The Best Bloating Supplements for Smooth, Easy Digestion
Peppermint oil
Peppermint oil relaxes gastrointestinal muscles which can ease cramping,' says Gildea. 'However, it may worsen acid reflux.' Leary adds that peppermint, along with fennel, is especially great for people who feel gassy, crampy, or tight after eating.
Fennel
Fennel is an herb that helps relax gastrointestinal muscles, reduce gas, and bloating. 'It helps soothe the digestive tract which in turn, minimizes bloating,' says Gildea.
Fiber
'Foods containing soluble fiber like oats, chia seeds, ground linseed, and soft fruits (berries, bananas) can help decrease bloating,' says Diamandis. 'This type of fiber helps to keep bowel movements regular and hence reduces bloating.' However, it may worsen symptoms in some people with IBS so you should consult with a dietician first.
Ginger
'Ginger helps stimulate stomach acid and digestive enzyme release,' says Leary. 'It can also improve motility and reduce nausea.'
Magnesium citrate
Magnesium is useful in cases of constipation. 'It draws water into the intestine to soften the stool and promote bowel movements,' says Diamandis. 'That can help reduce gas and constipation-related bloating.'
Digestive enzymes
Digestive enzymes are amazing to help break down otherwise hard-to-digest foods. 'Digestive enzymes aid in proper digestion, preventing fermentation and gas production,' says Gildea. Different types of enzymes are specific to different nutrients (for example, lactase helps break down lactose) so focus on a formula that helps your specific digestion issues or features full-spectrum support.
Prebiotics
'Prebiotic soluble fiber supplements (containing psyllium husk or oats) feed your gut bugs which in turn produce SCFA (short-chain fatty acids) that improve digestion and reduce bloating,' says Diamandis. 'If you suffer from IBS related to high FODMAPs foods, be sure to choose a low-FODMAPs prebiotic.'
Probiotics
Probiotics are live bacteria and yeasts (good gut bacteria) which help to balance the gut microbiome. 'They support digestion by reducing gas production,' says Diamandis.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
16 minutes ago
- Yahoo
FACT FOCUS: RFK Jr.'s reasons for cutting mRNA vaccine not supported by evidence
Although mRNA vaccines saved millions of lives during the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. incorrectly argued they are ineffective to justify the Department of Health and Human Service's recent decision to cancel $500 million in government-funded research projects to develop new vaccines using the technology. The longtime vaccine critic said in an X video posted Tuesday evening that mRNA vaccines do not adequately prevent upper respiratory infections such as COVID-19 and the flu, advocating instead for the development vaccines that use other processes. COVID-19 is the only virus for which real-world data on mRNA vaccine effectiveness is currently available, as mRNA vaccines for other diseases, including the flu, are still under development. The two scientists whose discoveries enabled the creation of mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 won a Nobel Prize in 2023 for their work. Kennedy's claim ignores how mRNA vaccines work, according to experts. They prevent against severe infection and death, but cannot completely prevent an infection from occurring in the first place. Plus, years of research supports the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines that use mRNA technology. Here's a closer look at the facts. KENNEDY: 'As the pandemic showed us, mRNA vaccines don't perform well against viruses that infect the upper respiratory tract.' THE FACTS: His claim is contradicted by scientific evidence. Countless studies show that vaccinated individuals fare far better against COVID-19 infections than those who are unvaccinated, while others have estimated that COVID-19 vaccines prevented millions of deaths during the global pandemic. The mRNA vaccines do not prevent respiratory diseases entirely, experts say. Rather, they can prevent more serious illness that leads to complications and death. For example, an mRNA vaccine against COVID-19 may prevent an infection in the upper respiratory tract that feels like a bad cold from spreading to the lower respiratory tract, where it could affect one's ability to breathe. 'A vaccine cannot block a respiratory infection,' said Dr. Jake Scott, an infectious diseases physician and clinical associate professor at Stanford University School of Medicine. 'That's never been the standard for a respiratory virus vaccine. And it's never been the expectation, and it's never been that realistic.' He called Kennedy's claim 'misguided.' Jeff Coller, a professor of RNA biology and therapeutics at Johns Hopkins University, had a similar outlook. 'Vaccinations don't have to be neutralizing, meaning that you're not going to get COVID,' he said. 'But the important part of a vaccination is that they reduce hospitalization and death. And a reduction in hospitalization and death is proof of an effective vaccine.' Vaccines have traditionally required growing viruses or pieces of viruses called proteins and then purifying them. Then a small dose of the vaccine is injected to train the body how to recognize when a real infection hits so it's ready to fight back. But this method takes a long time. The mRNA technology speeds up the process and allows existing vaccines to be updated more quickly. The 'm' in mRNA stands for messenger because the vaccine carries instructions for our bodies to make proteins. Scientists figured out how to harness that natural process for vaccines by making mRNA in a lab. They take a snippet of the genetic code that carries instructions for making the protein they want the vaccine to target. Injecting that snippet instructs the body to become its own mini-vaccine factory, making enough copies of the protein for the immune system to recognize and react. Scott explained that mRNA vaccines are not a 'magic force field' that the immune system can use to block an infection, as it can't detect whether a virus is nearby. It can only respond to a virus that has already entered the body. In the case of COVID-19, this means that the virus could cause an upper respiratory tract infection — a cold, essentially — but would be significantly less likely to cause more severe consequences elsewhere. Myriad studies on the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines have been published since they first became available in late 2020. Although protection does wane over time, they provide the strongest barrier against severe infection and death. For example, a 2024 study by the World Health Organization found COVID-19 vaccines reduced deaths in the WHO's European region by at least 57%, saving more than 1.4 million lives since their introduction in December 2020. A 2022 study published in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases found that nearly 20 million lives were saved by COVID-19 vaccines during their first year. Researchers used data from 185 countries to estimate that vaccines prevented 4.2 million COVID-19 deaths in India, 1.9 million in the United States, 1 million in Brazil, 631,000 in France and 507,000 in the United Kingdom. The main finding — that 19.8 million COVID-19 deaths were prevented — is based on estimates of how many more deaths than usual occurred during the time period. Using only reported COVID-19 deaths, the same model yielded 14.4 million deaths averted by vaccines. Another 2022 study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, reported that two mRNA vaccines were more than 90% effective against COVID-19. Operation Warp Speed, the federal effort to facilitate the development and distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine, began under the first Trump administration. 'What I don't understand is why is President Trump is allowing RFK Jr. to undermine his legacy that led to a medical intervention that literally saved millions of lives?' Coller said. 'Why is Trump allowing RFK to undermine U.S. leadership in biomedical research and drug development?' ___ Find AP Fact Checks here: Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
16 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Pete Buttigieg Listed These 4 Ways The Trump Admin Is Making Americans' Lives "Worse," And It's So Simple Yet So True
Former secretary of transportation Pete Buttigieg is being applauded online for his recent, simple breakdown on all the ways Donald Trump's chosen cabinet is negatively impacting Americans' lives. While sitting down for NPR's Morning Edition, Pete insisted that Democrats need to change their approach if they want to reach voters. "We do have to look at what we're doing that makes it hard to hear what we have to say," he told host Steve Inskeep. "Too often we talk in terms that are academic. When we're talking about deeply important things, like freedom and democracy, we still have to have a way of talking about it that relates to how everyday life is different." Related: As an example, Pete shared ways our "everyday life is different and worse" under Trump's presidency, because, as he said, "When you have an autocrat in power, he can get away with appointing incompetent people over very important things in our lives." To start, he said, "Right now we have the secretary of defense — in charge of defending the American people — who was accidentally texting military strike information to journalists." This, of course, is in reference to reporting from the Atlantic that claimed the magazine's editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, was mistakenly added to a Signal group chat where former Fox & Friends Weekend host, now Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, discussed sensitive war plans. "We have the person in charge of American public health, who is a quack who doesn't believe in medicine, and now measles is on the rise in America," he continued. Here, Pete is referring to Health Secretary RFK Jr., who commonly and vocally questions the safety of vaccines and even suggested the measles vaccine causes autism in children. Now, 20 years after measles was declared to be eliminated in the United States, outbreaks are popping up around the US as the public grows skeptical of vaccines under the new administration. Related: "We have a secretary of education — in charge of your kid's educational well-being — who has spoken about the importance of 'A1,' which means she does not understand that the acronym is AI, which means she does not understand the most important development affecting education in our lifetimes." Education Secretary Linda McMahon — yes, the former CEO of WWE — confused AI technology with A1, the name of a popular steak sauce. While speaking at a summit in April, McMahon said, "A school system that's going to start making sure that first graders, or even pre-Ks, have A1 teaching in every year. That's a wonderful thing!" Pete continued, "We have a secretary of homeland security who sat on funding and did not allow it to go to Texas during the floods for at least two days for no good reason." Finally, we have Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who reportedly decided to enact a rule requiring her personal sign-off on any grant or contract over $100,000. The move was heavily criticized amid the deadly flooding in Texas earlier this year, as some argue the signature delayed getting aid to those who needed it. Related: "So these things do affect you," Pete concluded. "Not for academic reasons, but because of what happens when you have a loss of accountability. Those are the kinds of things I think we need to talk about before anybody can hear us." A clip of Pete's simple yet effective explanation was shared to X, formerly known as Twitter, where it garnered over 1.7 million views and over 1,000 comments. By and large, people are calling Pete's breakdown "brilliant." One person said, "This breakdown of the incompetence of the administration is simple yet brilliant. And the reality of how they're affecting peoples' REAL lives is heartbreaking and infuriating." "Last thirty seconds should be mandatory listening," another agreed. "The loss of accountability over trumps horrible yes men stooge picks for cabinet undeniably makes your life worse as an American. It isn't up for debate." Others called Pete "the best communicator in US politics"... Related: ...and insisted, "This is who We The People employ!!!" Talks like this have made Pete a favorite amongst voters looking to the future of the Democratic Party. And even some abroad. What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments. Also in In the News: Also in In the News: Also in In the News:
CBS News
19 minutes ago
- CBS News
Potential connection between air quality in the Mon Valley and student absenteeism
Experts are examining the potential connection between air quality in the Mon Valley and student absenteeism. Could the empty desks in Clairton's classrooms be linked to what's happening in the air outside? A new study attributes air pollution in the Mon Valley to school absenteeism. "They're missing school and they're falling behind their classmates," said Dr. Deborah Gentile, medical director of Community Partners in Asthma Care and author of the study. "It can have an impact on them getting into post-secondary education for anything really, trades versus college, and even impact their likelihood of getting a good-paying job in the future." U.S. Steel's Clairton Coke Works is less than 1 mile from Clairton's K-12 school building, where Gentile's 2020 study found one in every five kids had developed asthma, three times higher than the national rate. Using that data, Gentile now details how absenteeism spiked after days of high particulate pollution, called PM2.5. "A day or two later, we saw in a day following PM2.5 increases, we saw a 21% increase in the risk of these children missing school because of asthma," Gentile said. In a statement, U.S. Steel said the study is full of "spurious claims leading to what appears to be predetermined and questionable conclusions aimed at making headlines." The steelmaker calls Gentile's data "stale" — health records gathered from 2015 to 2018 predate U.S. Steel's shutdown of four coke batteries and tens of millions of dollars in newer pollution controls, which it says have dramatically reduced emissions, putting the plant in attainment of federal particulate standards. But the Allegheny County Health Department has continued to cite and fine U.S. Steel for exceedances in sulfur dioxide, and another study might argue that even greater emission reductions could reduce cases of childhood asthma. "We obtained the health data before for the community surrounding the Shenango plant, which is in the Ohio River, right near Pittsburgh," Dr. George Thurston said. Thurston, a medical doctor and professor of environmental medicine at New York University Grossman School of Medicine, looked at Neville Island's air pollution and emergency room data before and after the Shenango Coke Works closed. "In there, among the respiratory, a very decisive drop in pediatric emergency department visits to hospitals right immediately after the closure," Thurston said. In the month after the plant closed on Jan. 6, 2016, the number of pediatric emergency room visits for asthma plummeted by 41 percent compared to the month before. "I wasn't expecting a drop so large that you can just look at visually and see," Thurston said. And when kids are in the emergency room dealing with their asthma, they are not in the classroom, and the NYU study could be a lesson for Clairton. "The results of our study would be very applicable to the Clairton communities, and very useful, I think, to understand that if the Clairton plant were to reduce its emissions, then it's highly probable, I would say certain, that there would be health benefits to the community around it," Thurston said.
