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Foods That Cause Bloating Are a Sign of a Larger Issue

Written by Dr. Michael Ruscio, DC on October 15, 2024

Written by Dr. Michael Ruscio, DC on October 15, 2024 — Reviewed by Hilary Watts

Eating Certain Foods May Trigger Excessive Bloating, But Your Gut Health Is the Root Cause

• Foods That Cause Bloating|
• Why Poor Gut Health May Cause Bloating|
• Improving Gut Health to Handle More Foods|

Some bloating during or after eating is completely normal 1 2. The kind of bloating worth worrying about occurs very often, irritates you, or disrupts your daily life 3 4 5. That sort of bloating may occur in up to 18% of Americans, and women (whose more pronounced hormonal fluctuations could play a role) are about twice as likely to report bloating as men 6. So, if you’re often bloated, especially after eating certain foods, like fruits, grains, and vegetables, you’re definitely not alone.

So, why are almost a fifth of us getting bloated after eating certain foods? Is it the foods themselves, or is something else going on with the gut? Turns out, it’s likely a combo of both. 

The good news is that you don’t have to swear off certain foods for the rest of your days for fear of bloating. Scientifically supported methods can heal an injured gut and rebalance the microbiota so you can handle most foods that come your way and enjoy a healthy, varied diet. 

Let’s dive into foods that often cause bloating and how a little dietary experimentation and strategic supplements might improve tolerance.

What Are Some Foods That Cause Bloating?

Certain fruits, grains, and vegetables—so-called roughage—are more likely to cause bloating, thanks to the dietary fiber they contain. 

It’s worth pointing out that carbonated beverages and chewing gum can also cause bloating, thanks to the excess air they bring into the gut. And some people’s digestive systems are sensitive to artificial sweeteners or sugar alcohols, like sorbitol and mannitol, that may contribute to bloating. That said, we’ll primarily focus on whole foods here.

All dietary fiber is made of non-digestible carbs in the plants we eat. Fiber can be soluble or insoluble, fermentable or not, and more or less viscous (or gel-like in liquid) 7 8 9 10. 

Typically, bacteria in the colon can more easily ferment (break down) soluble fiber, which is more viscous than insoluble fiber. Some fibers also contain prebiotics, which feed gut bacteria and help them produce gut-supportive short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) 11. 

In general, fiber can be great for gut health 12. High-quality research has shown that adequate fiber intake may:

• Reduce the risk of GI cancer and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) 12 
• Improve constipation 13 and IBD symptoms 14
• Increase levels of beneficial bacteria and their healthy byproducts 14 15
• Decrease inflammation in the gut 14. 

However, eating too much fiber can result in negative effects like bloating, even in healthy people 16. 

And it can be especially troublesome if you have digestive issues like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), IBD, or small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) 17 18. 

So, what are some ways that fibrous foods might cause you to bloat? 

• Suddenly eating lots of high-fiber foods when you and your gut bacteria are not used to it may overwhelm your gut and cause bloating 13 16 19 20 21.
• For people with IBS, IBD, or SIBO, foods with prebiotic fibers that feed gut bacteria can produce too much intestinal gas and cause bloating 22.
• Having trouble digesting carbohydrates called FODMAPs (fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols) in certain foods can cause bloating 23.

Here’s a short list of foods that commonly cause bloating: 

• Legumes (beans and lentils)
• Whole grains
• Cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and cabbage
• Asparagus
• Onions
• Garlic
• Apples
• Plums
• Peaches
• Watermelon
• Avocados

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but notice that all of these foods can be classified as fruits, vegetables, or grains that are higher in dietary fiber. Bloating to an excessive degree after eating these foods may result from:

• Eating too much at once
• A gut imbalance that’s amplifying an otherwise normal response to dietary fiber, prebiotics, or FODMAPs 

Most people don’t have automatic bloating if all they eat is animal proteins like eggs, meat, and fish, or healthy fats like coconut oil and olive oil. But those who do have bloating after consuming these foods in the absence of fibrous foods may need to take a look at their gut health to see what could be triggering that symptom. 

Why Poor Gut Health May Cause Bloating

A number of gut-specific problems could be culprits behind abdominal bloating. Several common root causes include: 

• IBS and related hypersensitivity to gas-induced intestinal expansion 4 
• SIBO 4 24
• Lactose intolerance 4
• EPI (exocrine pancreatic insufficiency) 25
• Gluten or wheat intolerance 26

It’s also possible to have a combination of these root causes, each of which can disrupt the microbiome and damage the intestines. When gut health is compromised, even healthy foods like fruits and vegetables can trigger bloating and other symptoms. 

An experienced functional medicine practitioner can help to evaluate the root cause or causes of bloating and narrow down what to tackle first. 

At the Ruscio Institute of Functional Health, this is our bread and butter (food pun intended?). Everyday, we help our clients evaluate, repair, and optimize their gut health in an approachable, affordable way. If you’re looking for a healthcare partner to help you achieve your gut health goals, reach out to us today. 

Flipping the Script: Improve Gut Health to Handle More Foods

A common first step to better gut health is to stop eating certain trigger foods for a time. If bloating is the main concern, high-FODMAP foods may be an issue. 

When eliminating foods, it’s important to do so only temporarily. Cutting too many foods for too long can rob the body of nutrients. 

Our goal at the clinic is to heal the gut so our clients can eat a wide variety of healthy whole foods and remain symptom-free most of the time. The two main approaches I recommend to clients with bloating are a low-FODMAP diet and probiotics.

Low-FODMAP Diet

Temporarily removing high-FODMAP foods from the diet is a safe and effective option for reducing bloating and gas 27. 

Even though it requires letting go of some common staple foods for a while, a low-FODMAP diet includes a wide array of delicious and nutritious options to fill your plate. Options include fresh meats, many healthy whole grains, tasty roots and greens, a variety of fruits and berries, and even some legumes and dairy products that don’t have lactose.

A helpful tool is this useful app from Monash University, the FODMAP diet pioneers in Melbourne, Australia. Their app lets you see that some generally high-FODMAP foods in smaller amounts can actually be fine on a low-FODMAP diet. 

For example, broccoli is a high-FODMAP food not included in a generalized low-FODMAP diet. But Monash has figured out that keeping broccoli to 2.65 ounces per meal (which might be more than you think), it doesn’t act like a high-FODMAP food.

We have our clients try a low FODMAP diet for 3–4 weeks to reduce bloating. If they notice improvements in gut symptoms, they keep going with the diet and reintroduce higher-FODMAP foods one at a time after they’ve reached maximum improvement. 

If they don’t notice any improvements after a month, it’s ok to stop the diet. Something else may be going on, so we look into that. 

If a client finds the diet is helpful, but things worsen when they reintroduce more FODMAPs, we may keep them on the diet for a while longer. It’s safe to stick with a low-FODMAP diet for up to a year 28, periodically reintroducing trigger foods as the gut improves. 

In addition to its benefits for bloating, studies also show that a low-FODMAP diet can both reduce SIBO 29 and improve gut dysbiosis, which is an imbalance of healthy and unhealthy gut bacteria in the large intestine 30. 

To boot, a low-FODMAP diet can improve leaky gut 31, reduce inflammation 32 and even reduce histamine levels in the gut 33. Each of these can disrupt the gut enough to contribute to bloating, which underscores how helpful a low-FODMAP diet can be.

Along with a low-FODMAP diet, a multi-species probiotic can provide extra support, which I’ll discuss in detail next. 

Probiotics

Another tool to improve bloating is probiotics 34. Studies have shown time and again that probiotics are a safe, effective, and low-cost therapy that improves an array of gut symptoms like bloating, gas, and constipation.

If bloating still occurs after adjusting to a low-FODMAP diet for a couple of weeks, I recommend that my clients introduce probiotics using our triple-therapy approach.It’s a three-pronged approach to probiotics that consists of a multi-species blend of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium bacteria, Saccharomyces boulardii, and soil-based (typically Bacillus) species.

Typically, my clients can take each type of probiotic separately or our blend of all three for convenience for 2–3 months to assess their effects on bloating. This approach has worked well for the majority of my clients, even if they attempted probiotics before and didn’t have success.

Hormone-Balancing Adaptogens

Remember earlier when I said women are about twice as likely to have bloating than men 6? Among several possible reasons for this is fluctuations in estrogen and progesterone levels during the menstrual cycle 35. 

Often, menstruating people will notice more bloating and other digestive issues in the week preceding their period (the luteal phase). But a general hormone imbalance can drive digestive symptoms that exceed those that typically come with a normal menstrual cycle. 

The good news is that dietary adjustments and probiotics can encourage hormone balance. But if diet and probiotics don’t move the needle on bloating, it’s worth trying science-backed hormone balancers as well. In many menstruating people, hormone-balancing supplements can rebalance hormone levels and bring the magnitude of bloating to reflect just the natural, healthy fluctuations in their cycle. 

You Don’t Have to Avoid Bloat-Causing Foods Forever 

While some foods definitely trigger bloating in certain individuals, those who regularly experience bloating will likely benefit from taking a closer look at their gut health and making changes that can improve their overall digestion. 

With a low-FODMAP diet, probiotics, and supplements for hormone balancing,  it’s possible to take control of digestive health and become more tolerant of foods that cause bloating.

For more information on the low-FODMAP diet, probiotics, and how to heal your gut, check out my book Healthy Gut, Healthy You or visit my YouTube channel.

The Ruscio Institute has developed a range of high-quality formulations to help our clients and audience. If you’re interested in learning more about these products, please click here. Note that there are many other options available, and we encourage you to research which products may be right for you. The information on DrRuscio.com is for educational purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.