similar geographic location were used to estimate the rate of GERD in the general population. This amounted to 20 percent.

About 27 percent of patients with a food allergy had a reflux disorder. This rate was actually lower than the rate seen in patients with other types of allergy - 40 percent.

When all of the allergy patients were combined, their rate of reflux disease was higher than that of the general population. Statistical analysis showed that the rate in the food allergy group was not significantly higher than the rate in the general population, whereas the rate in the non-food allergy group was.

Corey concluded that a larger study is required to rule out an association between food allergy and GERD in adults. In particular, she added, “I think the finding that the (combined allergy group) was different from the general population is an important observation and points to comparisons with the pediatric disease.”