Physician alerts on dangers of fruits’ consumption

An Abuja-based General Physician with a private hospital, Dr Godwin Ezeora, has warned that citrus fruits, tomato, chocolate, mint and garlic could be dangerous to the human system.

He told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja that these food items are risk factors for acid reflux disease, which is characterised by burning pain or discomfort in the abdomen or chest and sour taste in the throat or mouth.

However, he acknowledged that the fruits are valuable to the body as they enhance immune system and strengthen the body.

Ezeora described the resultant abnormality as hiatal hernia, saying it could lead to ARD.

He explained that normally, the diaphragm helps keep acid in our stomach but that having hiatal hernia could make the acid move up into the esophagus leading to acid reflux disease.

“At the entrance to your stomach is a valve, which is a ring of muscle called the lower esophageal sphincter (LES). Normally, the LES closes as soon as food passes through it.”

“If the LES doesn’t close all the way or if it opens too often, acid produced by your stomach can move up into your esophagus and can cause chest pain called heartburn,” he said.

Ezeora said the other symptoms of ARD include bloating, bloody or black stools or vomiting of blood, burping, weight loss for no known reason, dry cough and hoarseness, or chronic sore throat.

“Barium swallow (esophagram) can check for ulcers or a narrowing of the esophagus, you first swallow a solution to help structures show up on an X-ray.

“Esophageal manometry can check the function of the esophagus and lower esophageal sphincter, also endoscopy can check for problems in your esophagus or stomach,” he added.

He said that lifestyle changes combined with over-the-counter medications are all that was needed to control the symptoms of ARD.

The exepert said that: “If medications don’t completely resolve symptoms of the disease and the symptoms are severely interfering with your life, your doctor could recommend surgery.”