According to the studies on acid reflux disease and GERD, more than 80 per cent of sufferers smoke, many of them heavily. That in itself makes a point - as fewer than 30 per cent of those in most developed countries now smoke, there must be a strong link between smoking and acid reflux symptoms.

Smoking is known to seriously affect your body, no matter how healthy you are. It is even worse, if that is possible, for people with GERD, because it irritates the already inflamed esophagus and prevents it healing. It narrows the already compromised circulation to the affected area of esophagus, something you absolutely can't afford to happen, as it increases the risk of a hemorrhage or a perforation from it.

Worst of all, smoking increases the acid production in the stomach and damages the mucosal protective barrier of mucus. In every way, even smoking one or two cigarettes a day will reduce your chances of dealing successfully with heartburn, acid reflux disease and GERD. So if you are a smoker, you must become a non-smoker if you really want to cure your acid reflux or GERD.

So how, exactly, does being a smoker harm you? Tobacco smoke contains carbon monoxide and nicotine. The first poisons the red blood cells, so that they cannot pick up and distribute much-needed oxygen to the organs and tissues, including the heart muscle.

Carbon monoxide-affected red cells (in the 20-a-day smoker, nearly 20 per cent of red cells are carrying carbon monoxide instead of oxygen) are also stiffer than normal, so that they can't bend and flex through the smallest blood vessels. The gas also directly poisons the heart muscle, so that it cannot contract properly and efficiently, thereby delivering a 'double whammy' of damage to it.

Nicotine causes small arteries to narrow, so that the blood flow through them slows. It raises blood cholesterol levels, thickening the blood and promoting degeneration in artery walls. Both nicotine and carbon monoxide encourage the blood to clot, multiplying the risks of coronary thrombosis and stroke.

Add to all this the tars that smoke leaves in the lungs, which further reduce the ability of red cells to pick up oxygen, and the scars and damage to the lungs that always in the end produce chronic bronchitis and sometimes induces cancer, and you have a formula for disaster.

So the first – and biggest – action you can take to help cure your acid reflux disease is to stop smoking.