Heartburn and chest pain are the most common symptoms of acid reflux. Many foods and drinks can trigger the symptoms, while others help to relieve them.
While fat, sugar, and red meat are common trigger foods, most vegetables are considered to be reflux safe. However, there are a few vegetables that are best to be avoided by people with acid reflux or GERD.
Let’s see which vegetable juices usually help with reflux symptoms and which should be avoided.
Which vegetable juices relieve acid reflux?
While this depends on the vegetable, most vegetable juices are either neutral or actually help with reflux symptoms. This is because most vegetables are low in fat and sugar and are not particularly acidic.
Let’s see how some of the more common vegetable juices affect heartburn:
- Carrot juice: Carrot juice is considered to be a safe drink even for people with acid reflux. Like all root vegetables, carrot is a good source of alkali, so it might help reducing stomach acid levels.
- Beet juice: Another root vegetable. Beet is somewhat acidic, but not too much, so it is considered safe. Its high fiber content might actually help reflux symptoms.
- Broccoli juice: Broccoli is also safe for most people. However, if you are prone to gas and indigestion, this might not be your drink, as it may produce gas, triggering or worsening reflux.
- Cucumber juice: Cucumber or pickle juice is another juice that people with reflux can consume. Because cucumber contains a lot of water, it might actually help reflux problems.
- White pumpkin juice: Ayurveda recommends it for acidity. According to this site, half a cup twice a day can help with acidity.
- Kale juice: Another alkaline juice, therefore it is considered to be reflux-safe.
- Spinach juice: Besides the many health benefits, spinach juice has low acid content, therefore it usually doesn’t cause reflux problems.
- Aloe vera juice: According to this study, aloe vera helps to relieve reflux symptoms, so it can be consumed even if you have acid reflux.
Which vegetable juices should be avoided?
Even though most vegetable juices are safe for people with acid reflux, there are some exceptions.
The most important exceptions are tomato and onion, which are considered to be acidic and can cause heartburn to some people:
- Tomato juice: Might trigger reflux. As mentioned above, tomatoes can increase stomach acid levels which might cause reflux symptoms for some.
- Onion juice: Another no-no if you have reflux. While onion juice has many health benefits, as this study points out, it can trigger heartburn.
- Ginger juice: Ginger in small amounts – four grams, a bit less than an eighth of a cup – might actually help with heartburn, however, consuming more might actually cause or worsen heartburn.
Final thoughts
Vegetable juices can be an important part of any healthy diet. They not only contain a lot of vitamins, antioxidants, and trace elements important for our body, but they are also low in fat and sugar.
Most vegetable juices are considered to be safe for people with acid reflux, the most important exception is tomato.
However, since we all react differently to the same drinks and foods, certain vegetables might trigger symptoms for some people.
Another reason that might cause abdominal or chest pain after drinking vegetable juices is an allergic reaction. There are people allergic to beans, spinach, pumpkin, etc.
However, in case of allergic reactions, there are usually – but not always – other symptoms (e.g. skin problems) that rule out acid reflux.
