A new study suggests severe bloating in people who switch to vegan diets.indicate a healthier intestinal microbiome. The study authors describe a series of experiments they conducted with healthy volunteers after eating vegetables. It is well known that such a change in diet can cause severe bloating. This is especially true when switching to cruciferous vegetables. However, little is known why there is such a connection between such a diet and digestion.
How Plant-Based Foods Cause Severe Bloating
To learn more about the effects of switching to a plant-based diet on digestion and the gut microbiome, researchers enlisted the help of 18 healthy adult volunteers. Accordingly, they asked each study participant to eat an unhealthy diet and then follow a Mediterranean diet for two weeks. During the study period, volunteers counted the number of defecations per day, recorded each stool sample, and then weighed it. Each of the test subjects also counted how often they had severe flatulence. The study participants then underwent a randomized test in which the researchers were able to measure the amount of gas emitted during flatulence using balloons.
The study authors then found that the diet change did not change the number of defecations the volunteers made per day. However, the amount of material excreted increased as a result. The team found that the plant-based diet doubled stool samples on average. The results also showed that this was due to a huge increase in bacterial growth and excretion mass. Additionally, these data indicate that severe bloating increases seven-fold per day on a plant-based diet. Each discharge had about 50% more gas. The experiments suggest that this was due to the fermentation of plant material in the intestines. The authorsthis studysuggest that a plant-based diet promotes healthier types of gut bacteria, leading to better overall gut health.
