Approximately 18% of the world’s population experiences bloating at least once a week.1 Women are twice as likely as men to feel bloated, and about 1 in 7 Americans have experienced bloating in the past week.2
Characterized by a feeling of fullness, pressure, or swelling in the abdomen, bloating is often caused by gas buildup in the digestive tract and may be accompanied by abdominal pain, discomfort, and visible stomach distension. Although feeling bloated is common, it is not a normal state in the digestive tract and may be a sign that your gut health is off.
Bloating is a sign of poor gut health
“If you experience bloating or gas, it could be that the composition and function of your gut microbiome is disrupted,” microbiome researcher Gail Qureshi told CNET.3 The microbiome, made up of trillions of microorganisms that live in your digestive tract, plays a vital role in digestion, immune function, and overall health. An imbalance of these microorganisms, called dysbiosis, can lead to a variety of digestive issues, including bloating.
Age, health, diet and environment all affect the number and diversity of microbes in your gut.4 An imbalance can lead to bloating in a variety of ways, including causing inflammation and reducing the diversity of your gut flora. For example, bloating is common in people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), who often suffer from an imbalanced gut flora.
In one study, 60% of IBS sufferers rated abdominal bloating as their most bothersome symptom.5 In general, microbial diversity in the gut is beneficial, but reduced gut microbiome diversity is associated with chronic diseases such as obesity and type 2 diabetes. Compared to the Yanomami people living in the Amazon jungle, who have a high bacterial diversity, people in the United States have already lost 50% of their microbial diversity.6
Furthermore, gut bacterial diversity decreases with age,7 But younger people are also affected, with the overuse of antibiotics, elective caesarean sections and processed foods cited as major factors “driving the destruction of our internal ecosystems”.8
The dramatic increase in chronic diseases such as type 1 diabetes, asthma, obesity, gastroesophageal reflux disease and inflammatory bowel disease has also been linked to a loss of gut bacterial diversity due to antibiotic overuse.9
On the other hand, whole food intake is associated with improved gut microbiome diversity.10 The same goes for consuming herbs and spices, for example.11 But processed foods lack the fiber needed to nourish a healthy microbiome and also contain chemicals like the herbicide glyphosate that destroy microbes.
From Electromagnetic Fields (EMF) and Air Pollution12 Even if you don’t rely on antibacterial soaps, your microbiome is under constant attack from the world around you. As a review published in the Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology states:
“The large intestine is home to around 500 species of bacteria, most of which are anaerobic. The colonic microbiota varies from individual to individual and reflects a variety of factors, including diet, antibiotic use and feeding practices during infancy. The number of bacteria in the digestive tract is thought to exceed 1014. [100 trillion]This is more than the total number of cells in the human body.
Less than 10% of these bacteria can be cultured, so our understanding of them is limited. Research over the past decade has revealed that these bacteria play important roles in intestinal immune function, mucosal barrier function, drug metabolism, and the production of short-chain fatty acids and vitamins.
Even subtle perturbations in the gut microbiota can lead to profound changes in intestinal function, including gas production. [a common cause of bloating].”
Gut health requires proper energy production
Most people have mitochondrial dysfunction, and without enough mitochondria, we cannot efficiently produce cellular energy to ensure a healthy gastrointestinal tract. There are two main types of gram-negative bacteria present in the gut: beneficial and pathogenic.
Beneficial bacteria include obligate anaerobes, which cannot survive in the presence of oxygen and are essential for health. Obligate anaerobes do not produce harmful endotoxins and contribute positively by producing short-chain fatty acids such as butyrate, propionate, and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1).
Normal gut function requires energy to maintain the anoxic environment in the large intestine, where 99% of gut bacteria live. Lack of energy allows oxygen to leak out, adversely affecting obligate anaerobes but not facultative anaerobes, resulting in an imbalance of the microbiota.
Pathogenic bacteria, or facultative anaerobes, can survive in oxygen and are harmful because they have endotoxins in their cell walls. This means that enhancing mitochondrial energy production is essential to maintaining a healthy gut environment. Doing so will reduce the growth of pathogenic bacteria and support the beneficial microbiome, ultimately reducing the risk of digestive issues such as bloating.
Optimizing mitochondrial health is essential for a healthy gut
Optimizing mitochondrial function is one of the most important strategies for optimizing cellular energy and is at the heart of almost everything we do to improve our health. “Your energy state affects your internal environment, and your internal environment affects how your body (and gut) functions,” explains Ashley Armstrong, co-founder of Angel Acres Egg Co. She continues:
“We always have a certain amount of both obligate and facultative bacteria, but a balanced gut microbiome is characterised by a predominance of obligate bacteria, while an expansion of facultative bacteria is a common indicator of gut dysbiosis. Ideally, we would like to increase the number of obligate anaerobes, but these beneficial bacteria cannot survive in an oxygen-rich environment.
On the other hand, facultative anaerobes grow well in the presence of oxygen. Therefore, it is important to maintain a low-oxygen environment and a high CO2 The gut environment is conducive to maintaining the microbiome, and it cannot sustain high CO.2 Without a high metabolic rate and good energy production, your levels won’t increase.
Modifying how your body produces energy on a systemic level will improve your gut health. Understanding your whole-body energy production can also be liberating. There’s nothing wrong with you; you’re just a little out of balance. Every part of the digestive process requires cellular energy, so low energy production can affect every part of your digestive function.”
How to Improve Your Gut Health
If you experience frequent bloating, your digestive system is not functioning properly. Like any other system in your body, digestion relies on energy. Therefore, to improve your gut health, you need to pay attention to your mitochondrial health and energy production.
I believe that excessive intake of linoleic acid (LA) and estrogen dominance in the seed oils used in most ultra-processed foods are the main causes of mitochondrial dysfunction. Exposure to electromagnetic fields is also a factor. However, both LA and estrogen have similar negative effects on the body.
- Increases free radicals that cause oxidative stress and impair mitochondrial energy production
- There is increased intracellular calcium, increased nitric oxide and superoxide, increased peroxynitrite, and increased oxidative stress.
- Increases the amount of water in your cells, helping your body retain water
- Slows metabolism and suppresses the thyroid
In addition to reducing LA intake by avoiding ultra-processed foods, seed oils, chicken, pork, seeds, and nuts, the health of the gut microbiome depends on consuming fermented foods. In one study, 36 adults consumed a diet rich in fermented and high-fiber foods for 10 weeks. Those who consumed fermented foods had increased microbiome diversity and reduced inflammatory markers.13
Fiber and starch are often touted as being good for gut health, but poor gut health can feed bad bacteria and worsen symptoms. Eating too much fiber in the context of slow bowel movements can feed bacteria along the digestive tract, causing symptoms such as small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO). SIBO is often accompanied by bloating and excess endotoxin production.
It is therefore important to start with organic fruit juices and gradually introduce more fibrous carbohydrates, starches and increased intake of fermented foods, which will go a long way in repairing the gut by addressing mitochondrial function and energy production.
Solutions to restore mitochondrial function
Additional solutions to improve or restore mitochondrial function include:
- Make sure to include healthy carbohydrates like ripe fruit, raw honey, and maple syrup.
- It reduces lactic acid production and increases carbon dioxide, which have opposing effects. 4 You can learn more about this in The Biology of Carbon Dioxide.
- Reduce stress. Chronic stress promotes the release of cortisol, which is a powerful inhibitor of mitochondrial function and biosynthesis. Progesterone is a powerful cortisol inhibitor, so it can be very helpful in this regard. You can learn more about this in “What you need to know about estrogen and serotonin.”
- Take a niacinamide supplement, as your mitochondria cannot produce energy without it. I recommend taking 50 milligrams of niacinamide three times a day.
Incorporating prebiotics, probiotics and postbiotics into your daily diet can also significantly improve your gut health and overall wellness. Prebiotics, which are indigestible fibres, act as a food source for beneficial bacteria. Probiotics, which are live microorganisms, directly contribute to a healthy gut microbiome. Postbiotics, bioactive compounds produced during fermentation, provide additional health benefits.
The relationship between prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics is symbiotic, meaning they work together to support and maintain optimal gut health. Prebiotics stimulate the growth of probiotics, which in turn produce postbiotics that provide additional health benefits. “If you’re eating a bad diet and you want to improve your microbiome while continuing your bad diet, probiotics aren’t going to help you,” Qureshi points out. “You need to do the other parts too.”14
If you’re feeling bloated and are looking for more immediate relief, try chewing a handful of fennel seeds, a natural remedy that reduces bloating and aids digestion.15 Compounds in fennel essential oil help regulate smooth muscle motility in the intestines, reducing gas at the same time. Other spices that may help relieve bloating include ginger, cumin, black pepper, and cinnamon.
