Diagnosed With A Hiatal Hernia. Is It Safe To Drink Drinking Gingerale?

Posted on Sun, 23 Dec 2012

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sun, 23 Dec 2012 Answered on

Wed, 9 Jan 2013 Last reviewed on

Question : I have been diagnosed with a hiatal hernia. Taking correct meds including otc zegerid and gaviscon. I want to know if drinking gingerale is bad for this condition. I do not drink any other carbonated drinks.

Answered by Dr. Grzegorz Stanko (14 minutes later)

Hello!

Thank you for the query.

As ginger ale contains a lot of sugars and is carbonated it can make your hiatal hernia worse. Sugars stimulate stomach acid secretion. Moreover carbonation will cause stomach bloating. So for sure it is not the best one for hiatal hernia. However, it should not make it worse in reasonable amounts. Hiatal hernia is not a life threatening condition, so the only problem with this drink is a spectrum of symptoms which it will cause. If you find this drink not causing any bad symptoms, this is you who decides and nothing wrong shouldnt happen.

Hope this will help. Feel free to ask further questions.
Regards.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar