Gut-Healthy Foods That Ease Digestive Problems
Constipated? Bloated? The simple strategies to try.
When digestive problems—constipation, reflux, gas, and bloating—strike, many people turn to medication. But taking a look at your diet is worth the effort. "So many digestive complaints are related to food," says Ilaria St. Florian, MS, a clinical dietitian at Stamford Health in Connecticut. Eating too little of the right things or too much of the foods that make your particular problem worse is often the culprit. Making some changes to your typical menu may help.
Anyone can suffer from digestive problems, but they can become more common with age. Age-related shifts in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, reduced appetite and thirst, and difficulty chewing can hamstring the digestion process. Obviously, any alarming or chronic changes in digestion warrant a call to your doctor, but a few easy tweaks can help alleviate, and maybe prevent, occasional problems.
The best way to identify what’s causing your distress is to keep a food log (and it will make your doctor’s job much easier if you show up with one in hand). "Even just a five-day food diary—noting eating times, food consumed, and symptoms—can help you start pinpointing trigger foods, which are very individual," St. Florian says. Here’s how to troubleshoot a few of the most common GI complaints with gut-healthy foods.
Constipation
Irregularity isn’t a given with age, but people over 65 experience constipation about twice as often as younger people, according to a review published in 2019 in the Canadian Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology. In addition to being uncomfortable and frustrating on its own, constipation can trigger a domino effect of other digestive complaints, including gas and bloating, so it’s important to address it, St. Florian says.
Acid Reflux
That uncomfortable burning feeling can be more common with age, thanks to weakening sphincter muscles that separate the stomach from the esophagus (allowing acidic stomach contents to creep upward), reduced salivation, and other factors. Older adults with chronic reflux have a higher chance of developing gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD.
The food fix: Fried, fatty, and spicy foods; alcohol; coffee; and peppermint are prime reflux triggers. A 2020 study in the journal Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology found that replacing two daily servings of coffee, tea, or soda with water helped reduce reflux symptoms by 4 to 8 percent. In place of fried or fatty foods, add higher-fiber foods, which can help boost satiety and reduce the desire to eat junk. If acidic foods like citrus fruits and tomatoes bother you, choose fruits and vegetables that aren’t as acidic, such as apples, watermelon, and cucumbers. Chewing sugarless gum after meals may help. It prompts saliva production, which helps to neutralize acid and wash it out of the esophagus.
Good to know: Reflux can be especially bothersome at night. The most recent GERD treatment guidelines from the American College of Gastroenterology recommend avoiding eating in the 2 to 3 hours before bed and sleeping with your upper body elevated—for example, with a wedge pillow. Losing weight, if necessary, and quitting smoking are two other ways to reduce reflux.
Gas and Bloating
These two often go hand in hand, although you can have one without the other. "Many older adults have gas because they’re constipated," Phillips says. When food ferments in the intestines it can cause gas to build up, leading to bloating and the need to pass gas.
The food fix: Certain types of carbohydrates—called fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and polyols (FODMAPs)—can ferment in the large intestine and can cause bloating and gas in people sensitive to them. Onions, garlic, cauliflower, apples, dairy milk, wheat, pears, and watermelon are some of the foods high in FODMAPs. Sugar alcohols, such as erythritol, mannitol, and sorbitol—used as sweeteners in many sugar-free foods, such as ice cream, chewing gum, baked goods, and candy—can be, too. Low-FODMAP foods include almond milk, hard cheese, citrus fruits, blueberries, peanuts, and proteins, such as meat and seafood.
It’s possible to be bothered by some FODMAP foods but not others, Phillips says, so there’s no need to cut them all out. Sometimes it’s just the amount of a food you’re eating that flips the switch on gas and bloating, she says. If you eat less, you might not experience discomfort.
A nutritionist can help you create a plan to limit foods that may be causing problems, with the goal of eventually adding them back in because many high-FODMAP foods are good for you. "We’re trying to do more of a targeted approach to low-FODMAP eating because we’re seeing it leading to a lot of restriction, but that’s not what we want, especially in older adults who may be having a hard time getting enough healthy food as is," Phillips says. Plus, many FODMAPs feed the healthy bacteria that live in your digestive tract. When you limit those, you affect your overall health. (See "Your Essentials for a Healthy Tummy," below.)
Good to know: Check your meds. "Some medications and supplements contain sugar alcohols," Phillips says. Review supplement labels and ask your pharmacist if a drug might contain sugar alcohols.
Editor’s Note: A version of this article also appeared in the September 2023 issue of Consumer Reports On Health.
