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Food choices and health
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Bloating or water retention?
Originally Published: March 04, 1994
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Alice, Besides pre-menstrual hormonal changes, what causes bloating or water retention? Lately, I have experienced bloating in the stomach area, and I would like to know what I can do to prevent it or at least alleviate the discomfort and the occasional pain associated with it. I heard that a diet high in sodium may cause bloating. Signed, Feeling Discomfort
Dear Feeling Discomfort, It's not altogether clear from the description of your symptoms whether your discomfort is due to water retention or to gas. You describe the bloating as only occurring in your stomach area, which could very well be a result of gas -- water retention tends to manifest itself all over the body, in the hands, face, etc.... In both cases, prevention may lie in dietary observation and change. Paying careful attention to what you have eaten before feeling this way may help you to identify its sources. Perhaps you've recently changed your diet in some way, or perhaps something you've always eaten is beginning to affect you differently. As to the common causes and alleviation of gas symptoms, see Flatulence?. As to the common causes and alleviation of water retention, see Bloating around period. Although this question deals specifically with PMS bloating, the dietary causes and suggestions for relief are equally applicable. If both answers fail to give you some relief, write back and we'll go from there.
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