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If you have ever complained about indigestion, chances are someone told you to stay away from spicy foods. Although certain patients with chronic reflux may find that a hot spicy stew makes symptoms worse, others have a different reaction. We don’t know quite why, but several readers say it’s helpful to eat hot peppers for heartburn.
Munching Hot Peppers–for Heartburn:
Q. I grow hot peppers, ferment them, and make hot sauce. I also eat a couple of Thai chiles a day. They have completely cured my heartburn!
I used to eat Tums like crazy and take heartburn medication. I couldn’t go without it.
Now I’m heartburn-free. It took me a little while to get used to the capsaicin burn, but now I’m a beast!
A. It comes as a huge shock to both patients and physicians to learn that spicy food might not be the enemy of heartburn. Although many individuals cannot tolerate the burn from hot peppers, others, like you, seem to benefit. One study from Thailand suggested that regular consumption of hot peppers might help control symptoms of reflux (Journal of Neurogastroenterology and Motility, April, 2010)
More recently a paper presented at the 2020 Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association reviewed research on the cardiovascular effects of hot peppers. Over 500,000 participants were involved in the four studies. The authors report that pepper heads like you had less cardiovascular disease and were 23 percent less likely to die of cancer.
For people who cannot tolerate eating spicy peppers for heartburn, however, our eGuide to Overcoming Digestive Disorders may be helpful. In it we discuss nondrug options, including chile peppers, and OTC treatments for indigestion.
Jalapeño Peppers Helped Reader Get Off PPIs:
Q. I was on reflux drugs like omeprazole (PPIs) for over ten years and even had surgery for severe reflux. I was determined to get off the PPIs, so I started drinking ginger tea, eating crystallized ginger when acute pain hit, snacking on several almonds every few hours, and taking a teaspoon of honey at night before bed. It definitely helped ease the symptoms but did not eliminate the heartburn.
Feeling discouraged, I ate some jalapeño-topped snacks even though my doctor had warned me to avoid anything hot. My reflux is now kept in check by jalapeños every few days without needing anything else! The reflux pain only returns if I go a week without eating any jalapeños.
I have been PPI-free for over 18 months now and feel so much better. Why would jalapeños make such a difference so quickly? The pain eases within an hour of eating them and lasts for several days.
A. Capsaicin (the hot stuff in jalapeño peppers) may be protective for the stomach lining (Journal of Physiology, Jan-Dec, 2001). Although some people experience discomfort when they eat hot peppers, regular use appears to decrease reflux symptoms (Journal of Neurogastroenterology and Motility, April, 2010). This may be related to the way regular use of capsaicin cream on the skin can reduce pain, by depleting the nerves of substance P that transmits pain.
Another Testimonial on Peppers for Heartburn:
Q. After reading comments regarding the hot pepper remedy for heartburn at PeoplesPharmacy.com, the scientist in me couldn’t resist giving it a try. For several years I have taken omeprazole, ranitidine or antacids to combat occasional acid reflux, especially after a large or fatty supper.
Nine days ago, as an experiment, I began adding hot peppers to my supper meals–a grilled hamburger patty with a bunch of onions and some sliced cayenne peppers. Although I was anxious the first night, I had no heartburn and needed no medicine. I have been adding hot peppers to scrambled eggs, meat dishes, macaroni and cheese and fried fish without problems.
My mouth burns from the peppers but I like that sensation, and it goes away shortly. Still no heartburn, even when I eat late, which used to guarantee a maximum-strength antacid about 1:00 am.
This morning I had fried eggs (and peppers), bacon and biscuits. Without peppers, this would usually cause me trouble by 10:00 but today, nada. I haven’t given pizza and beer a try yet, but I plan to.
I will have to verify this by going off the peppers to see if the heartburn returns, but right now I’m enjoying this too much to go back. This is a continuing experiment on myself.
A. We agree that hot peppers seem like an improbable remedy for heartburn, but there is some scientific support. You can attribute your success, at least in part, to your continued use of hot peppers for heartburn. According to scientists in Taiwan, a single exposure to capsaicin, the compound that makes chile peppers hot, can burn (World Journal of Gastroenterology, Dec. 7, 2016).
Repeated exposure, though, eases symptoms:
“Acute esophageal exposure to capsaicin enhances heartburn sensation and promotes secondary peristalsis in gastroesophageal reflux disease, but repetitive capsaicin infusion reverses these effects.”
Douglas
For me, hot chili sauce and cayenne pepper with a little water stop GERD.
Lance
I suffer from bouts of major heartburn. There’s a particular Korean beef vegetable soup I like that is known to have high amounts of ground red pepper semi-melted in hot sesame oil. Quite delicious if you have the tolerance for medium spicy food. Depending on the type of red ground pepper used, it can be mild to very spicy. Anyway, I’ve noticed that everytime I eat the soup made at home with a good amount of red pepper in it I suffer no heartburn, no matter how full I am.
That’s why I searched Google to see if red pepper has antacid properties and stumbled on this site. I think the hot pepper ingredient, capsaicin, really does the trick in holding back acid production. I’m also going to try other peppers, like the other commenter mentioned. I would rather eat spicy food than take Prevacid. BTW, the name of that Korean soup dish is called Yook-gae-jang.
Zanne
Bland tomato sauce on pasta gives me heartburn, but adding some crushed red pepper and garlic stops that. Also, I always add a large slice of pickled jalapeno to hamburgers, no reflux or heartburn. I have Crohn’s, but chilies actually help. Bland, sweet foods give me problems, but not the “hot stuff.”
It would be interesting to know if people who regularly use chilies have a lower incidence of reflux etc.
M.
San Francisco
This must be the biggest conspiracy of the medical and pharmaceutical industry—telling people that hot peppers, hot sauce, and spicy foods will damage your stomach and health. In reality those tiny green chili peppers that you thought were so dangerous actually prevent gastro-reflux! I’ve been suffering from GERD for years also (as well as an embarrassing case of ani-pruria, a.k.a. “itchy butt”).
After coming across an article about the benefits of spicy food, I went back to indulging my passion for all things spicy. After a week the GERD (and ani-pruri) has cleared up. The effect was just about instantaneous. I’ve also read that spicy food can help relieve hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid). This is amazing. Why take cancer-causing drugs to control GERD or stimulate your thyroid when you can just eat chili peppers?!
Bernie
Ditto for me!!! Pretty much anything hot eases my heartburn and indigestion. Hot chips, nachos and jalapeños, hot sauce, hot sausages, cayenne, etc.
Bread products or coffee seem to trigger the symptoms for me.
Lisa
Nc
What kind of hot sauce is best to try for acid reflux?
Rose
19053
I use sauce the kind you use on chips. Works wonders.
Ronnie
Very good question, is it just relieving the pain rather than actually preventing or countering the harmful acid effects. I am not a medical person but I strongly suspect that it is doing more than acting as a pain killer. Reason for this is that the sensations caused by the chilli peppers on sensitive parts of your body ( at least on the outside ) last for between five minutes and twenty minutes ( eg the stinging effect on your face, eyes, or genitallia, if you made the mistake of a toilet trip after handling hot peppers ) The beneficial effects of the Chilli peppers to counter acid however lasts for many hours, if not SE real days. Furthermore, I have noticed that reflux, when the acid stomach contents come up through your innards into your mouth when you are lying down, almost never happens to me when I have been taking peppers, so from a layman,s perspective, it would at least seem that it is doing more than acting as a pain killer.
Ronnie
You have obviously never been doubled up in discomfort with burning acid eating at your asophigus, forcing its way through it with pain. If you find your life plagued by such agony, you would be rather agitated by someone telling you that it’s perfectly normal, because acid is required for digestion.
Ronnie
Phillipines
The reply function on this website does not seem to work. How frustrating. The person named Ernie who commented ” Don’t kid yourself, chilli peppers causes acid reflux ” is wrong. I have suffered from chronic acid indigestion all my life and am now completely of all medication since eating red hot chilli peppers every day. It is a better prevention to heartburn than an instant relief cure, but even when I now occasionally get acid problems from eating foods that used to have me doubled up in pain, after a few hours, it disappears without taking medication. For me, chill peppers fix the problem better than any medication devised by mankind. Like many people I am also living proof!
Earnie
NM
Don’t ‘swallow’ these stories, hot peppers CAUSE acid reflux!
Terry Graedon
Peppers can cause reflux for some people, but others find them helpful. We are all different.
Glen
Colorado
Have you ever eaten hot peppers in something other that a goulash of other food that is probably causing the acid reflux? I have never, ever had stomach problems from hot peppers although I’ve had some interesting BM’s.
Don
Colorado
I found that taking a Jalapeno pepper cutting it in half length wise and stuffing it with Pimento Cheese spread and eating one half at bed time has nearly elemenated my acid stomach problems. Who would have guessed.
Lili
Sunshine State
I was prescribed a biophosphanate (ACTONEL) for osteopenia by my GYN. I was on this medication for 2.5 years. I had trouble swallowing and eventually developed GERD. This was in 2005. Today is August 5, 2015 and I have been trying to deal with all the side effects of the biophosphanate for 10 years. Along the way I lost my voice and went to see the ENT. My gums receded so badly my dentist referred me to a periodontist. I’ve been under periodontal care, every three months for 8 years. The ENT referred me to a gastroenterologist for GERD issues. I’m allergic to all the meds that were prescribed. About a year ago I made a recipe with jalapenos (clearly not recommended for anyone with GERD). I don’t know how or why the capsaicin in the little green jalapenos can make such a difference and I cannot find any helpful information online (is Big Pharma blocking it by any chance – the same Big Pharma that told my GYN I “needed” biophosphanates) – I no longer have a raspy voice or intestinal issues, I’m not totally exhausted from taking prescribed meds like ACIPHEX and I feel like I’m slowly getting my life back. It’s taken me 10 years to get to this point. The jalapeno costs pennies at any grocery store, not hundreds of dollars for a brand name drug I cannot afford that doesn’t make me feel good anyway. I don’t know why chopping up the little jalapeno into my food works but it does and it has changed my life. It would be nice to have some honesty from researchers on this topic – many of us suffer needlessly. We’re just the “little people” trying to make it through this world. It would be nice if someone would help us out.
Kara
I have suffered from acid reflux since I had my gallbladder removed in 2008. I tried the acid-blocker Zegerid, and it made me feel angry. I have since been searching for natural remedies. By chance, I tried a Thai food curry made with red and green peppers, and it miraculously helped my GERD! I do have to stay away from ginger and peppermint, too much caffeine, too much sugar, pastries, and high-fat foods. It also helps to eat dinner early and to drink plenty of water. I also eat a stick of celery before bedtime (I dip it in apple cider vinegar).
Helen
Hillsboro, OR
Plane almonds work for me. Also, if I avoid High fructose corn syrup I’m less likely to get heartburn. That additive didn’t start bothering me until I was in my late 40’s. Regular sugar doesn’t bother me but I’m sure to get heartburn if I eat or drink something with HFCs in it.
Ronnie Pilkington
Not too sure what solution you are suggesting in countering unbearable discomfort and agony caused by this acid.
Ronnie Pilkington
Thai food of the type that has virtually no fat and is loaded with Chili Peppers has worked best for me. Small food portions of the type that you get from local Thai street food vendors, with boiled rice. The food that is presented usually cold in stainless steel trays, not the stuff from fancy restaurants aimed at tourists.
Worst things I have found for creating heartburn include bread, especially very new fresh bread, and worst of all, soft dough type pastries. Avoid soft pastries at all costs. Also fried mackerel can be bad, although I have found that heartburn usually tends to go in cycles that can last for months.
When it is bad, virtually any food stuff will result in heartburn. The thing I find rather annoying is the constant comments I have received from people that I should go and see my GP, as if he will have some magical cure!
SheriL
Hello, my acid reflux was so severe that I was on four prescriptioiacids a day. It became so bad that I could not sleep more than one hour at a time. When I did sleep, the acid reflux gave me a bad headache upon waking.
But then I ate some Thai hot sauce. I thought the hot sauce pain would be better than the constant reflux but to my surprise, the reflux went away!
I now consume about 4 oz of the spicy hot sauce a day to keep the acid reflux away! I feel great now! I don’t need the anti acids any longer and all my stomach pain is gone!
My 80 year old dad told me vinegar would cute it but I ignored him because that sounded counterintuitive but he was so right. I wish I would have listened before the acid reflux hurt my esophagus! But my dr says things are healing now & he cannot believe how the peppers cured it!
John
I have mentioned cayenne tincture in a previous post. It’s important to keep the tincture in your mouth long enough to stimulate your salivary glands. This signals digestion to occur in your stomach.
Beth
Has anyone tried the almonds covered in wasabi for heartburn?
Michele M.
I love and swear by DGL tablets available online and some nutritional centers. Personally prefer the chocolate flavored. One three times a day. Cost about $8.00/month.
Vinegar, cayenne pepper also work for me. Also eating small meals after a full glass of water and staying away from my trigger foods. Being aware helps most. Our bodies teach us if we pay attention.
Please find another way than PPI’s — not healthy for digestion, good acid kills bad bacteria in gut, many now linked to bone weakness, very expensive in USA
and addictive.
MJH
I highly recommend eating according to your blood chemistry. Read Eating 4 Your Type and Cooking 4 Your Type. Available online and often found in used book stores. Eating and avoiding the foods listed in the Beneficial, Neutral, and Avoid lists for my blood type has helped stop almost all the gastric problems I had from sore tongue all the way down to hemorrhoids. Now I know from PP that chocolate before bed can relax the muscle between esophagus and stomach, I think I’ve found the last clue to complete healing.
The author has lots of stuff to sell on his 4 your type web page, which I ignore, since I no longer require massive doses of vitamins or any extra nutritionals. But his main thesis is amazing and helpful. I’d like to hear the author on PP sometime.
LeeAnn
My husband read that following a gluten free diet helps people with acid reflux. I have been on PPI for many years and still struggled with severe heartburn. My specialist advised to double the dosage of the PPI (2 zegerid). I was uncomfortable with this since I also struggle with osteoporosis.
I have been gluten free for three weeks now and there has been an incredible change! Very rarely do I have heartburn (although I still take 1 Zegerid per day). I sleep through the night and am no longer chewing gum constantly to relieve the symptoms.
Talked to the Nurse at my Dr’s Practice and she said she was not surprised I was doing better.
R G
What are jalapeno topped snacks?
Furst M.
Why don’t people and their doctors realize that acid is required for proper digestion? Should never completely block the natural acid flow.
Thanks
LAB
I’ve also had a problem with acid reflux for several years, and had two surgeries to fix it (the first one failed within a year.) I always hoped I could do without the drugs, so I’ve been researching online for a while. There are a lot of remedies, but what worked very well for me: first, no more morning coffee – I think on an empty stomach it created too much acid. Now I drink tea in the mornings, no problem. I do drink a cup of coffee later in the day, tho.
The other thing is raw cider vinegar. After work I drink a couple of glasses of water and pour in a little bit of the vinegar. It actually tastes good (tart) when you get used to it. I know it is putting some acid in my stomach, but now I do not have to take any pill.
Joan
be interested in any follow up to this. seems counter intuitive.
JK
Exactly what my husband used to do when he was having stomach problems. Really didn’t have to be jalapenos, just hot Mexican food and salsa.
GS
It may be reducing the PAIN but isn’t the acid still coming up and thus creating the scarring of the esophageal lining which may lead to Barrett’s Disease and eventually cancer?
John
I have had similar results with cayenne tincture. The recipe to make it is on the internet.