Does Consuming Kefir Make You Really Gassy?
Kefir is a drink that contains both healthy bacteria and yeast. It is made by fermenting milk. It is used for various different reasons. Like all fermented foods, it can be very difficult to digest for some people. As a result, it can lead to mild and even severe symptoms. Below, we will be going over some of the benefits of Kefir and whether or not it can make you gassy.
Benefits Of Kefir:
1. Nutrients
For one, Kefir has all kinds of healthy nutrients. This alone makes it a beverage worth considering. The fermentation process ensures that the drink has a lot of healthy nutrients ranging from healthy bacteria to various vitamins and minerals that your body needs to survive.
2. Probiotic
As mentioned, you are going to get a lot of healthy bacteria by drinking fermented milk. During the fermentation process, these healthy bacteria are created. Therefore, it can be a very healthy probiotic and even better than yoghurt in a lot of instances. In fact, Kefir is one of the most diverse probiotics you can get as it contains so many different strains of healthy bacteria and yeast [1].
Now that we have gone over some of the benefits that it can offer, we will be going over whether or not it can cause you to become gassy. First, we should discuss one of the common mistakes people make when they are talking about being gassy.
Bloating vs Being Gassy
A lot of people assume that being bloated is the same thing as being gassy. This is simply not true. When you are bloated, you essentially are dealing with the negative symptoms associated with having excess gas in your system. When you are bloated, you are usually experiencing a variety of other related symptoms including but not limited to stomach pain and/or constipation.
When you are gassy, you have excess amounts of gas in your body. You generally develop gas by getting too much air in your body either through drinking, eating, or otherwise. Therefore, drinking carbonated beverages can cause this which is why you typically notice you have a tendency to burp after drinking a lot of it.
Does Kefir Make You Gassy?
One of the reasons why some people might actually experience excess gas production when they drink Kefir has to do with the fact that they are lactose intolerant. Some people actually do have lactose intolerance and if you are drinking kefir, you might end up suffering the consequences of doing it. While it is 99% lactose-free, those that are very sensitive to lactose are likely to experience some side effects. However, some people will not even if they are lactose intolerant.
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If you are someone that is experiencing excess gas production after drinking kefir, it might be due to lactose intolerance but it could also be caused by simply not having a tolerance for them. If you are not someone who regularly takes probiotics, to begin with, you might have bloating and excess gas for a little bit until your body adjusts to them. Studies show that if you continue to take probiotics for some time, your body will begin to learn how to adjust to them which can help prevent this type of negative response from your digestive system [2].
For those that aren’t lactose intolerant and for those that aren’t as negatively impacted by this, you might find that kefir actually helps with getting rid of excess gas. The main reason why kefir can help minimise gas has to do with it being such a rich source of probiotics. Getting more healthy bacteria to improve your digestion can have a good and positive impact on your ability to get rid of excess gas production.
Therefore, there is really no answer to this question. The answer is really that it depends on who you are. For some, kefir is likely to cause some type of discomfort which is usually in the form of excess gas. For others, it might relieve a lot of symptoms of bloating and excess gas. Therefore, you really won’t know until you actually try it. Due to the various benefits, you can get from drinking kefir, it’s well worth trying.
References:
[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4854945/
