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Does gastric acid can aggravate asthma symptoms? At first glance unrelated, because the disorder happen in the airways of asthma while the reflux of stomach acid occurs in the digestive tract. However, in some cases, asthma can get worse when stomach acid rises into the esophagus.

Increase in acid reflux or stomach contents into the esophagus occurs when the valve connecting the stomach to the esophagus does not close completely. This condition is characterized by pain or burning in your chest and throat.

Because the esophagus lies close to the throat which an airway, it makes sense if the rise of stomach acid can affect asthma. Moreover, advancements in data Allergy and Asthma Care (AAAC) showed 50-80 percent of the 15 million asthma sufferers in the United States also had a history of reflux.

"Because the symptoms of gastric acid reflux is chest pain and heat in the throat, rarely would have thought if an asthma attack also could indicate reflux of stomach acid," said Debra Peterson, a medical practitioner in Minnesotta AAAC, the United States.

Peterson said the experts can not be sure how they can influence each other, because until now many studies about it are still being developed. However, as quoted by FoxNews, Sunday (11/21/2010), some of these allegations are believed to be able to explain.

Peterson added, asthma which triggered by stomach acid is usually characterized by recurrence at irregular eating patterns, after drinking alcohol and when lying down. Not infrequently he would give the drug class of proton pump inhibitors ulcer in patients to treat this kind of asthma.

Meanwhile, to ensure connection of asthma and gastric acid, scientists from Duke University in North Carolina recently inject acid into the stomach of rats, as a result, elevated levels of gastric acid shown to reduce the immune system so many mice that have asthma.