What Foods Give You Gas? Find Out with a Cool New Gadget (and 7 Possible Culprits)
Maybe you don’t eat gluten; maybe it’s dairy you avoid, or cheese, or pork, or beans. But do you actually know what foods give you gas?
Millions of Americans are plagued by food sensitivities or issues that lead to uncomfortable gas and bloating, and so they restrict their diets, often without necessarily knowing which foods are leading to those uncomfortable symptoms because testing for food sensitivities can be time-consuming and expensive, requiring numerous trips to the doctor. Now, however, you don’t need to go through expensive testing and doctor’s appointments to know what foods give you gas, thanks to a new gadget from FoodMarble.
FoodMarble’s AIRE digestive tracker is a portable diagnostic device with an easy-to-use app built on the same premise as the hydrogen breath tests used by a gastroenterologist. This technique measures excess hydrogen produced when your body can’t digest a particular compound and therefore leaves it in your gut, allowing hydrogen-producing bacteria to eat away at it.
The best way to use the app is take a fasting reading first thing in the morning. You then test after consuming a problematic food or one of the chemical packets included with the AIRE – which contain things like fructose or lactose – and wait 15 minutes before testing again. You then continuously test every 15 minutes until you’re done digesting – about 90 minutes or so – to see if the substance is one you can’t digest. Pretty easy, huh?
The AIRE is expected to sell for $149 when it becomes available via retail vendors, but you can pre-order it now on FoodMarble’s website for $99, with orders expected to ship in August 2017.
In the meantime, though, there are a few common culprits that often cause gas, flatulence, and digestive discomfort. Here are seven foods you might want to examine more closely to see if they’re the cause of your tummy troubles.
1. Broccoli
Broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables like Brussels sprouts contain a sugar called raffinose; human beings lack the enzyme needed to process the sugar, meaning that it is usually broken down in the large intestine by bacteria, causing gas. This issue, compounded with the large amount of fiber in the vegetable, can make broccoli hard on certain stomachs.
2. Milk
Milk contains lactose, another sugar that many people cannot digest. In fact, an estimated 50 million Americans are lactose intolerant, and your chances of being intolerant to the sugar go up if you are of African American, American Indian, or Asian American descent.
3. Cheese
People assume that cheese is just as bad for those with lactose intolerance as milk, but many types of cheese actually contain relatively little lactose. What they do contain, however, is a high amount of fat, which can cause gas and bloating in some people since it takes longer to make it through the digestive tract than other compounds.
4. Chia Seeds
Chia seeds are very good for you, but given their high fiber content, they can also have some unfortunate digestive side effects ranging from constipation and hard stool to diarrhea, bloating, and gas. Be sure to prepare chia seeds properly to have a better chance of avoiding these problems.
5. Bread
Bread and any other foods containing gluten have been known to create digestive problems in people with gluten intolerances and sensitivities, and while many naysayers were convinced for a time that without a Celiac diagnosis, gluten didn’t cause any problems, new research shows that many people without Celiac disease may still be sensitive to gluten.
6. Artichokes
Fructose is another culprit that can create digestive discomfort. Globe artichokes but also Jerusalem artichokes are very high in indigestible fructans, which are polymers of fructose molecules also found in agave, asparagus, leeks, garlic, onions, jicama, and wheat.
7. Beans
Those teasing songs from the playground didn’t stem from nowhere – beans are known to cause flatulence given the sugars they contain. These include raffinose as well as stachyose, a triple sugar, and verbascose, a five sugar, neither of which we have the enzyme to digest.
Avoiding these seven foods is a good start if you’re trying to reduce the embarrassing predicament of gassiness and get to the bottom of what foods give you gas.
Related on Organic Authority
The Best Homemade Refried Beans Recipe: Hold the Lard!
Science Proves Wheat Sensitivity is Real (Even if It’s Not Celiac Disease)
3 Ways to Tell Lactose Intolerance Symptoms from a Dairy Allergy (Yes, There’s a Difference)
