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The study, published in the journal Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology used survey data collected from more than 88,000 people. The results showed that about 13.9% of participants reported feeling bloated in the last 7 days and that women were more than twice as likely to report bloating. 

The researchers don’t have any explanation for this, but as Brennan Spiegel, MD, MSHS, a senior author of the study explained: Other studies have also found that women report more bloating than men, and researchers have proposed various hypotheses for why this may be occurring.” As he explained, these are mostly centered around the many “hormonal, metabolic, psychosocial, lifestyle and dietary differences between men and women.” 

Not surprising, the data also showed that people with chronic medication conditions like irritable bowel syndrome, ulcerative colitis, and chronic constipation—as well as related symptoms like excess gas and constipation—are also more likely to struggle with bloat. The results also showed that Latino participants and those under 60 years old were also statistically more likely to report feeling bloated. 

One of the most interesting findings was that only 58.5% of those experiencing bloat had ever been to their doctor or nutritionist for bloating, and many of the participants were self-managing symptoms and felt uncomfortable discussing their bloat symptoms with their doctor.  

The researchers stress the need for doctors to proactively ask patients about bloat, instead of waiting for them to mention it to mitigate any embarrassment.   

This study is limited in that it doesn’t explain why women experience bloat more often than men, nor does it tell us what we can do about it. That said, it’s still a step in the right direction. “Anecdotally, we often hear about bloating in the clinic, but this study adds concrete evidence to describe how commonly it occurs and what other conditions it’s associated with…To our knowledge, this is among the largest studies of bloating in the U.S.,” said Speigel.

Hopefully, this study will help us understand that bloating is a real condition, it’s common, and we can all be comfortable talking about it because it affects so many of us. 

As we continue to learn more about bloating, we can lean on the tools we have at our disposal right now, which include things like: 

1.

Watch out for cruciferous veggies 

3.

Don’t eat while stressed.

A new study showed that women are more than twice as likely than men to experience bloat, and that many people who experience bloat are trying to self-manage their symptoms instead of talking to their doctor. The take home? Let’s all start normalizing bloat, so more people can get relief.