Does your child experience bloating? The three most effective ways to reduce bloating are eliminating food intolerances, gluten-free or modern wheat-free diets (some need to avoid all grains), and supplementing digestive enzymes and probiotics. Let’s examine the evidence.
• Bloating, IBS and Food Intolerances
Several studies have shown that those with IBS have higher levels of food-specific IgG antibodies in their blood – much more than in “healthy” subjects. Knowing that IBS sufferers have significantly raised levels of IgG antibodies to specific foods, researchers at the University of South Manchester (1) tested 150 IBS sufferers with a YorkTest food specific IgG antibody test and then gave their doctors either the real or fake results. Only those following a diet eliminating their food intolerances had relief from IBS symptoms of bloating and abdominal pain. What’s more, those who stuck to it most strictly had the best results. Levels of compliance, on the other hand, didn’t make a difference in those on the sham diets.
• Gluten and Modern vs Ancient Wheat
The most common food linked to bloating is wheat. The increasing prevalence of non-celiac gluten sensitivity is raising questions regarding what people are reacting to and why. A recent Dutch survey of 785 people self-reporting gluten sensitivity found that only two, on testing, had coeliac disease. Symptoms reported included bloating (74%), abdominal discomfort (49%) and flatulence (47%). These symptoms are extremely common in children.
One trial tested the effects of a gluten-free or placebo diet (giving gluten containing or gluten-free bread) for four weeks on 60 IBS sufferers. There was a strong reduction in bloating and abdominal pain in those on the gluten-free versus placebo diet, and a return of symptoms on reintroducing gluten.
Professor Francesco Sofi, at the University of Florence, had a hunch that it might not be wheat per se, but rather that gluten and other proteins have been changed in modern wheat compared to that of ancient wheat, and this is driving bloating and IBS. To test this theory, he gave IBS sufferers foods (bread, pasta, biscuits) made from either modern wheat or ancient organic Kamut® ‘khorosan’ wheat for six weeks, randomly assigned. This is the same wheat that was eaten thousands of years ago which is genetically much simpler than modern wheat which has been genetically altered through hybridisation.
During the modern-wheat weeks they had no improvement. However, when they were unknowingly eating Kamut, everything got better. They reported significantly less bloating, abdominal pain, irregularity and tiredness. Remarkably, every single person in the study reported benefit. Also, blood markers of inflammation all reduced by a third.
• Digestive Enzymes and Probiotics
Every day the child’s body produces a staggering litre of digestive juices containing enzymes. Infants make less and older children make more depending on the size of their stomach.
The most common offending foods for wind are beans, lentils and other pulses, which require alpha-galactosidase for their digestion; and greens, especially cruciferous vegetables (cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower), which require amyloglucosidase (also called glucoamylase). Certain others generate more gas, including turnips, leeks, onions and garlic. Some people produce insufficient amounts of the enzyme, alpha-galactosidase, or amyloglucosidase, the enzyme that digest greens.
It is not easy, or perhaps necessary, to test if a person is a poor producer of digestive enzymes. The simplest ‘test’ is just to give a person a comprehensive digestive enzyme supplement containing all the above enzymes, plus lactase, amylase, protease and lipase, being the key digestive enzymes if these symptoms are present.
How to Implement Change
Today’s Challenge: Read the Report Solutions for Constipation, Bloating and IBS in your Library.
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Wishing you and your child the best of health and happiness,
The COGNITION for Smart Kids & Teens Team