Gastroesophageal Reflux (and diet)

My adult son with CdLS’s daily diet for years has been oatmeal mixed with scrambled egg for breakfast; Lunch – two bananas, half melon or peaches/nectarines (3); Dinner-mashed potatoes with greens mixed in. He also gets two bottles of milk a day and cup or two of apple or other juice. We have taken him off all citrus. Is there anything wrong with this diet, in particular might the fresh fruit only be aggravating his reflux? He is often in pain and distress for unknown reasons and is arching back and swallowing repeatedly suggests reflux. He’s doing better on Prilosec, but we wanted to check about his diet.

I am glad you made the decision to do away with citrus and tomato products that can aggravate reflux. Also not mentioned was the milk…usually lowfat or fat free milk and milk products are tolerated much better than whole milk.

To answer your question about fruits…fruits are the one food item that in any text you read it will describe it as “try as tolerated” because many people are fine with fruit but it also can cause distress in some. Bananas should be okay. It would be the apple juice, peach, nectarine, etc. that I would question on an empty stomach. If another protein food or starch were added to this meal, it may be okay. If you are questioning the fruit, I would suggest trying something different for that meal that he may eat and seeing if there is a difference in his behavior.

JR /TK 7-13-10