Dietary approaches to stop hypertension (DASH)-style diet in association with gastroesophageal reflux disease in adolescents

BACKGROUND: Dietary patterns and food items have been associated with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) risk and they have led to conflicting findings. The aim of this study was to determine the association between a dietary approach to stop hypertension (DASH)-style diet with the risk of GERD and its symptoms in adolescents. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional. METHODS: This study was performed on 5,141 adolescents aged between 13 and 14 years. Dietary intake was evaluated using a food frequency method. The diagnosis of GERD was done by using a six-item GERD questionnaire that asked about GERD symptoms. A binary logistic regression was used to assess the association between the DASH-style diet score and GERD and its symptoms in crude and multivariable-adjusted models. RESULTS: Our findings revealed that after adjustment for all confounding variables, the adolescents with the highest adherence to the DASH-style diet had a lower chance of developing GERD [odds ratio (OR) = 0.50; 95%CI 0.33–0.75, P(trend)< 0.001)], reflux (OR = 0.42; 95%CI 0.25–0.71, P(trend)=0.001), nausea (OR = 0.59; 95% CI:0.32–1.08, P(trend)=0.05) and stomach pain (OR = 0.69; 95%CI 0.49–0.98, P (trend)=0.03) compared to those with the lowest adherence. Similar results were found for odds of GERD among boys, and the total population (OR = 0.37; 95%CI: 0.18–0.73, P(trend)=0.002, OR = 0.51; 95%CI: 0.34–0.77, P (trend)<0.0, respectively). CONCLUSION: The current study revealed that adherence to a DASH-style diet might protect against GERD and its symptoms including, reflux, nausea, and stomach pain in adolescents. Further prospective research is needed to confirm these findings. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-023-15225-6.