Bloating

Bloating is the sensation of abdominal fullness or pressure, sometimes with visible distension. Most of the time it is functional and harmless — related to gas production, swallowed air, constipation, or the way a sensitive gut perceives normal volumes, as in irritable bowel syndrome. Diet is a frequent driver: fizzy drinks, large or fatty meals, and fermentable carbohydrates (FODMAPs). But bloating is also a symptom of specific, treatable conditions: coeliac disease and food intolerances (lactose, fructose), small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, constipation, and hypothyroidism, which slows the gut. The important exception is persistent, new-onset bloating — particularly in a woman over 50, or with weight loss, a change in bowel habit, or difficulty eating — which needs prompt evaluation because, uncommonly, it can be an early sign of ovarian or gastrointestinal cancer.

• Irritable bowel syndrome — the commonest cause; bloating with variable bowel habit, often stress- and food-related.
• Diet / swallowed air — fizzy drinks, large meals, fermentable carbohydrates (FODMAPs), eating quickly.
• Constipation — a very common and reversible cause.
• Coeliac disease — with diarrhoea, weight loss, iron-deficiency anaemia.
• Lactose or fructose intolerance — food-related, resolves on elimination.
• Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO).
• Hypothyroidism — slows gut transit.
• Rarely — ovarian cancer (persistent bloating in women over 50), ascites from liver or other disease.

Everyday bloating tied to meals rarely needs tests. When bloating is persistent or comes with other symptoms, a targeted screen helps: coeliac serology (anti-tissue-transglutaminase with total IgA), full blood count and ferritin (iron-deficiency anaemia hints at coeliac or bleeding), TSH (hypothyroidism), and CRP/albumin if inflammatory bowel disease or malabsorption is a concern. In a woman over 50 with persistent bloating, the CA-125 blood test and pelvic assessment are used to consider ovarian cancer. Mediora.AI surfaces the coeliac, iron and thyroid pattern from your results; the decision on further tests, including any imaging, belongs with your doctor.