Flatulence
Flatulence – How to take the wind out of its sails
At first: Don’t panic! Flatulence is completely normal. Everybody has some amount of gases in the intestine. This is part of a healthy digestion. Only if the gas is experienced as uncomfortable it becomes a burden with symptoms such as bloating or distension. Or it might be embarrassing, if you are in public and the gas has to go out.
The four ways to excrete the gases from the GI tract:
- Ejection (But a burp in public isn’t that fun)
- Absorption and Exhalation in low amounts (after the gas has passed through the walls of the digestive tract)
- OR: Winch lowering (what you can hear as a … fart!)
By the way: Up to 24 gas outlets in 24 hours are considered normal, only excessive gas outlet is then called flatulence.
These reasons for flatulence – are up in the air:
Eating habits: Among the most important and most frequent triggers of flatulence are "wrong" eating and nutrition habits.
Eating speed: Hasty eating can lead to a large amount of air being swallowed with the food, which then reaches the digestive tract.
Certain foods: Gas-generating food can cause flatulence: lentils, beans etc. Also, very luxuriant, greasy or sweet foods may cause flatulence, as well as excessive alcohol and coffee consumption.
Sugar substitutes: Sugar substitutes such as sorbitol or xylitol, which are found in many diet, light and sugar-free products can also be a trigger.
Stress: Digestive problems may result from a high and persistent level of stress.
Food intolerance: Especially the intolerances of lactose and fructose can cause flatulence: Both sugars pass undigested through the digestive tract due to missing internal enzymes for digestion or uptake. The bacteria in the intestines are “happy” about this additional food in the large intestine- but produce gas by digesting these sugars.
Imbalance in the intestinal flora: People who suffer from flatulence may show a different composition of the bacterial intestinal flora compared to people not showing flatulence.
Intestinal bacteria: The majority of intestinal gas is formed by the intestinal bacteria themselves - as part of the normal digestive process. This process can be intensified by certain foods - fibre contained in vegetable food is rightly regarded as healthy, but it can also cause flatulence.
How to give headwind to flatulence.
There are various home remedies and medicines against unpleasant flatulence:
- Avoidance of foods that are considered to promote flatulence
- If certain foods are not tolerated: avoid them - for example, dairy products in the case of lactose intolerance; red wine or cheese in the case of histamine intolerance.
- Both for small children and adults, an abdominal massage can help by gently massaging the abdomen in a clockwise circular motion.
- Local heat to relax intestinal muscles, for example by placing a hot-water bottle on top of the abdomen.
- The use of so-called carminatives such as caraway. Their active ingredients are essential oils, which facilitate the outflow of intestinal gases. However, these agents do not prevent flatulence, but only ensure a more inconspicuous outflow of intestinal gases. If you use carminatives for children, be sure to use suitable authorized products.
Or just try Iberogast® - it’s a natural herbal medicine that can be used in cases of functional digestive disorders characterized amongst others by flatulence well as bloating.
The effectiveness of Iberogast® is due to the unique combination of nine powerful extracts from medicinal plants (including caraway), which reinforce each other and give effective relief to flatulence and other intestinal symptoms of functional GI disorders such as
- Abdominal cramps
Spasmodic or colic-like stomach pain without specified localization - Nausea
Urgent feeling of need to vomit but vomit does not actually occur - Stomach pain
Stomach pain feels very different depending on the cause. It is usually located on the left side of the trunk, approximately under the diaphragm. - Abdominal pain
Pain below the sternum/pain localized in the upper abdomen - Fullness
Feeling of congestion of food without relation to prior food intake which could explain this feeling
Iberogast®
Disturbances in the gastrointestinal tract are usually not only extremely unpleasant and associated with numerous complaints, they often make a normal everyday life even harder. It’s good that there is Iberogast® : The combination of nine medicinal plants targets both the underlying causes and the annoying symptoms.
Fast help from nature - Iberogast®
Benefit from the power of nature with 9 medicinal plants that work together. Effective, clinically proven and well tolerated.
You have questions? Here are the answers!
Anything you’d like to know about Iberogast® ? 60 years of experience, many patients and numerous studies provide a lot of information, we can share. Get your information here!
Comprehensive efficacy for a variety of gastrointestinal complaints
Thanks to the combination of 9 medicinal plants, Iberogast® acts simultaneously on several parts of the digestive tract (multi-target principle). Instead of concentrating on an isolated symptom, it can alleviate a wide range of symptoms of irritable stomach.
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