Welcome to Nutrition Bites. The no nonsense podcast where you get the truth about food so you can eat what you want and be healthy. I’m your host Maggie and welcome to the series! In July of every year the search term “bloat” peaks on Google - with good reason. The summer uniform of a little less clothing and a little more skin often invokes a sense of self-consciousness about our stomachs. On the menu today, bloating.
While swimsuits have always been a hot weather staple, Gen Z has now made belly-baring crop tops a fashion must. And it’s not just women who bear the brunt of this sartorial choice - crop tops for men are trendier as ever. Welcome to the less fabric but same price club boys. Now I have nothing against the look of crop tops, I mean the Spice Girls were my childhood idols after all. It’s just that wearing one while eating or drinking can be… an uncomfortable experience. While the infamous food baby is a natural, albeit, annoying result from your stomach expanding after a meal, sometimes this is also accompanied by a more painful event: bloating. Bloating is the feeling of tightness, pressure or fullness in your belly. And not only can it cause you to look inflated like a birthday balloon, it can also be incredibly uncomfortable. Bloating is a common experience for just about everyone, so it makes sense why tips on how to #beatthebloat are so prevalent across social media and print. While a lot of the motivation to prevent bloating is driven by vanity, for many it can be an awful experience that disrupts their daily lives, or even a symptom of an underlying health condition. So let’s learn more about bloating, what causes it, and what we can do to manage it.
Boating is a sense of gassiness or fullness in our lower abdominal region. It is caused by excessive gas trapped in our digestive tract. Importantly you actually don’t have to physically look bloated to feel bloated, but often this term gets confused with other natural processes where our belly expands. Here are two common examples. First is regular ol’ abdominal distention aka the look of an inflated stomach simply from natural expansion. Studies show that abdominal distention is lowest as soon as you wake up and naturally increases throughout the day, especially right after a meal. So if you’ve ever been pleasantly surprised at your morning 6 pack, and slightly disappointed by its disappearance come lunch time, rest assured, you’re just being biologically bamboozled like so many of us.
The other body function often mistaken for bloating is water retention. Water, or fluid, retention is swelling or puffiness that results from excessive fluid in tissues around the body. A puffy face post-nap, or swollen-looking stomach during PMS are often related to this. Normally the lymphatic system drains excess fluid back into the bloodstream, but when that isn’t done in a timely manner the build up can cause swelling. Lack of movement, a high salt diet, and hormonal changes are all factors that contribute to this.
Now the reason for bringing up these belly-expanding examples is to help shed a little more light on what we actually mean by the term bloating. Often I see wellness influencers suggesting a low salt diet to combat bloat, but in reality that’s to assist with combatting water retention. I also see people conflate that post-meal inflated belly with bloating, when in reality that’s just hardwired biology we can’t really change. Bloating is really focused on how we feel on the inside, not just how we appear on the outside. So now that we know what bloating is and is not, let’s understand how and why it happens in the first place.
At its core, bloat is the result of excessive gas in the digestive tract. You always have a small volume of gas contained in your digestive system, but when that volume increases it can cause you to burp, fart, cramp or bloat. Gas enters our digestive tract from two sources: either we swallow air, or our gut bacteria produce it during digestion. This latter source is often the primary cause for bloat. Over 90% of our body’s gut bacteria reside in the colon and one of their main jobs is to break down anything that hasn’t been digested in the stomach or small intestine. The process they use to break down and consume this food is fermentation, and a byproduct of this chemical reaction is, you guessed it, gas.
Now our gut bacteria ferment food all day every day, so what happens to cause bloat? Well when nutrients and foods pass through the body undigested it provides the bacteria more material to ferment, which means more gas is produced. Let’s take fibre as an example - the most common non-digestible nutrient we eat. Now much like Goldilocks and the 3 bears, too little or too much fibre is not good. However, instead of the potential consequences faced by a blonde juvenile delinquent committing a B&E, the result of unbalanced fibre intake is a little less extreme. Not eating enough fibre can cause constipation, which gives bacteria more time to ferment the waste residing in the colon. Alternatively, eating too much fibre provides a Crazy Rich Asians style feast for the bacteria. Both scenarios result in excessive gas production.
A related hard-to-digest nutrient found throughout our diets are special compounds called FODMAPs. FODMAP is an acronym that stands for fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and polyols. This grouping covers specific short-chain carbohydrates that are known to be poorly digested by our body. FODMAPs aren’t broken down entirely or absorbed efficiently in the small intestine, meaning many travel to the colon relatively unscathed. Similar to fibre, this makes them prime candidates for fermentation by our bacteria. Additionally, these compounds are also known to absorb and retain water, helping to cause that inflated belly look that often accompanies bloat.
The tricky thing with FODMAPs is that they are found practically everywhere in our diet. Almost like how Australians are found in just about every ski town in Canada. To get an idea of how prevalent FODMAPs are, here is a small sample of some common FODMAP-containing foods: garlic, onion, asparagus, broccoli, cabbage, apples, cherries, mangoes, milk, cheese, barely, wheat, rye, legumes, beans, deli meat, sausages, honey and beer. Now it might seem a little daunting that you probably eat these gas-inducing compounds almost every day, but one thing to keep in mind is that each food contains different types and quantities of FODMAPs, and our own reactions to these compounds are unique. So while some people may bloat after a mango lassi, you could be perfectly OK. That said, it is worth mentioning two specific FODMAPs that are often the most common culprits of bloat. The age old rhyme “beans beans the magical fruit, the more you eat the more you toot”, gets it’s fame thanks to the FODMAP raffinose. This sugar, which is present in beans, legumes, and cruciferous veg like cabbage and broccoli, is kind of legendary for inducing gas production. Lactose is another FODMAP known to cause bloating, particularly when those who are intolerant ingest dairy products . A pain that some of us knowingly endure for that sweet sweet taste of ice cream.
While bloating can be the result of a high-fibre, low-fibre or high-FODMAP meal, sometimes it’s also a symptom of a greater underlying health issue. Many digestive disorders, such as IBS, celiac disease, and histamine intolerance list bloating as a common symptom. Additionally, bacterial infections, like SIBO, which stands for small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, or yeast infections like Candida, can also lead to bloating.
Changes in hormones also contribute to excessive gas production and bloat. The lack of thyroid hormones common in hypothyroidism can cause food to move more slowly through your digestive tract. This leaves more time for bacteria to ferment the food and produce gas. And as many women can attest to, bloating is also a very common occurrence during the menstrual cycle - as if it wasn’t already enough to deal with. After ovulation, oestrogen drops and progesterone rises. And similar to hypothyroidism, this change results in a slower movement of food through the digestive tract. But it doesn’t just stop there. Soon after, oestrogen begins to rise again, which causes fluid retention and helps produce the bloated belly bat signal of PMS. Finally, just as the cycle ends, progesterone decreases, causing an increase in bowel activity which results in diarrhoea and even more bloating. The fun just really never ends.
While the production of gas inside our system is often at the root of bloating, sometimes bloat results from ingesting too much gas. By that I mean: swallowing air. Eating or drinking too quickly, talking while eating, drinking through a straw, chewing on gum, sucking on hard candies and consuming carbonated beverages all introduce additional gas into our tract. If the air reaches as far as our stomach we simply burp it back out. However if the tiny bubbles miraculously make it to our intestines it can also lead to bloat.
Now the final cause of bloat, yes there’s still one more on this never-ending list, is called visceral hypersensitivity. Basically it’s a mix up of signals between your brain and gut which causes the painful feeling of being bloated, even if the actual volume of gas in your system is normal. A real biological blunder if there ever was one.
So to summarize, between unbalanced fibre intake, FODMAPs, digestive disorders, bacterial infections, hormonal changes, eating too quickly, sipping on fizzy drinks, and messed up gut-brain communication, the potential for bloat is as diverse as the cast of Degrassi. Which means that in order to tackle any bloat you personally face, you first have to find your specific root cause. Reflecting on your day’s diet and eating patterns after you experience bloat is crucial to this understanding. Was lunch an unusually fibre-packed, cabbage-forward meal? Did you violently inhale your pasta between video calls? Answering these types of questions can help you start to identify the cause of your bloat. But if it’s hard to pinpoint the exact cause, a low-FODMAP diet may be worth investigating. Keep in mind though that this elimination style diet is difficult and should only be done under the guidance of a health professional. Similarly, anyone experiencing bloat on a regular basis should speak to a health care provider as there could be a more complex underlying cause.
Of course, there are also always going to be sources of bloat that affect us at one point in time. Around 70% of adults will eventually develop lactose intolerance, and so if you’re beginning to notice bloating more than usual, dairy could very well be the issue. You can try to peel back your intake, OR take a lactase pill before indulging in a cheese plate. When it comes to raffinose, experts suggest building up your tolerance to beans, legumes, and cruciferous veg, before you go cuckoo for cabbage. Eating already cooked or fermented versions of these foods, think Kimchi or sauerkraut, will also make it easier for your body to digest. Alternatively if you are super into beans (for some reason) you can also buy an over the counter dietary aide, called Beano, which helps break down raffinose and reduce gas production. Other foods and drinks to limit in your diet are sugar-free gums (which are full of those FODMAP sweeteners), and carbonated beverages. And in general, keep in mind that any big change in your diet may upset the delicate balance of your gut microbiome and cause bloat. So always aim for small changes slowly rather than a quick dietary 180.
Related to diet is how and when we consume our food and drink. Slowing down while you eat, and not racing through the hot gossip download mid-bite, will help to reduce the amount of air you inhale. Similarly, avoiding large meals right before bed, and not laying down while or immediately after eating, will help prevent general indigestion and gas production. Look, I know the temptation of a horizontal cheetos binge is big, but sometimes you have to evaluate if the indulgence is worth it. For the ladies out there also pay attention to when bloat occurs with respect to your menstrual cycle. If it’s a common symptom of your PMS, be extra mindful of your diet during those days and perhaps avoid any big bloat-inducing foods.
Now despite our best efforts, it’s not possible to guarantee a bloat-free life. Fortunately though there are a few things you can do to provide relief when bloat occurs. Specific stretches and yoga poses, like cat cow and child’s pose, can help move gas through the system. Although, this may cause you to fart out the gas build up, so perhaps save these moves for a more private yoga session. Sipping on herbal tea can also help combat digestive issues, and taking an antacid, like Tums or Gaviscon, may also provide quick relief for bloat.
Gas production has long been the butt of many jokes, probably because we’ve been burping, farting, and bloating since the beginning of time. And while diet culture has kind of twisted the term “bloat” to mean fat, it’s really just a normal process that all of us experience. That said, it can be painful, and no one wants to unzip their jeans mid-restaurant meal to provide relief for their gas-filled belly. So if bloating is something that you are interested in preventing, grab a notebook and a detective’s hat, because finding the cause is one heck of an investigation.
That’s been the bite for today. Stay hungry.