About 18% of the world's population experiences abdominal bloating at least once a week.1 Women in particular are twice as likely to experience bloating than men. In the United States, nearly one in seven Americans has experienced bloating in the past week.2
Bloating, which is characterized by a feeling of fullness, tightness, or swelling in the abdomen, is often caused by gas buildup in the digestive tract and can be accompanied by abdominal pain, discomfort, and noticeable abdominal distension. Bloating is common, but it is not normal for the digestive tract and may indicate a problem with gut health.
Abdominal bloating is a sign of unhealthy bowel
“If you're feeling bloated or gassy, there may be something wrong with the composition and function of your gut microbiome,” microbiome researcher Gail Cressey tells CNET.3 The microbiome, made up of trillions of microorganisms living in your digestive tract, plays a vital role in digestion, immune function, and overall health. An imbalance of these microbes, or dysbiosis, can contribute to a variety of digestive problems, including bloating.
Age, health, diet, and environment all affect the number and diversity of gut microbes.4 When an imbalance occurs, it can lead to bloating in a number of ways, including by causing inflammation or by reducing diversity. For example, bloating is common in people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), who often struggle with gut microbiota imbalances.
One study found that 60% of people with IBS rated abdominal bloating as their most bothersome symptom.5 While gut microbial diversity is generally beneficial, reduced gut microbial diversity has been linked to chronic diseases such as obesity and type 2 diabetes. Compared to the Yanomami people of the Amazon jungle, who have high bacterial diversity, Americans have already lost 50% of their microbial diversity.6
Additionally, gut microbial diversity declines with age.7 But younger people are also affected: Overuse of antibiotics, elective cesarean sections and processed foods have been described as major factors “driving the destruction of our internal ecosystem.”8
The rapid rise in chronic diseases, including type 1 diabetes, asthma, obesity, gastroesophageal reflux disease, and inflammatory bowel disease, has also been linked to a decline in the bacterial diversity in our gut due to overuse of antibiotics.9
Meanwhile, whole grain intake has been associated with increased diversity in the gut microbiome.10 For example, consuming herbs and spices.11 But processed foods, which lack the fiber needed to support a healthy microbiome, contain chemicals like glyphosate, an herbicide that destroys microbes.
From electromagnetic fields (EMF) and air pollution12 When you use antibacterial soap, your microbiome is under constant attack from the world around you, as noted in a review published in Gastroenterology & Hepatology.
“The large intestine is home to about 500 different species of bacteria, most of which are anaerobic. The gut microbiota varies from person to person, reflecting factors such as diet, antibiotic use, and how infants are fed. The number of bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract is estimated to exceed 10^14 (100 trillion), which is more than the total number of cells in the human body.
Because less than 10% of these bacteria can be cultured, our understanding of them is limited. Research over the past decade has shown that these bacteria play important roles in intestinal immune function, mucosal barrier function, drug metabolism, and short-chain fatty acid and vitamin production.
Even minor disruptions in gut microbiota can lead to significant changes in gut function, including gas production (a common cause of bloating).”
Proper energy production is necessary for gut health
Most people have dysfunctional mitochondria, and without enough mitochondria, they cannot produce cellular energy efficiently enough to ensure a healthy gastrointestinal tract. The gut primarily contains two types of gram-negative bacteria: beneficial and pathogenic.
Beneficial ones include obligate anaerobic bacteria that cannot survive in the presence of oxygen and are essential for health. They do not produce harmful endotoxins and contribute positively by producing SCFAs such as butyrate, propionate, and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1).
Proper bowel function requires energy to maintain an anaerobic environment in the large intestine, where 99% of gut microbes reside. If there is insufficient energy, oxygen leakage occurs, which harms obligate anaerobes but does not affect facultative anaerobes, thus disrupting the balance of the microbial community.
Pathogenic bacteria, or facultative anaerobic bacteria, are harmful because they can survive in oxygen and have endotoxins in their cell walls. Simply put, enhancing mitochondrial energy production is important for maintaining a healthy gut environment. This helps suppress the growth of pathogenic bacteria and supports the beneficial microflora, which helps reduce the risk of digestive problems, including bloating.
Optimal mitochondrial health is essential for a healthy gut.
Optimizing mitochondrial function is one of the most important strategies for optimizing cellular energy, so it’s at the core of almost everything you do to improve your health. “Your energy state affects your internal environment, and your internal environment affects how your body (and your gut) functions,” explains Ashley Armstrong, co-founder of Angel Acres Egg Co. She adds:
“We will always have some degree of obligate and facultative species, but a balanced gut microbiome is characterized by a predominance of obligate organisms, whereas an expansion of facultative organisms is a common indicator of gut dysbiosis. Ideally, we want more obligate anaerobic bacteria, but these beneficial species cannot survive in hyperoxic environments.
On the other hand, facultative anaerobic bacteria thrive in the presence of oxygen. Therefore, maintaining a low oxygen environment and high CO2 The gut environment helps control the microbiota and cannot sustain high CO.2 This is a level where the metabolic rate is not high and energy production is not sufficient.
When you fix the way your body produces energy on a systemic level, your gut health improves. Understanding systemic energy production is also liberating. There is nothing wrong with you! You are just a little out of balance. Every part of the digestive process requires cellular energy, so any part of the digestive function can be affected if energy production is lacking.”
How to improve your gut health
If you suffer from frequent bloating, it means your digestive system is not working properly. Like all systems in the body, digestion relies on energy. Therefore, to improve gut health, you need to take care of your mitochondrial health and energy production.
Excessive intake of linoleic acid (LA), found in seed oils used in most ultra-processed foods, and estrogen dominance are thought to be the main causes of mitochondrial dysfunction. Exposure to electromagnetic fields is another cause. However, LA and estrogen have similar negative effects on the body. Both:
- It increases free radicals, which cause oxidative stress and impair the energy production capacity of mitochondria.
- Increased intracellular calcium increases nitric oxide and hydrogen peroxide, and increases nitrous oxide salts, which also increases oxidative stress.
- It increases water content within cells, helping the body retain water.
- Slows down metabolism and suppresses the thyroid gland.
In addition to reducing LA intake by avoiding ultra-processed foods, seed oils, chicken, pork, seeds, and nuts, a healthy gut microbiome depends on eating fermented foods. One study had 36 adults eat a diet rich in fermented foods or high-fiber foods for 10 weeks. Those who consumed fermented foods had increased microbiome diversity and reduced inflammatory markers.13
Fiber and starches are often recommended for gut health, but if your gut is not healthy, they can feed bad bacteria and make your symptoms worse. Excessive intake of slow-motility fiber can feed bacteria along the digestive tract, leading to conditions such as small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), which is often associated with bloating and excessive endotoxin production.
So it's important to start with organic fruit juices, slowly increase your intake of high-fiber carbohydrates and starches, and increase your intake of fermented foods. This will help your gut recover by addressing mitochondrial function and energy production.
Solutions for restoring mitochondrial function
Additional solutions to improve or restore mitochondrial function include:
- Eat healthy carbohydrates like ripe fruits, 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, as chronic stress promotes the release of cortisol, which strongly inhibits mitochondrial function and biogenesis. Progesterone is a powerful cortisol blocker, so it can be very helpful here. You can learn more about this in “What You Need to Know About Estrogen and Serotonin.”
- Take supplemental niacinamide, as your mitochondria cannot make energy without it. I recommend taking 50 milligrams of niacinamide three times a day.
Incorporating prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics into your daily diet can significantly improve your gut health and overall well-being. Prebiotics, which are non-digestible fibers, act as food for beneficial bacteria. Probiotics, which are live microorganisms, directly contribute to a healthy gut microbiome. Postbiotics, which are 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 promote the growth of probiotics, which in turn produce postbiotics, which provide additional health benefits. “If you have a bad diet and want to continue to eat a bad diet but want to improve your microbiome, probiotics won’t help you,” Cressey points out. “You have to do the other parts.”14
If you're feeling bloated and want instant relief, try chewing a handful of fennel seeds, a natural remedy that helps digestion and fills you up.15 Compounds in fennel essential oil help regulate the motility of smooth muscles in the intestines and at the same time reduce gas. Additional spices that help relieve bloating include ginger, cumin, black pepper, and cinnamon.
