When a person’s bowel movements are compromised it often results in bloating which makes the stomach appear larger than it normally does. Doctor Linda Lee explained: “When our guts are full of food or stool, you can often see your stomach bloat. One common cause of bloating is constipation. “The longer your stool sits in your colon, the more time bacteria have to ferment what’s there. “You’re going to get gassier, and you’re going to feel a lot more bloated.”
Kiwifruit also reduced gastrointestinal discomfort by improving symptoms of indigestion, constipation and abdominal pain
Doctor Richard Gearry, of the University of Otago, Christchurch
According to the NHS, around one in every seven adults struggles with constipation, which can happen if you’re not eating enough fibre, you’ve changed your eating habits, or you’re not drinking enough fluids.
A way to remedy this problem is to have better bowel movements and a gold kiwifruit has been proven to help combat constipation, indigestion and abdominal pain caused by bloating.
The gold kiwifruit is a sweeter version of the tradition green variety and they are growing in popularity in the UK.
Richard Gearry, of the University of Otago, Christchurch, said: “This is the first study assessing the impact of the gold kiwifruit on stool frequency and gastrointestinal discomfort, and the results suggest that gold kiwifruit has potential as a possible alternative therapy for constipation.”
Dr Gearry, wrote in the Journal of Nutritional Science recently and noted that the kiwifruit performed better than the popular constipation treatment Metamucil.
He said: “Kiwifruit also reduced gastrointestinal discomfort by improving symptoms of indigestion, constipation and abdominal pain when compared with baseline and significantly improved indigestion when compared with Metamucil.”
The study looked at the effect of the kiwifruit on bowel movements and involved 32 women, aged between 18 and 65 years who described themselves as constipated.
The test subjects ate three gold kiwi fruits per day for four weeks, and then took the constipation medication for four weeks.
The results saw a significant different and noted the kiwifruit significantly out-performed the normal treatment, with the number of normal stools increasing by an average of three a week, compared with less than two with the Metamucil.
The scientists aren’t precisely sure why the gold kiwifruit worked so well, but they added: “These mechanisms are largely attributed to the nutrient profile of kiwifruit and the presence of both soluble and insoluble fibre, which is thought to contribute to the beneficial demonstrated effect on laxation.”
Meanwhile the research has been acknowledged by UK food intolerance testing experts, YorkTest Laboratories.
They recently conducted their own survey which found that around 6 per cent of respondents, equivalent to around four million people in the UK, said they went for a poo either once a week, or less than once a week.
Furthermore 19 per cent said they went just ‘two to three times a week’. YorkTest Laboratories Scientific Director Dr Gill Hart said that a poo infrequency or going too often could indicate an underlying bowel problem, or even a food intolerance.
Doctor Hart said: “There’s lots of reasons why someone might have irregular bowel movements, from eating the wrong foods to not drinking enough water or simply not doing enough exercise.
“But what is clear from the scientific literature is that infrequent visits to the toilet could have an influence on your mood and your stomach.
“Around 90 per cent of our serotonin, the hormone responsible for happiness, is housed in the gut. So if your gut is unhappy, it may affect your overall well-being too, physically and mentally.
“Therefore it’s crucial to ensure that everything is harmonised and you eat a balanced diet.
It’s also important to remember that you might have an intolerance to certain foods and a food intolerance test can help identify problem foods to mitigate constipation and bloating as well.”
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