title: The influence of the speed of food intake on multichannel impedance in patients with gastro-oesophageal reflux disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There is a general belief that gastro-oesophageal reflux increases after meals and especially following a rapid intake.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the impact of rapid vs. slow food intake on gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD) patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-six GORD patients with heartburn and / or acid regurgitation once a week or more often common were included in this study. Participants were asked to eat the same standard meal within either 5 or 30 minutes under observation in a random order on 2 consecutive days. A total of 28 hours of recording were obtained by intraoesophageal impedance pH and number of liquid and mixed reflux episodes within 3 hours of the slow- and fast-eating postprandial periods were calculated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  While all patients defined GORD symptoms, 10 (21.7%) had pathological 24-h intraoesophageal impedance measurement, 15 (32.6%) had pathological DeMeester and 21.7% had erosive oesophagitis. No difference has been shown according to the eating speed when all reflux episodes were taken together (754 vs. 733). Speed of food intake also did not have an impact on patients with normal vs. pathological 24-h intraoesophageal impedance or erosive vs. non-erosive. During the first postprandial hour, approximately half of the reflux events were non-acid, compared to 34.2% during the second hour and 26.8% during the third hour (p < 0.001). The number of acid reflux episodes was significantly higher than non-acid reflux especially during the second and third hours and in total for 3 hours.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This first study addressing the effect of eating speed on reflux episodes in GORD patients did not support the general belief that reflux increases following fast eating. Acid and non-acid reflux were similar at the first postprandial hour, then acid reflux episodes were predominantly higher, which implicate the importance of acid pockets.
authors.affiliation: Ege University School of Medicine, Sect Gastroenterology & Ege Reflux Study Group, Izmir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Serhat
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bor
authors.affiliation: Karsiyaka Manucipality Hospital, Gastroenterology, Izmir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Berna
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bayrakci
authors.affiliation: Baskent University, Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Askin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Erdogan
authors.affiliation: Ege University School of Medicine, Sect Gastroenterology & Ege Reflux Study Group, Izmir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Esra
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Yildirim
authors.affiliation: Ege University School of Medicine, Sect Gastroenterology & Ege Reflux Study Group, Izmir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Rukiye
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vardar
keywords: Eating; MII; food habits; gastro-oesophageal reflux; oesophageal pH monitoring; proton-pump inhibitors