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Stomach Gas, Bloating, Flatulence and Indigestion

By Dr. Scott Olson, ND

Remember those days when you could eat anything and it didn't matter? You could stuff anything closely resembling food in your face and never think about it again. For most of us, who are middle-aged, or fast approaching it, those days are gone.

Today, this kind of eating is likely to send a friendly "reminder" wafting into the air a few hours later.

Occasional gas, bloating, flatulence and indigestion can be uncomfortable - both for you and for the people in the room with you - but if it is happening a lot, it may just be a sign from your body that something is going on.

What Is Going On?

In short, what is going on is that your body is becoming less efficient at digestion, and this poor digestion leads to an increase in gas production. There are many reasons for becoming gassy, such as eating foods that don't agree with you, not properly combining foods, or gulping air while you are eating, but the vast majority of gas is produced by bacteria in your gut.¹

The whole story of what is going on is a combination of loss of digestive powers, the bacteria in your gut, and the types of foods you decide to put into your mouth. While it might feel that these changes have occurred quickly, in most people they have happened slowly over time as their bodies change.

Lactose Points the Way

To understand what is happening in your gut as you age, we can take a look at a common type of digestive problem: lactose intolerance. Most people have heard of lactose intolerance, but what is it, exactly?

Lactose is the sugar found in milk. You can tell lactose is a sugar because it has an "ose" ending; other examples are glucose, maltose, fructose, and others. People with lactose intolerance don't have the ability to digest the sugar in milk.

Humans can digest lactose when they are young, but we lose this ability as we grow older. This makes sense: all mammals drink milk from their mother, but then stop as they grow older. Humans are the only ones who try to break this rule.

According to research, the number of people who have lactose intolerance varies by ethnicity. In general, about half the population of the United States are considered lactose intolerant. Lactose intolerance is highest among Asians (almost 100 percent) and Blacks (around 80 percent); at the other end of the spectrum are Scandinavians, who as little as two percent are lactose intolerant².

All babies have the enzyme necessary to digest milk sugar (lactase). As we age, many of us lose this enzyme. As an adult, if you don't have the lactase enzyme and you drink milk or eat milk products, then the sugar from the milk passes through the stomach and small intestine undigested. While you wouldn't normally think undigested sugar is a big deal, it is.

Bacterial Feasts

Undigested sugars are a boon for the bacteria that live in your gut.

Your gut is full of bacteria. The number of bacteria in your gut outnumbers the number of cells in your entire body. There are literally billions of both good and bad bacteria in your gut. In a healthy person, the good and the bad bacteria achieve a balance where there are not too many of the good guys or the bad guys.

When undigested lactose sugar comes down the intestines, bacteria gobble up the sugars. To the bacteria, it is time to party. When food sources (mostly sugars) are plentiful for bacteria, they do what bacteria do best: grow and multiply. When bacteria start multiplying rapidly, they produce gas. Undigested lactose sugar equals gas production.

Bacteria can also produce toxins as they grow and multiply, which can be harmful to the lining of the gut. This can cause diarrhea.

By now you have probably realized that not just lactose, but other sugars can cause the same problem. Any sugar that you don't digest will become a meal for the bacteria in your gut, and any meal for bacteria means an increase in gas production and toxins.

The smell is another story. Not all bacteria that create gas produce a gas that is smelly. The main villains - as far as smell goes – are the bacteria that produce gases that contain sulfur and methane. There is some evidence that it is the harmful bacteria that produce odd smells, but this is not entirely understood.

Don't get the wrong idea about the bacteria in your gut. They are vital to your health and preform many functions such as breaking down complex carbohydrates (fibers), and providing us with vitamins and other nutrients. It's just bad when you start overfeeding the bacteria with sugars and they produce excess gas.

Diminishing Digestive Returns and Bacteria

There is a relationship between digestive ability and the bacteria in your gut.

When we were younger, our digestive powers were at their height, but as we age, they begin to decline. This reduction can cause a few problems. The first issue to surface as a result of this reduction is that many more of the sugars that would normally be digested and absorbed can now pass through your gut undigested; and we now know how this feeds gas-producing bacteria.

The other problem that poor digestion causes is a little more complicated.

Poor digestion, along with food and drug choices, can change where the bacteria in your gut are located. Once again, this doesn't sound like a big deal, but where bacteria are located in your gut can have long-lasting effects on your health and the amount of "room-clearing" gas that exits from your body.

Medical books would have you believe that the majority of bacteria in your gut are found in your colon. In healthy people, this is true. If you don't remember your high school anatomy lessons, the colon makes up the last four to six feet or so of your intestines. In between the colon and the stomach are around twenty-four feet of small intestine. The small intestines are not supposed to have many bacteria in them, but in modern people, they do.

There is a medically recognized syndrome called small bowel bacterial overgrowth syndrome, where the small intestines become overgrown with large amounts of bacteria. This syndrome is much more common than many doctors realize. Bacteria are not dumb - they are going to go and grow where the food is. If there are large amounts of sugars to be found high in the digestive tract, that is where the bacteria are going to go.

Stress, a carbohydrate-rich (sugar) diet, and poor digestion – in addition to the use of antibiotics that can kill off many of the good bacteria – can all contribute to bacteria relocating to the small intestine.

Having bacteria high in our guts means that they are now in competition for our nutrients. Most of the absorption of nutrients and vitamins occurs high in the gut. If bacteria are creating toxins and irritating the gut lining, then there is the potential for malabsorption syndromes such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). High in the gut are also where the bacteria lie in wait for their next sugary snack.

What About Foods That Create Gas, Bloating, and Flatulence?

Yes, there are foods that tend to create gas; some of these are famous for doing so such as beans, cabbage, and others. These foods typically contain a difficult to digest fiber that is perfect food for bacteria. Other foods that create gas are those that contain a large amount of sugars.

Traditional Gas-producing Foods:

• Vegetables: peas, cabbage, onions, broccoli, radishes, and cauliflower.
• Fruits: apples, prunes, bananas, and dried fruit
• Fiber: oatmeal and other grains
• Any large amount of sugar, especially those contained in soda.

The Anti-Gas Action Plan

You can try to avoid the foods that cause gas, but these foods are some of the best foods you can put in your body. Broccoli alone is the subject of over two hundred studies, and is prized for its ability to prevent a wide number of cancers, to act as an antioxidant, and numerous other health benefits. Likewise, cabbage, onions, and oatmeal are full of great nutrients that your body needs.

The best way to avoid digestive gas, bloating and flatulence is to take an integrated approach.

Step One: Drop the Fork and Nix the Soda

First, realize that digestion begins in the mouth. There are digestive enzymes that are released in your mouth as you chew. One of the easiest tricks to chewing your food well is to take your fork and put food in your mouth - then set the fork down on the table until you are done chewing. Most people are picking up their next bite as they are chewing; this creates urgency where you are trying to get the food out of your mouth because the next bite is waiting on the fork. Stop, put your fork down, finish the bite in your mouth, and pick up the fork again.

If you haven't heard the news about how bad soda is yet, then let us tell you: stop drinking soda. According to the 2001 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, soda is the major source of calories in the United States. Soda creates many problems for people who want to be healthy and overwhelms even the best digestive capacities. Drinking soda feeds gas-producing bacteria. Other simple sugars should be eaten in moderation, or if you are really brave, not at all.

Step Two: Make Digestive Enzymes Part of your Regimen

Next, you should give your gut a hand and take digestive enzymes. There is no other single thing you can do that can help keep bacteria in check than taking digestive enzymes with every meal. Digestive enzymes will break down the sugars that you are eating, leaving little left for the bacteria. Make sure that the digestive enzyme is a good combination product that replaces not only the enzymes, but also the hydrochloric acid from your stomach. A good product will have a variety of enzymes that help digest proteins, carbohydrates, and fats.

Step Three: Try a One to Three-Week Colon Cleanse

You should also periodically undergo a colon cleanse. A one- or three- week program helps to rebalance the good and bad bacteria in your body, and also helps to push the bacteria back into the colon where it belongs. A simple colon cleanse can do wonders for reducing gas, this is because returning the colon to a healthier state means that it no longer takes days for food to pass through the colon. A shorter transit time means that there is less time for bacteria to produce gas.

Digestive Relief Is Easy

It is no fun to be the negative center of attention, especially when it is people's noses that point you out. The great news about gas, bloating, and flatulence is that it is easy to make it go away. It takes a little effort on your part, but most people who implement a healthy digestive program are amazed at how good they feel, and are delighted by the loss of excess gas production.

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