What Causes A Bloated Stomach?

Food Intolerance

Food intolerance is a term used to describe a condition that occurs in individuals who have difficulty with the digestion of certain types of food. This difficulty does not stem from any form of food allergy caused by an individual's immune system activity. Food intolerance is a form of hypersensitivity that does not involve the activation of histamine response. The most common types of food implicated in food intolerance are gas-inducing foods, dairy products, and foods that contain gluten.

Bloating is a common problem that happens in individuals who are sensitive to dairy products containing lactose. Dairy intolerance occurs because the affected individual's body lacks the enzyme required to break lactose down, and when this substance is not broken down, it is left to be eaten by the naturally occurring bacteria in the gut. This process of bacterial digestion of lactose causes the production of gaseous byproducts in the digestive tract that causes bloating.

Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Inflammatory bowel disease is a group of diseases that result in the inflammation of an individual's digestive system. Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis are the most common forms of irritable bowel disease in the population. It is thought an excessive amount of gas in the digestive tract causes inflammatory bowel disease patients to become bloated. Inflammatory bowel diseases cause an affected individual to be more susceptible to developing gastrointestinal tract infections that cause the production of excess gas and subsequent bloating.

Inflammatory bowel diseases have been known to cause significant damage in a patient's intestines, which can cause them to lose their function of nutrient absorption and digestion. Food that has not been fully digested and absorbed is left for the gut microbiome to consume, which is a process that also causes the production of excess gas, resulting in a bloated stomach.