8 Impressive Digestive Bitters Benefits for Gut Health

Digestive problems are no fun, but they are something most of us have dealt with at one point or another. Whether that’s bloating, gas, constipation, upset stomach, or heartburn, we could all benefit from a little digestive support from time to time. That’s why I love digestive bitters.

As a functional medicine expert, I love these natural botanicals as they offer an alternative solution to alleviate digestive distress without having to turn to over the counter medications that often have their own less than ideal side-effects. But what exactly are digestive bitters and how can they benefit your gut health? Read on to learn more.

What Are Digestive Bitters?

Digestive bitters are distilled bitter tasting botanicals, including herbs, spices, and flowers, that are used to activate your digestive system. Cultures around the world have used bitter compounds for centuries due to their medicinal properties for a wide variety of health problems. You can get digestive bitters as a tincture supplement made with a single botanical or as a blend of bitter herbs.

How Do Digestive Bitters Work?

Your tongue alone has between 2,000 and 4,000 taste buds (1) that help you taste sweet, sour, and of course, bitter flavors. This doesn’t even include the bitter taste receptors (T2Rs) found in other areas of your body, including your lungs! When you eat something bitter, bitter taste receptors (T2Rs) tell your brain to activate your vagus nerve, which then alerts your digestive system to stimulate the production and secretion of saliva, bile, and stomach acid.

But what is the purpose of bitters? By enhancing your digestive response, bitters are able to improve sluggish digestion, alleviate digestive distress, and enhance other areas of your health seemingly unrelated to your gut. Not everyone needs to take digestive bitters, but if you notice yourself struggling with poor gut health or digestive stress, bitters can make a huge difference.

Digestive Bitters Benefits

The benefits of bitters can be life-changing if you struggle with poor digestion. These are the top reasons to consider adding digestive bitters to your wellness routine.

1. Alleviate Digestive Distress

Cramping, nausea, bloating, and gas are all uncomfortable symptoms that can hinder your daily activities without so much as a warning. If you’re prone to digestive distress, try taking digestive bitters before or after your meal.

During your gut healing journey, taking digestive bitters can help relax the muscles in your gut that contribute to cramping and bloating while certain bitters like ginger, chamomile, and mint have the ability to soothe gut-related inflammation and ease nausea.

2. Improve Digestion + Nutrient Absorption

Digestive bitters work to enhance the production of saliva and bile, both of which help to break down your food more effectively, making it easier for your body to digest. Plus, when your body is able to digest your food better, it is able to absorb more of the nutrients present in the food you eat including fats, protein, and micronutrients.

3. Improve Acid Reflux

I love digestive bitters for low stomach acid - the underlying cause of most cases of heartburn and acid reflux - because they increase the body’s levels of stomach acid and gastric juice. When your body has enough stomach acid, it prompts your esophageal sphincter at the top of your stomach to stay sealed, keeping your acid down where it belongs.

4. Regulate Appetite

Can bitters help you lose weight? That’s something I’m asked a lot in my telehealth functional medicine clinic. Studies show the answer to that is likely yes, in the sense that bitters can suppress your hunger hormone ghrelin, helping you feel fuller for longer and reducing your desire to reach for junk food. (2) Bitters may also support the production of the hormone GLP-1 (the one mimicked by weight loss drugs like Ozempic). (3)

5. Support Immune System Function

Remember how I said that you have bitter receptors on your lungs? Although more studies need to be done, researchers have found a correlation (4) between the activation of T2Rs and upper respiratory infection. Many bitters, including licorice, also have general immune system supportive properties. (5)

6. Regulate Bowel Movements

When your digestive system is functioning properly, including absorbing nutrients quickly, that is also going to translate to the effective removal of waste and food byproducts - aka frequent and healthy bowel movements!

7. Stabilize Blood Sugar

Benefits of bitters also include more stabilized blood sugar levels, as they help facilitate the release and utilization of insulin. (6) And because digestive bitters can help you feel more satiated, they can also curb your sweet tooth which can help prevent you from overeating sugar (and therefore prevent blood sugar spikes).

8. Enhance Detoxification

Your liver and gallbladder work hand-in-hand as major organs in your body’s detoxification system. Since digestive bitters enhance the production of bile that breaks down waste and eliminates toxins from your body, they are able to reduce the toxin load in your body that inhibits your body’s detoxification system from doing its job. Healthy digestion is necessary for healthy detoxification.

Risks of Digestive Bitters

One of the reasons I love digestive bitters is because they are safe for most people with minimal (if any) side effects. However, some herbs can interact with certain medications and might not be ideal, especially at higher doses, for people with health conditions like kidney or liver disease.

That’s why it’s always best to check with your doctor before trying digestive bitters so they can recommend the right digestive bitters for you and at what amount. Also, some herbs might not be safe at certain doses if you are pregnant or breastfeeding.

In general, listen to your body and take note if you are experiencing any symptoms like nausea, vomiting, stomach cramping, gas, or bloating as these can be signs that you are taking too much. More extreme symptoms like swelling of your throat and tongue, trouble breathing, wheezing, fainting, or clammy skin could be signs of an allergic reaction so be sure to go to a hospital right away if you experience any of these symptoms.

How To Use Bitters

Can you take bitters everyday? Like anything, benefits of bitters are typically more amplified when taken on a consistent basis while you are actively dealing with digestive issues. However, you can take them over the short term if you are experiencing a specific period of gastrointestinal distress. So when should you take bitters? Digestive bitters are best taken right before or immediately after eating a meal.

About 30 minutes before eating, drop the recommended dose onto your tongue to activate your bitter receptors, hold in your mouth until you start salivating, and then swallow.

Types of Digestive Bitters

One thing I love about digestive bitters is that a lot of them have additional health benefits beyond just improving the digestive process. Some of my favorite digestive bitters include:

• Ginger
• Black feverfew
• Dandelion/dandelion root
• Artichoke leaf
• Bitter melon
• Burdock root
• Wormwood
• Licorice root
• Milk thistle
• Fennel seed
• Gentian root
• Turmeric/curcumin
• Angelica root
• Cardamom

Where To Find Bitters

I get a lot of questions on where to find digestive bitters as well as how to make them. Even though you can make them yourself, it is usually easier to buy them as tincture supplements or in the form of tea. Burdock root, licorice root, dandelion, milk thistle, and ginger are commonly found in a lot of herbal teas. You can find these at any health food or natural supplement store.

I include bitters in a few of my gut supportive supplement blends, including Gut Feelings (contains licorice) and Balance (contains dandelion, ginger, and licorice). Both blends also include a number of other targeted ingredients to help support overall digestive and emotional wellness.

I also recommend cooking with more digestive bitters by adding dandelion greens to your salads and adding more fresh ginger root into your recipes!

Seeking Help From a Functional Medicine Expert

Instead of forcing yourself to grin and bear it when it comes to your digestive problems, consider taking advantage of the benefits of bitters, and try some of these natural botanicals before your next meal.

However, if you are still dealing with digestive distress and underlying gut problems, a functional medicine practitioner can help you get to the root cause behind your symptoms. In my telehealth functional medicine clinic, we run extensive labs and conduct a comprehensive health history in order to identify any underlying dysfunctions and determine a plan of action to alleviate your symptoms once-and-for-all.

If you are ready to finally overcome your gut problems and improve your digestive health, schedule a telehealth consultation to learn more about how we can help you with functional medicine.

As one of the first functional medicine telehealth clinics in the world, we provide webcam health consultations for people around the globe.

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