Everyone passes gas, typically at least 14 times a day. If you’re dealing with more than that, or the gas you do pass is uncomfortable or disruptive, the most effective strategies target what you eat, how you eat, and what’s happening in your gut. Most people can significantly reduce flatulence with a few straightforward changes.
Why Your Gut Produces Gas
Most intestinal gas comes from bacteria in your large intestine fermenting carbohydrates that your small intestine didn’t fully absorb. This fermentation produces hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and sometimes methane, along with short-chain fatty acids that are actually beneficial. The specific gases you produce depend on two things: what you eat and which bacteria live in your gut. Hydrogen production is heavily influenced by the foods you consume, while methane production depends almost entirely on whether you carry methane-producing bacteria in your microbiome. That’s why two people can eat the same meal and have very different gas experiences.
A second, smaller source of intestinal gas is swallowed air, which can travel through your digestive tract and exit as flatulence rather than a burp.
Cut Back on High-Fermentation Foods
Certain carbohydrates are poorly absorbed in the small intestine and become a feast for gas-producing bacteria further down the line. The biggest culprits fall into a group called FODMAPs: fermentable sugars found in a wide range of everyday foods. The most common offenders include:
- Beans and lentils, which contain raffinose-type sugars that humans can’t digest on their own
- Dairy products like milk, yogurt, and ice cream, especially if you have trouble digesting lactose
- Wheat-based foods such as bread, cereal, and crackers
- Certain vegetables, particularly onions, garlic, artichokes, and asparagus
- Certain fruits, including apples, pears, cherries, and peaches
You don’t need to eliminate all of these permanently. The practical approach is to pull back on these foods for two to three weeks, then reintroduce them one at a time. This helps you identify which specific foods are the problem for your gut, since most people react to only a few categories rather than all of them.
Prepare Beans to Remove Gas-Causing Sugars
If beans and lentils are a staple in your diet, you don’t have to give them up. Soaking dried beans before cooking and discarding the soaking water reduces the gas-causing oligosaccharides (raffinose, stachyose, and verbascose) by roughly 25 to 42 percent, depending on the specific sugar. The key step is throwing out the soaking water rather than cooking in it, since the sugars leach into the liquid. This preparation doesn’t reduce the nutritional value of the beans.
Starting with small portions and gradually increasing your intake also helps. Your gut bacteria adapt over time, and people who eat beans regularly tend to produce less gas from them than people who eat them occasionally.
Stop Swallowing Extra Air
Swallowed air, a condition called aerophagia when it becomes excessive, contributes to both belching and flatulence. Common habits that increase air swallowing include:
- Eating too fast or talking while eating
- Chewing gum or sucking on hard candy
- Drinking through straws
- Carbonated beverages, which deliver carbon dioxide directly into your stomach
- Smoking
Slowing down at meals is the single most impactful change here. When you eat quickly, you swallow larger gulps of air with each bite. Putting your fork down between bites or chewing each mouthful more thoroughly can make a noticeable difference within a few days.
Try Peppermint Oil
Peppermint oil is one of the better-studied natural options for gas and bloating. It works by relaxing the smooth muscle in your intestinal wall, which helps trapped gas move through more easily rather than building up and causing discomfort. In clinical trials, 79 percent of people taking peppermint oil capsules reported improvement in flatulence, compared to about 23 percent on placebo. It also reduced bloating, abdominal pain, and bowel sounds.
Enteric-coated capsules are the standard form, since they dissolve in the intestine rather than the stomach, which reduces the chance of heartburn. Peppermint tea may offer milder relief but delivers a much lower dose of the active compounds.
Consider Probiotics
Probiotics can help if your gas is related to an imbalance in gut bacteria, though results vary significantly by strain. The strains with the strongest clinical evidence for reducing gas and other digestive symptoms include Bacillus coagulans (which reduced flatulence severity along with bloating and abdominal pain in trials) and Bifidobacterium longum 35624. Lactobacillus plantarum 299v showed a higher proportion of patients reporting improvement in flatulence compared to placebo, though its effect on bloating severity specifically was less consistent.
The important thing to know about probiotics is that strain matters. A generic “probiotic blend” from the store shelf may not contain any of the strains that have been tested for gas reduction. Look for products that list specific strain names and codes on the label.
Over-the-Counter Gas Remedies
Simethicone, the active ingredient in products like Gas-X, works by breaking up gas bubbles in your digestive tract so they’re easier to pass. It doesn’t reduce the amount of gas your body produces, but it can relieve the pressure and discomfort that come from trapped gas pockets. It’s generally well tolerated since it isn’t absorbed into your bloodstream.
For gas specifically from beans and vegetables, enzyme supplements containing alpha-galactosidase (sold as Beano) can help. These provide the enzyme your body lacks to break down the raffinose-type sugars before they reach your colon bacteria. You take them with your first bite of the problem food, not after symptoms start.
When Gas Signals Something Else
Persistent, excessive gas that doesn’t respond to dietary changes can sometimes point to an underlying condition. Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), where bacteria colonize parts of the small intestine where they don’t belong, produces symptoms that overlap heavily with general digestive complaints: bloating, flatulence, diarrhea, and sometimes weight loss. Lactose intolerance and other malabsorption issues can also masquerade as simple gassiness. These conditions are diagnosed with specific breath tests or other workups, and they’re treatable once identified.
Gas accompanied by bloody stools, unexplained weight loss, persistent changes in bowel habits, or ongoing nausea warrants medical evaluation. Prolonged abdominal pain alongside gas is another signal to get checked, since these symptoms together can indicate conditions beyond routine flatulence.