13 Surprising Home Remedies for Acid Reflux By Mother Nature Network (mnn.com) | Healthy Living – Thu, May 8, 2014 12:37 PM EDT Another reason to eat an apple a day: Red Delicious apples can help alleviate heartburn. Acid reflux or GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease), which is a more scientific way to describe heartburn, affects 50 percent of Americans. While heartburn suggests you just ate a pizza that bothered you, GERD is when food, acid contents, bilious material or pancreatic juices travel back up into your esophagus, causing trouble more than twice a week, says Patricia Raymond, a gastroenterologist in Chesapeake, Va. The acid solution that splashes up into the esophagus causes inflammation, irritation and scarring, which can narrow the circumference of the esophagus. Symptoms include hoarseness, food getting stuck, burning , irritation, nausea, coughing, wheezing, asthma symptoms and eroded tooth enamel . It also increases your