1. Boiled Sweets and Chewing Gum

These have been placed together under one category of gas causing foods because they have the same thing in common; they are not immediately swallowed and usually stay in the mouth for a long period of time. When you are chewing you are taking more air into your mouth, and this air usually ends in your digestive system.

2. Dairy Products

Certain ethnic groups like Africans and Asians are not as adept at digesting lactose as their European counterparts because it doesn’t play as large a part in their diets. This means that the bacteria in the digestive system have a harder time of breaking down the lactose and this can lead to excess gas. The enzymes that digest lactose also decrease as we age so older people may find that dairy products are the main foods that cause gas in their diets.

3. Bread

Bread contains a lot of complex carbohydrates which are hard to break down. Usually, the amount of bread we eat is coped with easily by our digestive system but people who regularly eat bread, say as toast in the morning and sandwiches at lunch, may find that it is bread that is their gas causing food.

4. Fizzy Drinks

Seem obvious doesn’t it when you think about what actually makes a fizzy drink fizzy. This is probably the one gassy food where you are actually ingesting gas directly. The gas problem can be made much worse if you decide to drink it through a narrow opening or with a straw because this will just increase the air intake. Luckily, most gas from fizzy drinks is expelled from the mouth as a burp rather than from the bottom.

5. Beans

Beans are probably the vegetable that everyone associates with foods that cause gas and again it is due to the complex carbohydrates that they consist of that is the issue. There are however, other vegetables that cause gas - cabbage, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, asparagus, onions, artichokes, potatoes, corn, barley, lentils and peas.

6. Processed Foods

It’s hard to pin down any particular processed dish but you need to know that the main foods that cause gas are carbohydrates, sugars, starches and soluble fiber in make-up. Most processed foods are a complex mix of these. Many of them, particularly those labelled as low fat, low sugar or low calorie and ‘lite’ option also contain artificial sweeteners which is another culprit to add to list of foods that cause gas.

7. Fruit

I always think it’s bad having to include things that are meant to be good for you on a list of foods that might cause problems. The trouble is, thanks to the heavy sugar (all natural) content in fruit they are definitely gassy foods. Worst offenders are prunes, apples, pears, peaches, cherries and figs.

To avoid excess gas there are other things you can do other than avoid gassy foods. Don’t eat or drink too quickly and don’t talking while you’re eating. Smoking and even wearing dentures that don’t fit properly are also ways of taking in more air than you need which, when combined with the foods that cause gas, creates excess gas that needs to be expelled.

If you are looking for something which is absolutely not one of the foods that cause gas then look no further than rice, this is the most easily digestible food you will find.

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