You’ll often hear the terms Laryngopharyngeal Reflux Disease and Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease mentioned in reference to acid reflux problems, but what do these terms actually mean? To understand them we must first look at the way our upper digestive canal works.

The esophagus is the tube that food travels along from the mouth to the stomach. There are circular muscles (sphincters) at both the top and bottom ends of the esophagus that help guide food to the stomach in a controlled fashion, stopping your food “going down the wrong way” and the acidic contents in your stomach being regurgitated.

When we use the word ‘reflux’ in relation to stomach and digestive questions, we are referring to the reflux (”flowing back”) of stomach contents. Instead of moving downwards to the stomach, or remaining in it, food and gastric acid move backwards toward the esophagus. This is what is called acid reflux.

Read more about the difference between Laryngopharyngeal Reflux Disease and Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease here

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 10th, 2007 at 10:14 am and is filed under Acid Reflux. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.