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The Doctors Book of Home Remedies for Women: Belching

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Belching

Belching

Burst Your Bubbles

A belch is swallowed air that comes back up--usually, with a noisy, embarrassing vengeance.

In fact, 70 percent of air in the gastrointestinal tract is swallowed air, says Ernestine Hambrick, M.D., a colon and rectal surgeon at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago.

You gulp in air because you eat too fast, drink carbonated drinks or chew gum or sometimes because you're nervous. Perhaps most commonly, you swallow air when you talk and eat simultaneously. "Along with the peas goes in air," says Robyn Karlstadt, M.D., a gastroenterologist at Graduate Hospital in Philadelphia.

SILENT DIGESTION

A few simple tricks can minimize belching, say doctors.

Try simethicone. Available over-the-counter as Gas-X or Phazyme, this enables you to belch, so the bloating goes down, says Dr. Karlstadt.

Skip the bubbly stuff--and bubble gum. Certain foods and drinks are particularly gas-producing. Stay away from carbonated beverages and chewing gum, says Dr. Karlstadt.

Drink from a straw. Drinking through a straw results in less air-swallowing, says Ann Ouyang, M.B., B.S. (the British equivalent of an M.D.), professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Gastroenterology at the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center of the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine in Hershey.

And, yes, chew your food. The more quickly you eat, the more likely you are to take in air, says Dr. Hambrick. If you chew your food thoroughly before you swallow it, air is less likely to enter your digestive tract.

Put a few morsels in your tummy. Haven't eaten all day? If your stomach gets too empty, says Dr. Karlstadt, it'll fill up with gassy air.

Problem is, the air doesn't stay put, but sooner or later comes out as gas--and you can't control when.

Switch to relaxed-fit jeans. Sometimes, wearing tight girdles or belts or too-snug pants and skirts can force air up and out, says Linda Lee, M.D., assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. To keep the belching down to a minimum, wear loose, comfortable clothes.

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