How To Improve Gut Health and Bloating
Introduction
Many years ago, I remember casually asking a 35-year-old lady how many weeks pregnant she was as soon as she sat down.
Needless to say, she was not impressed, and I learned my lesson ever since.
Bloating is an extremely common symptom which I see daily as a GP and as a functional medicine Dr and gut health specialist.
It usually presents in different ways, from bloating after eating, bloating during periods, bloating in ovulation, bloating after periods, and bloating after exercise.
Bloating can come on slowly over time or in some cases suddenly, usually causing much distress, especially in women who crave a flat tummy.
In this blog, we will define what bloating is, what is gut health, what causes bloating, and finally bloating relief or bloating cure.
What is Bloating?
Bloating is a condition where your abdomen becomes puffy from the presence of excess gas.
Before we proceed it is important to note that accumulation of fluid in the abdomen can present like bloating.
Fluid in the abdomen could potentially signal an underlying heart condition, gynaecological condition or more serious pathology.
I therefore recommend you seek medical attention if you are bloated, just in case.
In this blog, however, we are addressing bloating from poor gut health, which although not life-threatening, is more chronic and debilitating.
What is Gut Health?
There has been a rise in the popularity of the term gut health over the last few years.
You might have seen food adverts on TV or specifically labelled foods in supermarkets as being good for your gut health.
But what does the term gut health mean?
The word “gut” is another name for the digestive tract that starts in the mouth and ends in the anus.
Gut health therefore refers to the overall health of your digestive tract.
It is a broad term that describes efficient digestion, absorption and assimilation of nutrients, in the absence of symptoms.
However, owing to the tremendous amount of research on the gut and how it affects our general health, the term gut health is generally used to mean the health of your gut microbiome or microbiota.
The term microbiome is the name given to the community or group of microbes which live in and outside the body at any given time.
Amazingly, your microbiome is estimated to be about 4 trillion, outnumbering the number of human cells.
Although the microbiome is commonly thought to only comprise bacteria, it is also made of yeasts, viruses and protozoa.
Everything being equal, your microbiome exists in a state of balance, between the good microbes and the bad microbes.
This delicate balance of microbes allows the microbiome to perform many functions.
These include producing enzymes that help digest healthy plant fibre, turning them into so-called short-chain fatty acids. (SCFS), secreting enzymes that synthesise nutrients, like vitamins K and B, and secreting hormones and other bioactive compounds.
In fact, your gut bacteria manufacture about 95% of your body’s serotonin.
This is why the solution to your depression in some cases could lie in fixing your gut rather than taking an antidepressant for your head.
An important component of gut health is the enteric nervous system, also called the second brain.
The enteric nervous system is a complex network of nerves that control various aspects of digestion like gut motility (tone) stomach acid secretion, release of hormones and changes in blood flow.
Interestingly, the enteric nervous system is controlled by the vagus nerve from the brain.
This relationship is the basis of the term the gut-brain axis.
The gut also houses a network of immune cells called the Gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT).
You might be surprised to know that 80% of the immune system in the body lies in the gut!
In summary, the enteric nervous system interacts with the gut immune system (GALT), which both interact with your gut microbiome.
Now we have a clear picture of gut health, let’s go into a bit more detail and look at the causes of bloating.
What Causes Bloating?
Before we discuss the different causes of bloating, it is worth mentioning that they all lead to gut dysbiosis.
Gut dysbiosis is a disruption of the gut microbiome, leading to an imbalance in your gut microbes.
Diet
A diet high in processed foods is a common cause of bloating.
For a more detailed look at processed foods, please click HERE.
In summary, processed foods are foods transformed from their natural state.
These foods are generally refined carbohydrates (sugar) like bread, cereal, cakes, biscuits, and refined vegetable oils.
Processed foods cause gut dysbiosis and gut inflammation, leading to the production of gas through fermentation.
Removing processed foods from your diet and eating whole foods is the simple solution.
However, there is a plot twist.
In some cases, eating a healthy wholefood diet, especially leafy green vegetables or fruits might make your bloating worse.
But why?
This is because you might be suffering from a condition called small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, or simply SIBO.
In SIBO, there is an excessive amount of bacteria present in the small intestine, which is usually relatively sterile.
When you consume whole foods which are naturally rich in fibre, your gut microbiome digests the fibre, producing methane and hydrogen gas.
These gases expand your stomach leading to bloating.
In this scenario, you need to fix your gut in the first instance.
Allergens
An allergen is an otherwise harmless substance that can cause an abnormal immune response in the body. Or in other words, an allergic reaction.
Common allergens include gluten, dairy, soy, fish, pollen, and moulds, to name a few.
When some people ingest or come in contact with these allergens, their immune system recognizes them as foreign or potentially harmful.
As a result, their immune systems react by making a type of antibody called immunoglobulin E (IgE) to defend against the allergen.
This reaction leads to the classic allergy symptoms we know of like sneezing, redness, itching and so on.
However, allergens also cause bloating, among other symptoms.
Chronic Stress
Chronic stress is a huge topic that goes beyond the scope of this blog.
However, here is a summary of how chronic stress causes bloating:
Chronic stress leads to the following effects:
Reduced blood flow to the gut, reduced gut motility, reduced stomach acid, reduced digestive enzyme production and reduced bile flow.
These factors all affect your gut microbiome in different ways, leading to bloating among other symptoms.
Chronic infections
Harmful gut microbes produce endotoxins that cause gut inflammation.
Like stress, this can lead to increased intestinal permeability or leaky gut, and bloating among other symptoms.
It is worth mentioning that advanced PCR testing is the Gold standard to investigate and treat any chronic gut infections.
Toxins
In today’s modern world, we are surrounded by various toxins.
Common examples include lead from contaminated buildings, paints, polluted air, mercury from fillings, pesticides like DDT, Xeno-oestrogens like Bisphenol A (BPA) found in plastics, pesticides, perfumes, makeup, lipsticks and other hidden sources.
These toxins accumulate in our bodies, especially the fat tissue, overwhelm our liver detoxification systems and cause inflammation, leading to bloating and other symptoms.
How To Improve Gut Health and Bloating?
Having discussed what causes bloating, it is easy to understand the solution.
This is the beauty of functional medicine where the root cause of disease is addressed.
Let’s start.
Cut out Processed Foods
As we have already discussed, processed foods cause gut dysbiosis, gut inflammation and bloating.
These foods are generally refined carbohydrates (sugar) like bread, cereal, cakes, biscuits, and refined vegetable oils.
Cutting them out is mandatory for great gut health and consequently reduced bloating.
Bloating from alcohol is also common, so avoiding alcohol is worth trying.
Allergen Avoidance
As we have already mentioned, an allergen is an otherwise harmless substance that can cause an abnormal immune response in the body. Or in other words, an allergic reaction.
Common allergens include gluten, dairy, soy, fish, pollen, and moulds, to name a few.
With the help of a food and symptom diary, you can pinpoint what foods are a potential allergen for you.
Please note that in some cases the problem is your gut and not the allergen per se.
In other words, cutting out more and more foods from your diet might not be a long-term solution.
Lifestyle Changes/ Stress Management
Although often overlooked by conventional medicine, healthy lifestyle changes have an overall profound effect on health.
Adopting a positive mindset, developing an attitude of gratitude and a sense of purpose in life are a start.
Healthy practices like meditation, yoga, Tai Chi, Qi Gong, exercise and other forms of movement are also very effective.
These practices affect the activity of the vagus nerve and put our bodies into a state of rest and digest.
This helps reduce bloating as well as other gut symptoms you may have.
Infection Eradication
Chronic infections are a common cause of longstanding bloating.
The only effective way to fix this is by eradicating the offending microbe.
The right way to get about this is by first getting an advanced comprehensive stool test based on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology.
This PCR test is not the standard stool test requested by your GP.
It is an advanced test that maps out your entire microbiome, while also showing potential bad bacteria, harmful yeasts, gut parasites, markers of inflammation and much more.
Once the picture is clear, a targeted treatment approach is started.
However, it is worth mentioning that some bad bacteria, yeasts or gut parasites might prove difficult to eradicate.
In other words, it might take time, so patience is a virtue.
Toxin Avoidance and Detoxification (Detox)
As a quick reminder, common toxins include lead from contaminated buildings, paints, polluted air, mercury from fillings, pesticides like DDT, Xeno-oestrogens like Bisphenol A (BPA) found in plastics, pesticides, perfumes, makeup, lipsticks and other hidden sources.
Inspecting one’s home for lead, wearing a mask when appropriate, removing mercury filings, eating organic and drinking from glass rather than plastic containers are simple ways to avoid toxins.
If your body is already laden with toxins, then commencing a detox regime might be worth doing.
However, detoxification methods are varied and complex and beyond the scope of this blog.
Supplements
Most people with bloating would have tried various bloating home remedies, some type of bloating tea, or bloating tablets available in health shops.
There are probably thousands of supplements marketed for use against bloating.
Probiotics for example are an effective type of supplement for bloating.
This is especially true in the initial stages of bloating. A probiotic I highly recommend is found HERE.
In cases of longstanding bloating, probiotics on their own are unlikely to be effective-You will need to pair them with other supplements for maximum effect.
I discuss this in the supplement section of my Optimal Health Prescription Program (OHPP)
The supplement section contains trial and tested supplements that help resolve bloating among a wide array of symptoms using my method called the Gut and Target Organ Optimisation System (GTO2) which helps rest your biology into a state of balance.
Conclusion
Bloating is a condition where your abdomen becomes puffy from the presence of excess gas.
It is caused by numerous factors like diet, allergens, chronic stress, toxins, and chronic infections, leading to an imbalance in our gut microbiome and beyond.
Cutting out processed foods, starting a food and symptom diary to pinpoint allergens, reducing stress and the toxin burden and eradicating chronic infections are effective ways to reduce bloating.
Please feel free to download my FREE Optimal Health Ebooks, and when you are ready check out The Optimal Health Prescription Program (OHPP) if you want to effectively kick your boating to the curb.
To your health!
Thank you
Dr Leke
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