What is bloating?

Bloating is a feeling when your belly is overly full, swollen or distended. When you’re bloated, your tummy has increased abdominal pressure, usually related to trapped gas. Bloating can often be accompanied with flatulence, belching, and digestive discomfort, as well as a visible enlargement of the waistline, known as abdominal distention.

What causes bloating?

The causes of bloating are wide and varied, however the most common drivers include excess gas formation, slow digestion, and visceral hypersensitivity.

• Excess Gas: Before, during and after meals, your gut produces acid, enzymes and bile that break down your food, where it is mostly absorbed in the small intestine. What cannot be digested in the small intestine is finished off by the bacteria in your gut, creating gas during this process. Eating foods that are difficult to break down, such as larger portions, rich and fatty meals, or excess salt, carbohydrates and fibre, place more burden on your digestive system, resulting in increasing gas production and bloating. For this reason, sudden changes in diet, such as eating out or when travelling can often cause bloating.
  
  
• Slow Digestion: Food moves from one part of the gut to another via muscular contractions. When these contractions are impaired (for example due to stress), changes in the speed or strength of the digestive organs can cause the contents of the gut to become trapped, which can result in bloating and distention.
  
  
• Visceral Hypersensitivity: The gut and the brain communicate regularly with each other via highly connected nerves (or the gut-brain axis). When the nerves in the gut are oversensitive, ordinary small changes in the volume of the gut can trigger miscommunication, causing bloating, pain, and digestive discomfort.

How can Digest Ease help?

Digest Ease contains an array of medicinal herbs that provide digestive support and alleviate bloating and the feeling of fullness. Gentian works as a digestive primer, helping your body to naturally stimulate its own gastric secretions, aiding the breakdown of difficult to digest foods.

Peppermint is a carminative herb that works to break-up intestinal gas, while Ginger and GutGard together target intestinal dysmotility, keeping your digestive system moving. Finally, Lemon Balm helps to calm hypersensitive gastrointestinal nerves. Collectively these actions help to relieve the symptoms of bloating and fullness.