Possible Remedy for Excessive Belching: Singing

The disorder itself is unusual enough: It causes people to burp excessively. Now a new study suggests that a potential remedy is similarly unusual: singing. Live Science reports on the small study out of China on what is formally known as supragastric belching. Researchers tested "singing therapy" on 72 people with the rare condition, in which air is quickly sucked into and expelled from the esophagus rather than the stomach. Half the group sang short Chinese folk songs three times a day for a week; the others practiced standard belly-breathing exercises.

After seven days, about 72% of the singers had cut their belch frequency by at least half, compared with 39% in the breathing group, the scientists report in the journal Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology. The edge mostly held a month later. Patients who sang also reported a bigger bump in quality of life, according to a release from the American Gastroenterological Association. But one outside expert says the trial lacked key diagnostic tests and didn't address the mental triggers behind the behavior, calling for more rigorous research.