Correcting Intestinal Gas

CORRECTING INTESTINAL GAS

Zoltan Rona MD MSc

Gas attacks in an otherwise healthy individual most often occur because of:

• food intolerances (e.g. coffee, tea, dairy, yeast, chocolate, wheat, carbonated beverages, cabbage, brans, psyllium, corn, soy products, etc.) - insufficient stomach acid production causing incompletely digested protein

• low pancreatic and intestinal digestive enzymes leading to incompletely digested carbohydrates and fats 

• an imbalance between friendly and potentially pathogenic bacteria, fungi or parasites 

• a fermentation process carried out by yeast (candida) on sugar, yeast and simple carbohydrates

Proper food combining may be all that is needed to curtail intestinal gas in many people. The book, “The Complete Candida Yeast Guidebook” which I co-authored with Jeanne Marie Martin, discusses food combining errors as well as the other causes listed above.         Simple food combining rules like eating high protein foods (dairy, poultry, fish, other meats) separately from high carbohydrate foods like breads, pasta, cereals or potatoes can be quite effective. Also, eat raw fruit alone or about half an hour before a meal. Cooked fruit is okay to eat during or after a meal. If your gas problems are severe, cut out fruits entirely for a few weeks. When symptoms get better, reintroduce 1 or 2 servings of cooked fruits daily.

See what your body allows you to have. If eliminating fruit makes no difference, stop all grains (breads, pastas, cereals, brans, etc.) for about 2 weeks and note the changes.

Natural remedies that may be effective against gas include:

• betaine, pepsin or glutamic acid hydrochloride
• plant enzymes 
• bromelain and papain 
• Swedish bitters (stomach bitters) 
• pancreatic digestive enzymes (e.g. pancreatin) 
• special intestinal enzyme products 
• lactobacillus acidophilus and bifidus with FOS (fructo-oligo-saccharides) 
• activated charcoal capsules (e.g. Neutra-gas®, Eucarbon®) 
• N-Acetyl Glucosamine (NAG)
• enteric coated peppermint oil capsules 
• aloe vera juice

Most people arrive at a resolution of their symptoms by trial and error, but one can narrow down the problem more easily with lab tests like the CDSA (comprehensive stool and digestive analysis) and CP (comprehensive parasitology) tests. Your naturopath or medical doctor can order these tests for you. The CDSA is a battery of 24 screening tests of gastrointestinal status that can tell how well a person digests and assimilates his or her food, whether or not there is a bacterial bowel flora imbalance, hidden fungal or parasitic infections, possible food allergies and/or digestive enzyme insufficiencies. Specific treatment can then be recommended by your health care practitioner.