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. 2023 Nov 8;15(22):4725.
doi: 10.3390/nu15224725.

The Role of a Plant-Only (Vegan) Diet in Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease: Online Survey of the Italian General Population

Gianluca Rizzo  1 , Luciana Baroni  2 , Chiara Bonetto  3 , Pierfrancesco Visaggi  4 , Mattia Orazzini  4 , Irene Solinas  4 , Giada Guidi  4 , Jessica Pugliese  4 , Giulia Scaramuzza  4 , Filippo Ovidi  4 , Irene Buselli  4 , Massimo Bellini  4 , Edoardo V Savarino  5 , Nicola de Bortoli  4   6
Affiliations

The Role of a Plant-Only (Vegan) Diet in Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease: Online Survey of the Italian General Population

Gianluca Rizzo et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

The relationship between food and the pathophysiological mechanisms of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is unclear. There are few data on the impact of dietary habits on GERD symptoms and on the incidence of GERD in subjects undergoing plant-based diets. In this study, we investigated the association between diet and GERD, using data collected through an online survey of the Italian general population. In total, 1077 subjects participated in the study. GERD was defined according to the Montreal Consensus. For all subjects age, gender, body mass index (BMI), marital status, education, occupation, alcohol consumption, and smoking habits were recorded. All participants also completed the SF-36 questionnaire on Quality of Life. A total of 402 subjects (37.3%) were vegans and 675 (62.7%) non-vegans. The prevalence of GERD in the total population was 9%. Subjects with GERD-related symptoms recorded a worse quality of life according to SF-36 analysis (p < 0.05 for all dimensions). In multivariate analysis, after adjusting for confounders, participants undergoing a vegan diet had a significantly lower risk of GERD (OR = 0.47, 95% CI 0.28-0.81, p = 0.006). These findings should be taken into account to inform the lifestyle management of GERD.

Keywords: GERD; QoL; Quality of Life; SF-36; gastroesophageal reflux disease; heartburn; lifestyle habits; non-cardiac chest pain; plant-based diet; plant-only diet; regurgitation; vegan diet.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flowchart of participants throughout the study.
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