Does Garlic Make You Bloated

Why Does Garlic Cause Gas

Some people do find that garlic gives them gas.

Garlic does contain a significant amount of fiber and sugars like fructose and oligosaccharides that often lead to gas.

However, unless youre eating a full head of garlic, youre unlikely to eat enough to cause an issue.

The most common reason that garlic causes gas is because its very high in fructans, which causes gas and bloating in some people.

If youd like to test out if you react highly to fructans, you can try eating other foods that are high in fructans like:

• Jerusalem artichokes

You Might Be Able To Use It As An Anti

Garlic has been known to contain certain antimicrobial properties, which is basically how you might describe something that kills or destroys a certain organism. “Antimicrobial” is an umbrella term that includes things like antibacterial and anti-fungal.

A report from the Ulster Medical Journal found that garlic has properties that can help fight off nine out of the 24 common bacterial infections mentioned in the report, as well as one of the 10 fungi listed: candida parapsilosis. This is a common species of candida that can sometimes lead to yeast infections if there is too much of it.

Garlic may be a helpful anti-fungal agent, but it is recommended as an addition to other types of anti-fungal medicine and shouldn’t necessarily be used on its own until more research has been done.

Does Drinking Water Help Relieve Gas

While it may seem counterintuitive, drinking water may help to reduce bloat by ridding the body of excess sodium, Fullenweider says. Another tip: Be sure to drink plenty of water before your meal too. This step offers the same bloat-minimizing effect and can also prevent overeating, according to the Mayo Clinic.

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Garlic Is High In Fructans

Garlic is high in a carb called fructans. The problem with fructans is that they reach your intestines intact. This leads the bacteria in your gut to ferment it, which causes an increase in gas.

Most people can have a small number of fructans without getting any symptoms. However, for people with IBS specifically, or sensitivity to fructans, a small dosage can be enough to cause bloating and gas.

Other high-fructan foods you want to avoid are onions, wheat, and scallions. So if you find you get bloated eating those foods as well, the issue might be that you dont handle fructans very well.

How To Relieve Stomach Pain After Eating Garlic

I understand how uncomfortable it is when you get bloated after eating a certain food. Some remedies can help reduce your bloating after consuming food that has some garlic.

Drinking peppermint tea after your meals can help reduce your IBS symptoms by 40%. While you can have a peppermint candy, Ive found it more soothing to relieve my bloating symptoms whenever I have a nice cup of tea.

Another remedy you can use is to have warm lemon water with ginger. Research shows that ginger can help improve your digestion speed.

If you dont like ginger tea, you can also have dried ginger candy bites. This can be a sweet treat to have after a meal that can aid in your digestive problems.

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What To Do If You Have Garlic Farts

Garlic-induced flatulence can be annoying, but it’s not harmful.

“If fructan-rich foods like garlic make you gassy, it’s not necessary to cut them out of your diet,” Panitz says. “Fructans don’t cause damage to our intestines or result in an inflammatory process.”

In fact? Fructans are good for us. These carbohydrates are prebiotic fibers, which serve to feed and stimulate the growth of beneficial bacteria in the gut.

They also aid in the absorption of minerals and trace elements, per a November 2020 review in âClinical Nutrition ESPEN,â and are integral to the production of short-chain fatty acids like butyrate, which may play a role in preventing certain cancers, according to July 2021 research in âBiomedicine & Pharmacotherapy.â

If the gas is embarrassing or uncomfortable, eating a little less garlic can help keep the problem in check. “Fructans are dose-dependent. It’s possible that you may tolerate a small amount without experiencing symptoms,” Panitz says.

Figuring out how much garlic you can eat without turning into a windmill requires a little trial and error, so pay attention to how much of the stuff you’re getting at each meal and look at where you might be getting even more fructans from other foods.

“Label-reading is a must, because fructans are often added to increase the fiber and prebiotic content of many foods like cereal, protein bars, yogurt and granola,” says Panitz.

Carbohydrate Breakdown Of Garlic

Heres the amount of carbohydrates that are found in significant amounts in 100 grams of garlic .

Keep in mind that a normal clove of garlic is about 5 grams, so its quite rare to eat anywhere close to 100 grams in a serving.

Even though fructose can cause gas issues , its likely not an issue in garlic because its a relatively small amount.

Both FOS and raffinose are types of oligosaccharides, which are known to cause gas because they cannot be digested in the small intestine. Theres a reasonable amount of them in garlic, and in a large serving of garlic, they could certainly contribute to stomach problems.

But the most likely cause of gas from garlic is the high amount of fructans

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What Causes Stomach Gas

There are two causes of gas or bloating in the human stomach. The first one is due to the air we inhale. Nonetheless, this can only happen in rare cases.

The other cause of bloating comes from various digestive issues. Typically, this is usually a result of the food we eat. Health experts associate bloating and gas with intestinal bacteria. The said bacteria ferment sugars, carbohydrates, or fiber content in the stomach. While some of these bacteria may consume the gas, the body passes the remaining gas in several ways. These include burping, flatulence, and so on.

The gases we pass out of our bodies are mainly odorless vapor. Stomach gas constituents include methane, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and hydrogen.

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What Happens When You Eat Garlic And Honey For 7 Days

Garlic and honey are super foods that combined form an excellent natural remedy to combat conditions such as colds, flu, and other illnesses. The sulfur compounds in garlic and the nutrients in honey exert an anticoagulant and toning effect on the veins, preventing the formation of thrombosis and varicose veins.

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Foods That Cause Bloating

Many foods can cause digestive issues like bloating, especially for people with food intolerances or sensitivities. Making changes to your diet may help ease symptoms of bloating.

Bloating is when your belly feels swollen or enlarged after eating.

Bloating is very common. About 30% of people say they experience it regularly .

Although bloating may be a symptom of certain medical conditions, it is usually caused by gas, digestive issues, or dietary factors (

Here are 13 foods that can cause bloating, along with suggestions on what to eat instead.

Discovering My Garlic And Onion Intolerance

After six weeks, I finally started feeling like my old self again, and it was time to reintroduce foods and monitor my reaction. As excited as I was to eat some of the foods I had missed so much, such as stone fruit and avocados, I was extremely nervous to find out which foods I was intolerant to, in fear that it was something I loved.

Never did I expect that the two main culprits would be garlic and onion. When I tried to reintroduce both of these foods into my diet, I immediately experienced the IBS symptoms I had suffered from before. At first, I thought I was going crazy. Is it truly possible that these two healthy kitchen staples could be so seriously messing with my stomach? I immediately took to the internet and found that, thankfully, I was not alone.

It turns out, garlic and onions contain fructans1 that can be malabsorbed in the small intestine.

When these fructans are not digested properly, they then ferment in the small intestine and cause many of the dreadful IBS symptoms including bloating, gas, constipation, and diarrhea.

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Why Fructans In Garlic Cause Gas

As the name suggests, fructans are related to fructose.

Fructose is a single simple sugar molecule, and fructans are a small polymer chain of fructose.

Even in a small serving of garlic, theres still a lot of fructan.

It turns out that garlic is one of the highest foods in fructan by a large margin .

Just as fructose itself is hard to digest, fructans are even harder to break down, which is why they can cause digestive issues like:

Not everyone has the same response to fructans, as the gut microbiome can differ significantly from one person to another.

Raw Garlic & Bloating

You’ve likely heard that garlic has health benefits, including the ability to lower cholesterol and reduce high blood pressure. What you may not know is that how garlic is prepared matters. Raw garlic is the best source of the antioxidants responsible for the vegetable’s health benefits. However, raw garlic can also cause digestive problems, including bloating, for some people.

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Eating Onions And Garlic In Moderation

You may experience digestive problems from eating large quantities of onions, so be creative about ways you can include onions in your diet regularly without eating lots of onions all at once. The University of Maryland Medical Center advises eating garlic in moderation to avoid side effects like digestive problems, and recommends eating between two and four fresh garlic cloves per day, chopping them before cooking them.

You Might Strengthen Your Immune System

Garlic can potentially help us strengthen our immune system. According to the Journal of Immunology Research, garlic can improve our immunity by stimulating various types of cells in our body that are directly linked to our immune system function. This report emphasized that more human studies still need to be done on this topic, but the current findings are very promising.

Another study from Clinical Nutrition found that aged garlic extract can have a positive result on immunity as well. This study gave 60 participants a daily dose of aged garlic extract and another group of 60 participants a placebo. After the trial period, it was found that the group taking the extract reported much less severe cold/flu symptoms, as well as less time actually being sick.

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Best: Peppermint And Chamomile Teas

If you’re feeling puffy after dinner, you can sip on a hot cup of peppermint or chamomile tea. Both kinds relax GI muscles, per a study published in 2020 in the Journal of Medicinal Plants Studies, to help dissipate the gas that causes your stomach to bloat.

Aside from improving digestion, chamomile can also soothe and relax, which can help ease any sort of stomach discomfort.

You Might Get Heartburn

Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease , is a very common issue among adults that causes excess acid reflux in the esophagus. This creates a lot of pain, nausea, and heartburn.

If you have GERD or are easily susceptible to heartburn, you may want to be careful with how much garlic you consume. Our bodies have a lower esophageal sphincter , which is a group of muscles that prevents stomach acid from traveling back up to the esophagus. According to Primary Care, garlic can weaken the “tone” of these LES muscles and cause more heartburn, especially for those with GERD or related struggles.

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You Might Feel Bloated

Garlic is high in a type of carbohydrate called fructan. These carbs can also be found in foods like wheat, rye, onions, asparagus, grapefruit, watermelon, black beans, and cashews. According to Lori Chung RD, via the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, people often misdiagnose themselves with gluten intolerance when they may in fact have an intolerance to fructans.6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e

Symptoms of fructan intolerance are very similar to gluten intolerance and include things like bloating, stomach pain, cramps, and excess gas. If you often experience similar gastrointestinal issues after eating garlic, you may want to be careful!

According to Current Gastroenterology Reports, a FODMAP diet may be helpful for those with a possible fructan intolerance, although more research still needs to be done to determine the effectiveness of this. It has also been shown that cooking your garlic can help alleviate some of the possible digestive discomforts.

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Replacing Garlic With Alternatives Such As Chives And Ginger Can Have A Positive Impact On Your Gut

If diarrhoea and bloating seem like a daily occurrence to you, youre not alone. In fact, its estimated that as many as two in 10 people in the UK suffer with Irritable Bowel Syndrome . Many of those find that carefully monitoring their diet can play a big role in managing their symptoms. Youve probably heard of the most common triggers fatty foods, dairy and wheat but did you know that garlic could actually be triggering your IBS?

Despite its proposed health benefits, garlic can actually be a trigger for many individuals with IBS. Here, we get the low-down on why giving that garlic bread a miss might well do wonders for your gut.

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You Might Improve Your Cognitive Function

Some research has found that garlic can have a positive effect on our cognitive function. According to the Journal of Nutrition, aged garlic extract has been known to lower our chances of cognitive decline while helping to improve our memory and retention.

A report found in Experimental and Therapeutic Medicinealso found that garlic extract might be able to fight off certain cancers, heart disease, and help prevent dementia because of its unique antioxidant properties.

For a sharper mind, here are the 30 Best & Worst Foods For Your Brain.

What Causes Stomach Bloating

The last meal you ate is sitting deep inside of your belly right now, churning and breaking down in a soup of acid and enzymes. Its a digestive process that typically moves things along pretty efficiently.

Some food, though, tends to linger longer than it should in your winding intestinal track. Food that sits begins to decompose and ferment.

The result? Youre going to get some gassiness, says Czerwony.

That bloated feeling you get after eating certain foods is essentially those gasses building up internally. Basically, youre inflating like a balloon which can suddenly make you feel like youre about to burst.

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Hard To Digest Foods Take

The list found here is by no means an exclusive one, but more of a sweeping guideline. Some of the foods listed are common knowledge, but the others not so much. And often, these are the foods that people tend to overlook when trying to pinpoint the causes of their digestive troubles.

If youre a sufferer whos looking for answers, I strongly encourage you to reduce or eliminate these foods. Look at the list, follow the suggestions, observe how you feel and discover for yourself. Thats the only sure way of knowing what affects you as an individual.

As always, I encourage everyone to seek the help of a trained digestive health professional in the process to guide you along. Digestive problems can be overwhelming and exasperatingsomething with which I can certainly empathize, and as such, they require attention.

Fatty Foods Including Pork And Beef

Fatty foods slow down digestion, which can leave them festering in your gut, fermenting and getting pongy. Fatty meats are doubly tricky because they are rich in the amino acid methionine, which contains sulphur. Sulphur is broken down by your gut bacteria into hydrogen sulphide that lovely rotten egg smell and enhances the odour of gas produced by other foods you eat as well as the meat.

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Garlic Allergy Or Intolerance

If you have an intolerance or allergy to garlic, eating raw garlic may cause a range of symptoms, including digestive ailments such as bloating. Excessive gas produced in the digestive tract can make you feel bloated, have painful cramps and experience flatulence. Diarrhea, vomiting and nausea may also occur with a garlic allergy, as well as an itchy rash, eczema and wheezing. You may be able to tolerate small amounts of raw garlic but notice that your symptoms appear with increased consumption.

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You Might Lower Your Blood Pressure

Garlic has also been known to have properties that can actually lower our blood pressure levels over time. According to a report on garlic consumption by the Nutrition Journal, consuming fresh cloves of garlic or garlic products can have positive effects on lowering our blood pressure.

In a report published by Dove Medical Press, it was found that one of the main factors in lowering blood pressure with garlic is based on the polysulfides found in their makeup. These polysulfides help to regulate what is known as the “redox signaling pathways” in our body, which are the ways in which our cells get important messages about things that need repair or protection. This includes maintaining our body’s blood pressure levels.

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