Surprising Things That Make You Gassy
Do you often find yourself with that bubbling feeling in your stomach that you know is gas? Find out what foods and quirky causes may be to blame.
Everyone has had that awful moment of letting one rip in public. It stinks (pun intended), but it happens. As much as we hate belching and farting in public, gas in your digestive tract is normal. Most healthy people emit 12 to 25 farts per day, according to the Canadian Society of Intestinal Research.
“Gas is completely normal, but when you’re experiencing excessive belching or flatulence, painful bloating, or a disruption to your quality of life, it may be helpful to identify certain triggers,” says Somal Shah, MD, a gastroenterologist with Gastro Health in Miami.
It’s easy to identify why you’re burping if you’re chugging cans of soda, but read on to find out about some unexpected things that can give you a gassy stomachache.
When you eat or drink, you swallow a small amount of air, which enters your stomach. Some of that air is absorbed in the small intestine, but the rest has to escape by either coming up or going down. “Chewing gum and smoking are the biggest causes of swallowing too much air,” says Dr. Shah. “But it can also come from eating too fast or from an anxiety issue, when you take in too much air at once.”
Also, gulping water quickly will force you to swallow air, which can lead to belching — the most common way to expel swallowed air. Watch out when drinking from bottles or straws, too. Their design forces you to swallow extra air. Your best bet is to slowly sip from a cup.
If you’ve ever loaded up on cauliflower or broccoli off the crudité plate, you probably spent the night with gas pains. That’s because cruciferous vegetables contain the complex carbohydrates raffinose and stachyose, which our bodies have trouble digesting. These gas-producing carbs are also abundant in beans, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, asparagus, leafy greens, and whole grains. “These foods can cause bloating and cramping, so it’s best to eat just a little at a time to see what you can tolerate,” cautions Shah.
When high-fat foods like cream-based soups, cheese, or bacon have you belching or clearing a room from passed gas, there is likely an underlying digestive problem at play, notes Shah. It could have something to do with your pancreas, which secretes certain enzymes responsible for helping the body digest fats. Eating foods high in fat can also cause constipation, especially if you’re not eating enough fiber to help your stool move along. “The leading cause of excess flatulence is constipation,” says Shah. “So eating an adequate amount of fiber to have a complete bowel movement three times a week is one key to better digestion and less gas.” Women should have around 20 to 25 grams of fiber per day. For men, it should be 30 to 38 grams per day.
High-intensity and cardio exercises can speed up digestion, which causes gas to seep out more quickly and, unfortunately, more noticeably. Certain poses in yoga, for example, create abdominal pressure that moves trapped gas around. Add stretching and relaxation and it’s no surprise if you need to toot.
When you feel gassy after working out, that’s likely due to swallowing air while you were huffing and puffing, says Shah. Try to breathe slowly and through your nose to stop that post-workout bloat.
When it comes to sugar, there’s nothing like the real thing. Fake sugars, especially processed sorbitol, can lead to symptoms like gas, bloating, urgency, cramping, and even diarrhea, according to a study published in August 2019 in the journal Canadian Family Physician. Sorbitol and similar artificial sweeteners — xylitol, mannitol, and others — are abundant in chewing gum, cough medicine, sugar-free candies, and low-sugar desserts. "Your gut has difficulty digesting these sugars," Frank R. Malkin, MD, a gastroenterologist with Charles River Medical Associates in Natick, Massachusetts.
Studies have shown that artificial sweeteners have the pernicious effect of making you crave more sugar as well. They can negatively impact your metabolism and the gut microbes that help convert food to the glucose that fuels your muscles. Artificial sweeteners also tamper with the gut bugs responsible for absorbing and releasing gas, according to a study published in May 2021 in the International Journal of Molecular Science. Another study, published in September 2022 in Cell, found that people who consumed artificial sweeteners were more likely to see a change in their gut microbes, which led to an impaired glycemic response when blood sugar levels spiked and crashed in unhealthy ways.
Foods that give you gas may not affect your spouse or best friend the same way. “People have different amounts of various digestive enzymes, which may contribute to one person having a gluten sensitivity while another gets gas from dairy,” explains Shah. Milk and other dairy products like yogurt, ice cream, and cheese contain lactose, which can be difficult to digest if your body produces an insufficient amount of lactase, the enzyme that helps you digest lactose. That can make dairy the culprit when you have gas. And so can certain packaged foods in your diet, from cereal to bread to salad dressing. Why? These foods often contain lactose, too.
Additional reporting by Jordan M. Davidson.
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