# do grapenuts give you gas?



## Guest (Aug 25, 2001)

Hi, I'm new here, so I'll try and keep my background short. I'm lactose intolerant. And not yet diagnosed with IBS. Sometimes I have diarrhea and gas that I feel has nothing to do with milk. 

One of the things I'm curious if IBS sufferers have problems with is grape nuts. If I have a bowl of them in the morning with my rice milk, by 3 pm until the next morning, I've got constant gas. And it happens EVERY time I eat them, without fail. I've tried eating them with a Lactaid in case there are trace amounts of milk, but the same thing happens. 

Could it be the high iron content? Does anybody out there have this problem too?


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## flux (Dec 13, 1998)

> quote:I'm lactose intolerant. And not yet diagnosed with IBS. Sometimes I have diarrhea and gas that I feel has nothing to do with milk.


Studies in the recent years have discovered that Western-born adults who think they are lactose intolerant are really not and it only becomes a problem if one consumes a fairly large volume of dairy (excludes butter).So based on that and that fact that you get symptoms when you don't have milk, I'd say it is not related to lactose.


> quote:One of the things I'm curious if IBS sufferers have problems with is grapenuts


It really doesn't sound like it has anything to do with grapenuts. What happens if you eat grapenuts at a different time? What happens if you something other than grapenuts? What happens if you don't eat?


> quote: Could it be the high iron content?


No.------------------I am not a doctor, nor do I work for profit in the medical/pharmacological field, but I have read scientific and medical texts, and have access to numerous sources of medical information that are not readily available to others. One should always consult a medical professional regarding advice received.[This message has been edited by flux (edited 08-24-2001).]


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## Julia37 (May 9, 2001)

Yes, definitely grape-nuts cause gas. I hadn't eaten any in years and had a bowl one morning (also with rice milk) and my tummy immediately filled with gas and I had problems all day. I know it was the gn because I hadn't had them in years, and hadn't experienced such fast definite gas pressure before, either.Flux is in denial about lactose intolerance. I'm LI also, and every time I mention it he tries to deny it. Listen to your body before anyone else. Some alternate cereals are shredded wheat, kashi, and corn flakes. Whole Foods has some brands without sweeteners or cross-contamination.


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## flux (Dec 13, 1998)

> quote:Yes, definitely grape-nuts cause gas. I hadn't eaten any in years and had a bowl one morning (also with rice milk) and my tummy immediately filled with gas and I had problems all day.


Gas is often attributed to cause some symptom even though there is hardly any evidence or even evidence to the contrary. First, there is no easy way for a person to know if their intestine contains any gas let alone an abnormal volume. Just consider your lungs. How do you know there is *any* gas present in them?In addition, gas must come from somewhere. In the case of food, it comes from bacterial fermentation of undigested carbohydrates in the colon. It takes hours for undigested material to arrive there, meaning any appreciable gas buildup could not possibly occur immediately.So whatever symptom you experienced clearly had *nothing* to do with gas.


> quote:Flux is in denial about lactose intolerance.


Lactose intolerance as I mentioned is another things that is often attributed to causing a symptom even though there is no evidence or evidence to the contrary. Part of reason for making mistakes like this that we learn common, but false notions of what certain symptoms are and it is very difficult to accept that the reality can be so different. The medical community had largely believed lactose intolerance was a signficant cause of GI symptoms until in the last several years when we discovered it really does not exist.------------------I am not a doctor, nor do I work for profit in the medical/pharmacological field, but I have read scientific and medical texts, and have access to numerous sources of medical information that are not readily available to others. One should always consult a medical professional regarding advice received.


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

Wheat and barley are starches and any starch other than rice can be a source for colonic bacteria to make gas.One thing with grape nuts is they are denser than other cereals and if you eat the exact same volume you may be consuming more weight of wheat and barley than you might from the same volume of flakes.If you ate the same weight of any wheat or barley cereal I would expect you would have the same problems.Iron shouldn't effect gas production in the colon as the bacteria can't make gas from iron.K.------------------I have worked for the government and at universities doing scientific research primarily in the area of the environment and the impact of environmental factors on human health, I have never done any independant clinical testing for the pharmaceutical industry, nor have I ever worked for a drug company. I have no financial, academic, or any other stake in any commercial, natural, or any other product mentioned by me.My story and what worked for me in greatly easing my IBS: http://www.ibsgroup.org/ubb/Forum17/HTML/000015.html


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## Guest (Aug 25, 2001)

Thanks for your responses. I'm just thinking that I'll have to stop eating them...although they are so good!


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## Julia37 (May 9, 2001)

Yes, but it's hardly worth the symptoms, is it?I've had to give up several foods (allergic to soy products, lactose intolerant), the most recent being when I figured out sugars are a big trigger food. I love sweets, but I love being mostly pain-free even more. My craving for sweets is starting to go away now after about 3 months. Like I mentioned there are other cereals. One that has a similar rich flavor is Uncle Sam, but be careful with it because it has laxative properties.


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