Supplements for Menopause Bloating: Which Ones Work?

If you're feeling bloated more often than you did before menopause, trust us – you're not making it up. The hormonal shifts that trigger hot flashes, vaginal dryness, and other classic menopause symptoms are also to blame for an increased risk of bloating. 

But here's the uplifting part: You don't have to just grin and bear it. Certain supplements have been proven to provide relief, especially when combined with lifestyle changes. Keep reading to find out which ones do the trick.

What Causes Menopausal Bloating?

Like so many symptoms of menopause, bloating is at least partially caused by your declining estrogen levels. When estrogen drops, a few things happen that can leave you feeling puffy and uncomfortable. 

For one, estrogen impacts GI functions, including how quickly and easily food moves through your digestive tract. With less estrogen on board, food tends to hang out in your stomach longer, which means more gas production and more bloating. Low estrogen can also mess with your gut microbiome diversity and cause your body to hold onto extra fluid—two more bloating culprits.

And then there are lifestyle factors that like to pile on. Gaining weight, which tends to happen in the years surrounding menopause, as well as moving less often and eating meals more irregularly can all contribute to GI issues like bloating. And let's be honest: This phase of life can come with its fair share of stress and anxiety, which can trigger your body's stress response and, you guessed it, more bloating.

Can Supplements Help with Menopause Bloating?

Short answer: Yes! Supplements can offer menopause bloating relief in multiple ways:

• Help with digestion, keeping food moving through your GI tract smoothly
• Reduce inflammation
• Minimize gas production 

You’ll want to talk with your healthcare professional, like a Midi clinician, before trying one of these natural remedies for menopause bloating and get advice on which might help you the most. Whichever one you go with, here’s the key: Combine the supplement with lifestyle changes for the biggest impact.

Top Supplements for Menopause Bloating Relief

Here are the ones that research shows can help you feel a lot more comfortable:

• Probiotics: Because the health of your gut microbiome can affect bloating, improving the diversity of your gut bacteria through probiotics can offer some relief. In fact, research shows that taking a probiotic supplement can significantly reduce your risk of bloating (along with other GI issues). Two probiotics for menopause bloating that seem to help the most: Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium.
• Magnesium: One cause of bloating is constipation, since the longer stool sits in your GI tract, the more gas it produces. Magnesium can help improve constipation by drawing water into the intestines, softening the stool. This offers menopause gas relief and brings down bloating.
• Digestive enzymes: As the name suggests, these help you digest food, which reduces gas buildup (when food remains undigested, it ferments, which results in gas). Your body produces digestive enzymes naturally, but if it isn’t producing enough (as shown by symptoms like bloating), taking a supplement can help.
• Peppermint oil: This supplement contains menthol, which has been shown to relax the muscles along the gastrointestinal tract. This, in turn, can help minimize bloating and abdominal pain.
• Fennel seed extract: By reducing intestinal gas, relaxing muscles in your intestines, and increasing bowel movements, this supplement can help with gas buildup and, as a result, bloating.
• Ginger: Not only is this root good for nausea, it also helps your digestive system run more smoothly and efficiently. This means food moves through more quickly, which cuts down on fermentation and constipation. The result: less bloating. 
• Fiber supplements: This nutrient is known for helping keep you regular, and supplements have been shown to improve constipation so that food moves more quickly through your GI tract. But make sure you don’t go over the recommended dose. Having too much fiber can actually make bloating worse. Numerous fiber supplements exist in the market—including Midi’s own Daily Fiber+, which contains both soluble and insoluble fiber, as well as chromium picolinate to help reduce sugar cravings. 

Natural Remedies That Support Supplement Use

Supplements can help, but they work even better when paired with certain behavior changes, including your diet and activity level. Here’s what to try.

• Take a short walk after you eat: Research shows walking just 10 to 15 minutes after a meal leads to a significant improvement in GI symptoms, including bloating, abdominal discomfort, and gas. Easy win!
• Eat less highly fermentable foods: Certain foods, known as FODMAPs (fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols), tend to be poorly absorbed in the small intestine and are highly fermentable, causing bloating. These include some dairy foods, wheat, beans, and certain fruits and vegetables. Try cutting out high-FODMAP foods, then add them back into your diet one at a time to figure out your personal triggers.
• Drink plenty of water: When you're dehydrated, your body goes into survival mode and hangs onto every drop of water it can, which leads to bloating. Plus, dehydration can cause constipation, which creates even more bloating. Keep a reusable water bottle handy and set phone reminders if you tend to forget.
• Cut back on salt: The more sodium you have in your diet, the higher your risk of bloating. One reason may be that sodium leads to water retention. A good way to reduce your salt intake is to eat less processed foods, which tend to have a lot more sodium than foods you cook at home.
• Find stress relief that works for you: You’re going to want to try to keep those stress hormones down, which can be hard to do. While there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to de-stressing, there are a lot of options you can try. Yoga, meditation, exercise, breathing techniques—they can all help you feel less stressed. 

How to Choose the Right Supplement

Few things are as confusing as shopping for a supplement. There are hundreds of options, and it’s hard to know which one you should choose. One thing that’s a smart idea: Check the packaging to see if the supplement has been independently verified. This is when an independent organization tests the supplement to ensure it contains what it says it contains (not always a given) and was properly manufactured. If you don’t see a third-party verification on the label, don’t buy it.

Speaking of ingredients, always do a scan in case it contains something you’re allergic to or unnecessary fillers/additives that you don’t want to put in your body. And definitely talk with your healthcare professional if you want to start taking a supplement for menopause bloating. Certain supplements may interact with medications, so this is especially important if you’re on any other medications.

When to See a Doctor About Menopausal Bloating

While bloating is very common and usually not serious, it could be a sign of another condition, such as celiac disease or irritable bowel syndrome. You’ll want to bring your bloating up to a healthcare professional, like a Midi clinician, if it’s accompanied by abdominal pain, changes in your stool, weight loss, diarrhea, vomiting, or worsening heartburn. Again, many of these symptoms are common, but tracking your symptoms and talking with your doctor to get personalized medical advice can help you know if something more serious is going on.

Key Takeaways

• Certain supplements can help with menopause bloating by getting things moving in your GI tract
• Estrogen, which declines during perimenopause and menopause, impacts GI functions, including how quickly and easily food moves through your digestive tract.
• With less estrogen on board, food tends to hang out in your stomach longer, which means more gas production and more bloating.
• Probiotics, magnesium, fiber, ginger, and fennel seed extract (among others) have been shown in studies to help ease menopausal bloating.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is the best supplement for menopausal bloating?

There isn't one magic bullet for menopausal bloating—what helps one person might not work for another. That said, several supplements tend to help most people, including probiotics, magnesium, digestive enzymes, peppermint oil, and fiber. Your best bet? Talk with your healthcare professional to figure out which one is worth trying first.

How to get rid of a bloated belly during menopause?

A one-two punch works best: Take a supplement that targets menopause bloating and make some lifestyle tweaks like walking after meals, staying hydrated, and adjusting your diet to avoid highly fermentable foods.

What is the best anti-bloating remedy for menopause?

There isn't one single "best" remedy. Think of it more like a team effort—combine a supplement that helps with digestion or reduces gas with dietary changes that work for your body, plus more movement to keep things flowing through your GI tract.

What supplement gets rid of menopause belly fat?

While there are certain supplements that can help boost your metabolism, the research is still mixed on how much fat they can help you lose. That said, there are FDA-approved medications that work. HRT has been shown to help reduce the buildup of belly fat that often happens during menopause. And weight-loss medications like GLP-1s are proven to help you lose weight and fat.