EXTRA POUNDS, SMOKING CONFIRMED GERD RISKS
A new study in identical twins confirms that excess weight and
cigarette smoking increase the risk of gastroesophageal reflux
disease (GERD).
While strenuous physical activity on the job also increases GERD
risk, leisure-time exercise decreases the risk, Dr. Zongli Zheng
and colleagues from the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm,
report in the medical journal Gastroenterology.
A number of previous studies have tied these factors to GERD,
but the current investigation is the first to include identical
twins. Because identical twins have exactly the same genetic
make-up, this allowed the researchers to separate the effects of
genetics from environmental factors.
