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What are the causes of excessive gas? Gastroenterologist Robynne Chutkan, author of the book "He althy Lightness of the Tummy", the most common of them include lactose intolerance and fructose intolerance, as well as aerophagy, which is swallowing large amounts of air while eating. The common low-calorie sweeteners from the group of sugar alcohols are also responsible for the overproduction of gas and flatulence.

Swallowing air can cause gas and gas

Aerophagyis a disorder in which people swallow large amounts of air without even realizing it. It is an incredibly common cause of gas, which can be mistakenly attributed to reflux or peptic ulcer disease, gallstones or bacterial overgrowth. Most of us ingest a bit of air while eating and drinking. We can also swallow additional bubbles by drinking carbonated drinks such as tonic, soda water, beer or champagne. However, people with aerophagy ingest large amounts of air, which can cause a lot of gas to build up in the digestive tract and cause a lot of gas.

People who have chronic sinusitis, a deviated nasal septum, or a history of asthma or allergies, may be prone to aerophagy as they frequently breathe through their mouths, which makes it easier to swallow air. Aerophagy can be triggered by several reasons: chewing gum, sucking hard candies, smoking cigarettes, eating too fast, talking during a meal, drinking fluids while eating, or wearing a false jaw that is too loose.

Most people with aerophagy come to me complaining of three things: gas, belching and stomach discomfort. The stomach may then feel tight like a drum and be very stretched due to the pressure of the swallowed air. I've had patients who almost demanded a pin prick to make the air escape. Ultimately, most of this air is forced out or passes through the digestive tract and comes out at the other end, but it doesn't happen without causing a lot of discomfort along the way.

Some patients with aerophagy swallow small amounts of air and force themselves to belch frequently due to anxiety syndrome. It is a neurotic habit, such as biting the nails or plucking the ends of the hair, and although this activity is voluntary, it is usually notis aware of it. One of my patients belched repeatedly every ten or twenty seconds, but when I distracted her, it stopped completely. Ultimately, it helped her achieve greater relaxation through biofeedback using breathing techniques and visualization. He still has fits of belching when he gets angry, but is much more aware of it and is able to control it.

One of my favorite aerophagy patients recorded me a five-minute message containing only voicemail belching. He was a pastor and such pathological reflection caused him great professional difficulties and embarrassed him, so he wanted to show me how much of a problem this ailment is for him. Hearing the news made the expected impression. His situation was so difficult that I immediately consulted Dr. Susan Miller, an expert in the diagnosis and treatment of aerophagy.

Susan examined the pastor in detail, analyzing his breathing, speech, eating and drinking patterns. She found that due to the undiagnosed curvature of the nasal septum, he was breathing almost exclusively through his mouth. Another factor was holding your breath - during the sermons, the priest spoke aloud for a long time without taking his breath, then gasped greedily between sentences. Much of the air was swallowed, so that at the end of the sermon, the pastor looked and felt like a Michelin man. Septoplasty to repair the nasal septum and forging new habits of speech and breathing put an end to aerophagy and flatulence.

If you suffer from aerophagy, it is possible that you were taking anti-acid drugs that probably didn't do much. While stomach acid can enter your esophagus with belching, aerophagy is caused by air, not acid.

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My Aerophagy Advice

If you have flatulence and you suspect it may be due to ingestion of air (aerophagia), try the following:

  • Spit out the chewing gum.
  • Don't suck hard candy or lollipops.
  • Eat slowly.
  • Do not talk on the phone while eating.
  • Drink liquids at the beginning or end of a meal. Don't drink carbonated drinks.
  • Meditate when you are anxious.
  • Practice taking deep breaths that expand your lungs, not your stomach.

If you still do not see improvement, a speech therapist can help you determine if your problem is related to the way you breathe, speak, or swallow.

Excess gas: lactose intolerance

Lactose intolerance is a good example of the cause of bad gases. Inas the years go by, many of us lose the ability to digest dairy products. More than half of the world's population suffers from some degree of lactose intolerance, in which the small intestines do not produce enough lactase, an enzyme necessary to digest milk sugar. The classic symptoms are flatulence and gas, but the condition can be difficult to recognize as these symptoms are present in many other conditions, such as irritable bowel syndrome, celiac disease, Helicobacter pyloriinfection, and gallstones.

If you suspect you are lactose intolerant, try to abstain from all dairy products for a minimum of two weeks to see if you feel better. You can also perform tests involving the analysis of exhaled air and blood. If you are lactase deficient, the test dose of lactose will pass undigested to the large intestine, where it will be broken down by bacteria, including to hydrogen, which will be recorded in the analysis of exhaled air. Another way is to measure your blood glucose after drinking the lactose solution. If the level does not rise, the body is not digesting and absorbing sufficiently lactose.

Once you have diagnosed lactose intolerance - whether by assessing the effects of removing dairy products from your diet or by testing results - the most sensible way to control flatulence is to eliminate it from your diet. Most people, however, have only a certain degree of intolerance, so they may eat small amounts of milk products, and complaints arise after consuming a larger portion. If your symptoms are mild, and you cannot do without such products, I suggest that your diet includes small amounts of yoghurt and cheese, which contain less lactose than ice cream, milk or mozzarella.

Lactose intolerance is becoming more common, but it can also be a symptom of other digestive he alth problems. Celiac disease and Crohn's disease damage the lining of the small intestine and can cause secondary lactose intolerance. Infections, such as giardias or rotaviruses, are also causes of temporary or permanent intolerance. If you suffer from flatulence, you may find that eliminating or reducing your dairy consumption will alleviate your symptoms, whether you are lactose intolerant or not. (…)

You must do it

Tips for good gases

I never recommend that you completely avoid products that give off "good gases", as these products have a lot of nutritional value. However, I will give you a hintseveral ways to reduce gases:

  • If you have not eaten vegetables such as broccoli, kale, and cauliflower before, start with small amounts and gradually increase the portions to help your body get used to it.
  • Before eating, sprinkle lemon juice on vegetables to stimulate digestive enzymes.
  • Soak the beans overnight before cooking.
  • Avoid canned beans. These beans usually cause more gas, and a chemical compound called BPA (bisphenol A) may be present in the lining of the can, which has been linked to the development of cancer and other conditions.
  • Cook beans with sea vegetables such as kombu, which will make this legume more digestible as kombu contains the enzyme needed to break down raffinose. Kombu can be purchased at Asian or he alth food stores. Beano or Beanzyme supplements are available in the US. Like kombu, they contain a plant-based enzyme that breaks down raffinose.
  • At the end of your meal, eat a pinch (1/8 teaspoon) of linseed or suck on a stalk of raw fennel to take advantage of the gas-reducing oils in the vegetable. You can also make fennel tea by steaming a teaspoon of crushed grains or fresh tubers in a cup of boiling water for ten minutes, or add fennel to your salad or food while cooking.
  • Multiply the population of "good" gut bacteria by eating fermented foods like yogurt and sauerkraut. They contain actively growing essential bacteria and beneficial yeast species and lead to less gas production.

Excess gas: fructose intolerance

Lactose is not the only sugar that can cause gas. Thirty percent of people suffer from fructose malabsorption, which is often misdiagnosed as irritable bowel syndrome. Fructose occurs naturally in fresh fruit and some vegetables, and dried and canned fruit as well as fruit juices contain large amounts. Nevertheless, the greatest source in the American diet is corn fructose syrup, which is added to sweeten foods such as soda, breakfast cereals, desserts, candies, dressings, ketchup, and most packaged foods.

On average, a person is able to absorb 25-30 grams of fructose a day, although people with malabsorption disorders absorb much less. Modern research shows that consuming more than 50 grams of fructose per day increases the risk of conditions such as osteoporosis, raised triglycerides, ischemic heart disease and inflammation. A can of regular soda contains about 123 gramsfructose, and the standard American diet could mean consuming hundreds of grams of fructose a day. Bacteria in the large intestine break down excess sugar into short-chain fatty acids, and by-products are hydrogen, methane and carbon dioxide, and an additional effect of fructose consumption is weight gain and diabetes.

Low calorie sweeteners can cause gas too

It is worth remembering that nothing is for free when it comes to nutrition. In the case of sweetening, we have a choice: calories or gases. Many low calorie sweeteners are made from sugar (so-called polyhydroxy) alcohols. These include, but are not limited to, sorbitol, mannitol, erythritol, and xylitol. They are used to sweeten candies and chocolates advertised as acceptable for diabetics, and if you've ever eaten them, you know they cause massive gas and gas. These substances are only partially absorbed in the small intestine and therefore have a low caloric input, but undergo bacterial fermentation in the large intestine, where they produce a lot of gas.

I include sugar alcohols among the main causes of bad gases. So you will be far better off consuming a little regular sugar from time to time than condemning your intestines to this type of discomfort. If you believe that you are bloated by malabsorption of lactose, fructose, or alcoholic sugars, you may consider introducing the FODMAPS diet, which minimizes the proportion of carbohydrates that are poorly absorbed by some people. The acronym FODMAPS comes from the English names of fermented oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and sugar alcohols. This diet was developed by an Australian scientist as a way of alleviating the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome, concluding that eating foods low in FODMAPS products should reduce hydrogen and methane production, and thus reduce gas and associated abdominal pain. This diet restricts dairy products, corn syrup, wheat products, certain vegetables, and fruits that are high in fructose compared to glucose, such as watermelon and dried fruit. While you may not necessarily be as restrictive as the authors of the original scientific study, following a low FODMAPS diet can help you control gas and gas.

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Advice on bad gases

Identifying and reducing potential sources of bad gas can help address your bloating problem. Here are some suggestions:

  • Eliminate dairy products from your diet for a few weeks to make sure you are not lactose intolerant, or perform a breath test, the so-called breath test and blood analysis to targetformal verification of the diagnosis.
  • Even if you are lactose intolerant, you may be able to benefit from small amounts of yellow heart and yogurt, which contain less than cottage cheese and milk.
  • Avoid high-fructose corn syrup lest you exceed your daily limit of fructose (around 50 grams).
  • If you suspect you may be among the 30 percent of fructose malabsorbers, you will likely only tolerate half the suggested amount (i.e. 25 grams per day).
  • Use natural sources of fructose, such as fresh fruits and vegetables, over fructose in processed foods and colorful beverages.
  • Be alert to the presence of fructose in products such as dried fruit, breakfast cereals, fruit juices, dressings and applesauce.
  • For sweeteners, it's better to choose calories over gases. Low calorie sweeteners made from sugar alcohols are not absorbed in the small intestine and generate a lot of gas during bacterial fermentation in the large intestine.
  • Limit your intake of high-sulfur foods like eggs, meat, yogurt, and seafood.
  • Consider introducing a FODMAPS diet that minimizes the consumption of short-chain carbohydrates, including most dairy products, corn syrup, wheat flour products, and some vegetables and fruits that are high in fructose compared to glucose (e.g., watermelon and fruit) dried).
Worth knowing

Dr. Robynne Chutkanis one of America's best-known gastroenterologists. She studied at Yale and Columbia, and currently is part of the teaching staff of Georgetown University Teaching Hospital and runs her own gastroenterology center. In the book "Zdrowa light abdominals" (published by Feeria), he discusses various causes of flatulence and advises on how to get rid of them.

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Gastrology