You will likely need to take a probiotic supplement for a few days or weeks to see a difference in your gut health. Digestive enzymes are also a useful tool to help battle bloating, as they help to break down protein, carbs, fibre, lactose and fats to make it easier on your digestive system.
These prebiotic fructooligosaccharides (FOS) fibres may cause some initial gas and bloating for a few sensitive individuals. These side effects should subside within 48-72 hours in most people, but this may take longer in people who have more severe dysbiosis, or if they have never taken a prebiotic before.
If you are taking a high quality, multispecies and multistrain supplement, you can expect to notice initial improvements and health benefits of probiotics in your digestion as early as the first 1-2 weeks after starting your probiotic. Depending on how sensitive you are, many people feel a difference after a few days.
Probiotics may quickly treat some minor issues. For example, a person with minor diarrhea may see symptoms go away in a few days. For overall digestive health, it can take a few weeks of regular use before a person notices the effects.
Probiotics help eliminate or decrease common gastrointestinal symptoms such as abdominal pain, bloating, gas, reflux and even nausea/vomiting. These foods help fill your gut with healthy bacteria that will assist in the healthy breakdown of the food you eat.
When first using probiotics, some people experience gas, bloating, or diarrhea. Changes in the gut microbiota can result in bacteria producing more gas than usual, which can lead to bloating. However, these side effects usually clear up within a few days or weeks of taking the probiotics.
Probiotics fix frequent gut issues by killing pathogenic bacteria within your intestine. As a result, your bowel movements start getting back to normal. Having regular bowel movements that are of the right consistency is a sign that your probiotics are working perfectly.
Some of the best probiotics for bloating include: Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacterium infantis, Bifidobacterium lactis, and Streptococcus thermophilus.
Consuming foods that contain probiotics (aka live “good” bacteria) can help reduce belly bloat caused by an overabundance of “bad” flora in your gut. “Eating dairy with probiotics will help to ease digestive woes that can cause bloating,” says Lakatos.
Regularly taking probiotics has generally been shown to be safe, according to the NIH, especially Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium. The most common side effect is gas. Some cases of infections have resulted in severe illness in immunocompromised or severely ill patients after taking probiotics.
Consuming probiotic food such as yoghurt (make sure there's “live active cultures” under the nutritional label) and Yakult, helps extract nutrients and break down food for the body, effectively regulating digestion.
They may trigger allergic reactions, and may also cause mild stomach upset, diarrhea, or flatulence (passing gas) and bloating for the first few days after starting to take them. There are certain people who need to use caution when using probiotic supplements.
The ideal time to take probiotics is right before bed because "the gut is pretty inactive at night. If you think about it, you don't usually wake up in the middle of the night to poop,” says Patricia Raymond, MD, a gastroenterology and internal medicine physician and clinical advisor for Gastro Girl.
Possible Benefits of Probiotics
Probiotics are thought to improve digestive health, and they're often used to treat diarrhea or bloating. Probiotics can have many positive effects on the body, including: Shaping the body's immune system. Producing antimicrobial substances.
“Research has found probiotic supplements to be most effective when taken 20 to 30 minutes before a meal,” says Nelson. “Taking them before breakfast may be the preferred option, because your digestive system has been at rest for an extended period of time and the probiotic has less resistance reaching the intestines.”
Some medications that may interact with certain probiotics include: antibiotics, antifungals (such as clotrimazole, ketoconazole, griseofulvin, nystatin).
It is not uncommon for some individuals to experience flatulence and bloating for the first few days after starting to take them. This is just your gut microbiome adjusting to the probiotics! In general, taking probiotics is safe and side effects such as gas should not be of major concern.
It is also possible to experience bloating without any release of gas. Factors such as hormonal imbalances, food intolerances, constipation, gut bacteria imbalances, large or small intestinal parasites and certain medications can all result in bloating without passing gas.