EATING TO STOP THE WIND
“It is universally well known that, in digesting our common food, there is created or produced in the bowels of human creatures, a great quantity of wind.”
—Benjamin Franklin
This was Dr. Franklin’s way of saying that all of us, like it or not, will get some gas now and then. Gas, which is produced when food is broken down in the digestive tract, is a normal part of digestion. Some foods, of course, produce more gas than others. Beans and other plant foods high in carbohydrates are notorious gas producers. These foods produce so much excess air because they aren’t entirely broken down during digestion. When small carbohydrate particles pass into the lower intestine, bacteria move in and begin feeding on them, producing a lot of gas in the process. This gas has to go somewhere—and out it goes, about 14 times a day.
It’s not only plant foods that cause gas problems, however. Almost anything you ingest has the potential to cause gas, at least some of the time. Here are some of the most likely culprits, along with tips for keeping gas under control.
Most children can drink milk and eat cheese all day long, but many adults don’t produce enough of the enzyme necessary to fully digest the sugar (called lactose) in dairy foods. When undigested lactose slips into the lower intestine, it begins to ferment, causing gas, says Marvin Schuster, MD, founder of the Marvin M. Schuster Digestive and Motility Disorders Center at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore.
Even if you can’t down two or three glasses of milk anymore, you may be able to enjoy smaller amounts without having to avoid public places. Some people can tolerate up to 8 ounces of milk a day without suffering from gas. In addition, drinking milk with meals is much less likely to cause gas than having it alone.
Another way to enjoy milk without discomfort is to buy reduced-lactose milk, which has about 70 percent less lactose than regular milk. Or you can take lactase supplements, which supply the enzyme missing in people with lactose intolerance and make it easier for the body to digest the lactose in dairy foods.
Even people who cannot handle milk are often able to enjoy live-culture yogurt. “Yogurt contains bacteria that can digest the lactose for you so you don’t get the symptoms,” says Jose Saavedra, MD, medical and scientific director of Nestlé Nutrition USA, and associate professor of pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Hygiene and Public Health in Baltimore. Look for yogurt that says “live active cultures” on the label, which means it contains the bacteria that can help you break down the offending sugar. The more help you get with lactose digestion, the less likely you are to have gas.
We all know how important it is to get more fiber in your diet. Unfortunately, the same fiber that lowers cholesterol and helps protect against heart disease also produces large amounts of gas. This is especially true in people who have suddenly stepped up their intake of fiber-rich foods.
“If you add fiber too quickly, the body can’t cope with it properly,” says Dr. Schuster. “The average American only eats about 12 grams of fiber a day, less than half of the recommended daily amount. If you suddenly double that amount, it means a lot of gas.”
To get the benefits of fiber without the gas, it’s a good idea to add it slowly to your diet, says Marie Borum, MD, MPH, professor of medicine at George Washington University Medical Center in Washington, D.C. You might, for example, start by substituting whole-wheat spaghetti for your regular kind, which will provide an extra 2 grams of the rough stuff in a half-cup serving—a significant change, but not a drastic one. Then, as your body gets used to the extra roughage, add more. A half-cup of cooked artichoke hearts will deliver more than 4 grams of fiber, and the same amount of lima beans will add almost 5 grams. If you gradually introduce fiber-rich foods to your diet each day over a period of 4 to 6 weeks, you’re less likely to have a problem with gas, Dr. Borum says.
Sometimes you’re darned if you do and darned if you don’t. Many people get gas when they eat sweets like cookies or ice cream (forget the added fat and calories). But when they try to curb those cravings by substituting sugar-free candies or chewing gum, they still get gas. Why?
As it turns out, sugarless gum and candies are gas producers, says Dr. Borum. They contain artificial sweeteners like sorbitol, xylitol, or mannitol, which the body has trouble digesting. While these sweeteners help keep your calorie intake down, they can also result in large amounts of gas. And in some people, artificial sweeteners also have a laxative effect, doubling the intestinal trouble.
Consuming plants that dispel flatulence, called carminatives, can help prevent gas, says John Neustadt, ND, medical director of Montana Integrative Medicine in Bozeman. These plants include ginger, peppermint, thyme, cinnamon, nutmeg, caraway, and cardamom. “Cooking with these spices or regularly sipping teas containing them can be quite helpful for decreasing gas,” he says. For best results, throw some of these spices into recipes and follow them up with a nice ginger, peppermint, cinnamon, caraway, or cardamom tea.
Mother Nature’s own sweeteners aren’t without their own problems, however. Fructose, for example, a sugar found in honey, fruits, and juices, frequently causes gas. It doesn’t take a lot of fructose to cause problems, either. In one study, Greek researchers found that having as little as 1½ tablespoons of honey was enough to cause gas in some people.
Unfortunately, even when you try to eliminate sources of gas, it sometimes produces its ugly bubbles anyway. To fight back against a gas attack, try this gas remedy: “Add a pinch of baking soda to a glass of water and drink it down,” suggests Janet Maccaro, PhD, ND, a holistic nutritionist in Ormond Beach, Florida, who is president of Dr. Janet’s Balance By Nature Products and the author of Natural Health Remedies A-Z.
You may also want to forgo fruit at the end of a meal. “Fruit after a meal promotes gas because it causes fermentation,” says Dr. Maccaro. “So if you have a salad, a main course, and then you top it off with fruit, you will have fermentation on top of all of that food, which will cause a lot of gas.” This is not to say fruit isn’t a wonderful alternative to other sugary desserts. “But if you suffer from gas, have your fruit first thing in the morning or at least an hour or so after a meal,” Dr. Maccaro says.