Featured Image Credit: Getty Stock Image
Topics: Health
William Morgan
Living with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) can mean spending a lot of time in the bathroom, or trying to avoid it, but many people are unaware that a common symptom of the condition can happen anywhere.
People suffering from IBS know that going anywhere can involve taking an emergency bag with you, packed with herbal teas, dairy-free milk, and a number of drugs to deal with the common effects of the lifelong disorder.
These are quite well-known, like painful stomach cramping, bloating, diarrhea, and constipation, but a nutritionist has pointed out that there is another 'smelly' symptom commonly experienced by sufferers.
Roughly one in five people live with this debilitating health condition, but not all of its worst affects take place down below. According to nutritionist VJ Hamilton, sometimes you can even smell it on someone's breath.
Advert
That's because these issues in your gut can translate into a truly awful bad breath, also known as halitosis, resulting from an underlying imbalance in your digestive tract.
Hamilton told Metro that 'bad breath typically isn’t top of the list' when it comes to diagnosing IBS, lots of her patients had reported noticing a foul smell issuing from their mouth.
They often report a 'sulphuric, musty, or slightly sour' smell, alongside all of the other symptoms associated with the condition. She added: "Sometimes it has that fermented quality to it, which tends to reflect what’s happening in the gut, particularly if there’s excess bacterial activity."
Medical advice indicates that this is not a direct consequence of IBS, but that the syndrome creates the conditions in your gut that can cause bad breath. Hamilton explained: "If food isn’t being properly broken down, it can sit and ferment."
In a sign that it never rains but pours when you live with the condition, the nutritionist added: "If there’s an imbalance in gut bacteria, certain microbes can produce gases and compounds that affect breath.
"And when gut motility is slower, there’s more opportunity for that stagnation to build".
This noticeable and smelly symptom can often 'sit side by side' with one of the other common effects of IBS, bloating. Hamilton explained that, as long as this imbalance exists in your gut, so will the bad breath.
But it is possible to prevent this recurring halitosis, Hamilton added, though this will involve more than just brushing your teeth or swigging mouth wash. The 'real shift' will come from taking positive steps to improve your gut health.
"This will usually mean improving digestion so food is properly broken down, addressing any microbial imbalance and supporting gut motility so the system is moving well," she said.
Small changes like chewing slowly and ensuring that you rest properly after eating can help to reduce this bloating in the long term, but there are some short-term measures as well that can alleviate that foul smell.
Hamilton said this includes things like 'digestive bitters or enzymes, or even looking at stomach acid levels if someone has ongoing bloating or heaviness.' Equally, avoiding snacking or grazing throughout the day can give your stomach time to empty and clean before it has to digest again.
She added: "When digestion improves, you often see a reduction in that fermentative load that can contribute to changes in breath."