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Your gut is one of the hardest working systems in your body. Meal after meal, it works to digest your food and extract the nutrients required to sustain you. Despite its solid work ethic, your gut can experience occasional performance hiccups, leading to digestive symptoms like bloating, flatulence (gas), constipation and diarrhoea. While many of these are normal, others may indicate something more serious. Read on to discover what your symptoms say about your gut, ways to improve them and when to seek help from a healthcare practitioner.
What are Normal, Everyday Gut Symptoms?
Short-Lived Belly Bloating
What is it? Temporary abdominal swelling due to trapped gas.
What causes it? During and after meals, your gut produces enzymes and acids that break down your food, creating gas as part of the process. While regular bloating isn’t considered normal, it commonly occurs if you deviate from your standard diet, such as eating larger portions, rich and fatty meals or foods that are more laborious to breakdown, including excess carbohydrates and fibre. These place more burden on your digestive processes, subsequently increasing gas production and bloating.
How do you improve it? While mild bloating generally passes with time, chewing your food thoroughly, consuming smaller meals and spacing out your carbohydrate and fibre intake can help.
Flatulence
What is it? Gas or farting.
What causes it? Gas is produced by normal digestive processes, and ‘passed’ at regular intervals. Additionally, increased fibre, fat or sugar intake can create gas. Your microbiome (gut bacteria) also influences the amount of gas produced by fermenting foods to help your digestion.¹
How do you improve it? The average person ‘passes wind’ around 15 times per day, which is considered normal.² Additionally, the occasional smelly fart is no big deal, particularly if caused by an increase in refined, processed foods. However, if you would like to reduce flatulence, moderate your intake of these foods.
Growling Stomach
What is it? Rumbling or gurgling of the gut due to movement of fluid or gas, also known as borborygmus.
What causes it? The movement of food, liquid or gas through your intestines and digestive tract. Your gut may also ‘growl’ to signal hunger.
How do you improve it? Give your gut a helping-hand by chewing your meals thoroughly, which helps break down your food more efficiently prior to digestion and reduces gas. Additionally, satisfying your hunger with smaller, more frequent meals, will stop the growl.
Which Gut Symptoms Require Attention?
Chronic Constipation
What is it? The infrequent passage of hard or lumpy stools (less than once daily), often accompanied by straining, a sense of incompletely emptying the bowel and discomfort, sometimes even pain.³
What causes it? Insufficient fibre or reduced fluid intake can slow your transit time (the time it takes for your food to travel from your mouth through to the other end), making you less ‘regular’. The microbiome-constipation connection may also play a role. When it comes to bowel regularity, the health of your gut microbiome is hugely important. Good gut bacteria converts the fibre you eat into short-chain fatty acids, which help regulate your gut motility and provide fuel for your gut cells. They also prevent the overgrowth of pathogenic (bad) bacteria, which can slow gut motility and contribute to constipation.⁴
Additionally, chronic constipation can be associated with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a condition that affects the function of the bowel.³
How do you improve it? Consume more fibre-rich foods, including fruit and vegetables, drink enough water and move your body daily. Taking a specialised probiotic supplement daily may also support bowel regularity, such as Ultra Flora GI Regulate with 3 key probiotic strains or Ultra Flora GI Soothe, specially formulated for the relief of medically diagnosed IBS symptoms.
Diarrhoea
What is it? Soft, loose or watery stools that occur more than three times daily.
What causes it? Diarrhoea may be a symptom of a bacterial or viral infection, such as gastroenteritis, or may be related to the use of certain medications, particularly antibiotics.⁵ Additionally, IBS and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), a condition involving inflammation of the digestive tract, may cause diarrhoea.
How do you improve it? IBS and IBD are serious conditions that require a professional diagnosis and care from a healthcare Practitioner. They may recommend Ultra Flora GI Soothe to reduce the occurrence of medically diagnosed IBS symptoms such as gastrointestinal pain, discomfort, bloating and gas. If your diarrhoea is associated with antibiotic use, Ultra Flora Intensive Care may help to restore healthy intestinal and gut bacteria while also relieving associated symptoms.
Malodorous Gas
What is it? Smelly gas, colloquially known as ‘farts that clear a room’.
What causes it? Your microbiome consists of a range of bacteria - 38 trillion microbes, in fact - that help digestion by fermenting your food, particularly fibre. An imbalance in the levels of different bacterial species, a disrupted microbiome, can lead to increased gas production with a pungent odour.
How do you improve it? Metagenics Ultra Flora Intensive Care provides three specific probiotic strains (types of bacteria), Lactobacillus rhamnosus (LGG®), Saccharomyces cerevisiae (boulardii) and Bifidobacterium animalis ssp lactis (BB-12®), which have been shown to help restore a healthy balance of bacteria within your microbiome.
Abdominal Pain
What is it? Sharp, dull, stabbing, cramp-like, or twisting pain in your stomach or abdomen. Most people experience occasional gut discomfort, however severe gut pain that is episodic, regular or continuous requires assessment, particularly if accompanied by other symptoms such as fever, changes to your bowel movements, nausea and/or vomiting.
What causes it? Abdominal pain has many potential causes, the most common being gas pain, food intolerances or allergies, indigestion or a symptom of medically diagnosed IBS or IBD. However, abdominal pain can also be a sign of something more serious, including appendicitis, gallstones, ulcers, infections, kidney stones, and many other conditions.
How do you improve it? If gut pain has become a pattern rather than a one-off incident, seek guidance from a healthcare professional. If gut pain is associated with medically diagnosed IBS or IBD, they may recommend Gut InflamX to reduce mild gastrointestinal tract inflammation and relieve gut discomfort.
Leave Behind the Bloating, Gurgling & Discomfort
It can be difficult to keep your gut symptoms from getting in the way of enjoying the day-to-day. Try to switch up your diet and lifestyle habits and consider gut health supplements to help rid yourself of symptoms such as bloating, gurgles and gas. If you regularly experience one or more problematic symptoms, speak with a Natural Healthcare Practitioner for further investigation and they can help create a personalised plan for managing your gut health.
References:
- Manichanh C, Eck A, Varela E, Roca J, Clemente JC, González A, et al. Anal gas evacuation and colonic microbiota in patients with flatulence: effect of diet. Gut. 2014;63(3):401-8. doi:10.1136/gutjnl-2012-303013
- Victoria State Government. Better Health Channel. Flatulence. Updated March 31,2023. Accessed July 12, 2024. https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/ConditionsAndTreatments/flatulence
- Colledge NR, Walker BR, Ralston SH. Davidson’s principles and practice of medicine. 21st ed. Edinburgh (UK): Elsevier/Churchill Livingstone; 2010. p. 763-844
- Zhao Y, Yu YB. Intestinal microbiota and chronic constipation. Springer Plus. 2016;5(1):1130. doi: 10.1186/s40064-016-2821-1
- NPS Medicinewise. Antibiotics, Explained. Updated October 25, 2022. Accessed July 12, 2024. http://www.nps.org.au/medicines/infections-and-infestations/antibiotics/for-individuals/side-effects-of-antibiotics.