Mehta RS, et al. – Because patients are often encouraged to stop drinking coffee, tea, and/or soda to reduce symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux (GER), such as heartburn or regurgitation, researchers performed a prospective study to ascertain the validity of these recommendations. They analyzed data from the Nurses’ Health Study II, which included 48,308 women aged 42–62 years who were free of regular GER symptoms, without cancer, and not taking proton pump inhibitors or H2 receptor agonists. Symptoms of GER once or more per week occurred in 7,961 women during 262,641 person-years of follow up. The analysis revealed an association of coffee, tea, or soda intake with increased risk of GER symptoms. However, no correlation was noted between the consumption of water, juice, or milk with GER symptoms. Importantly, the risk of GER symptoms reduced in correlation with drinking water vs coffee, tea, or soda.