You’ve added more plants, swapped in wholegrains and perhaps started taking a probiotic too. Yet the bloating is still there, your digestion hasn’t changed much, or something that helped for a while no longer seems to.
The instinct is often to add something else. But gut health isn’t a checklist of foods and supplements. Sometimes the thing getting in the way is the assumption you’re working from: that more fibre is always better, that a test result explains your symptoms, or that bloating must mean your microbiome needs “rebalancing”.
For us, the more useful question is much simpler: are the symptoms that made you change your diet or routine actually improving?
In this guide
- Why more fibre can make bloating worse
- What gut microbiome tests can, and can’t, tell you
- Why food intolerance tests can lead to unnecessary restriction
- When changes in routine affect digestion
- When persistent bloating needs investigating
- Why the gut–skin connection shaped Flora Daily Biotic
- How to tell if your gut-health routine is actually helping
1. Why more fibre can make bloating worse
Most of us could probably eat more fibre, but increasing it quickly can make bloating worse for some people. The amount, the type of fibre and how quickly your intake changes all matter.
UK adults are advised to aim for around 30g a day, yet the latest national diet survey found average intakes were only around 16–17g, with just 4% meeting the recommendation.
That still doesn’t make “more fibre” the answer to every digestive problem. Adding lots of bran, seeds, pulses, vegetables and prebiotic foods at once can mean more fermentation, gas and bloating while your gut adjusts.
The type matters too. For people with IBS, insoluble fibre such as bran can aggravate symptoms, while soluble sources such as oats may be better tolerated.
Before deciding that fibre doesn’t agree with you, look at what actually changed. The amount, type and pace of the increase may tell you more than the total number of grams.
2. What gut microbiome tests can, and can’t, tell you
A commercial microbiome test can show which microbes are detected in a sample, but it cannot currently tell you exactly what your gut needs or which intervention will improve your symptoms.
There still isn’t one agreed picture of what a perfectly healthy microbiome should look like, and the way a sample is collected, processed and analysed can affect the result.
Meanwhile, probiotic research is becoming much more specific, looking at individual strains, particular outcomes and why some bacteria may persist more readily in one person than another. That is promising, but it doesn’t yet mean a home stool test can tell you which probiotic will improve your bloating, digestion or skin.
For now, we’d focus on what is actually in a probiotic, how it is delivered and what you are taking it for, rather than an app telling you one group of bacteria is “low”.
3. Why food intolerance tests can lead to unnecessary restriction
Bread seems to make you bloated, so you stop eating it. Onions are next, then beans. Before long, an attempt to settle your stomach can turn into a surprisingly narrow diet.
Commercial food intolerance tests can add to that confusion. The British Dietetic Association advises that many alternative tests are not scientifically validated, including IgG testing, which cannot reliably diagnose a food intolerance.
Before cutting something out completely, look for a pattern. Does it happen every time, only with a larger portion, or when constipation or a particularly large meal is also involved? A simple note of meals, bowel habits and symptoms for a week or two can often tell you more than another exclusion.
Persistent symptoms after gluten-containing foods need a little more care. Coeliac testing should be done while gluten is still in the diet, as removing it beforehand can make the results less accurate.
4. When changes in routine affect digestion
What you eat may stay much the same while the routine around it changes.
For people with IBS, NICE advises having regular meals and avoiding long gaps between eating. A rushed breakfast, repeatedly missing lunch or eating much later than usual may therefore be relevant even when the foods themselves look familiar.
Sleep may be another part of the picture. Research published in 2026 looked at sleep and the gut microbiome in almost 7,000 adults. Sleep quality, chronotype and social jetlag, the shift in sleep timing between working days and free days, were associated with differences in the microbiome.
The research doesn’t show that an occasional late night damages your gut, or that sleep directly causes those microbiome differences. But travel, shift work, late weekends or a stressful period can change when you sleep and eat without changing what is in your kitchen.
When digestion changes around the same time, the food itself may not be the only place to look.
5. When persistent bloating needs investigating
Bloating is a symptom. It isn’t proof that your microbiome is “out of balance”.
Bloating can happen with constipation, food intolerance, coeliac disease and IBS, and some people notice it around their period.
Constipation isn’t always as obvious as not going to the toilet for several days either; hard stools, straining or feeling that you haven’t completely emptied can also be signs.
Yet online, these very different experiences are often given the same answer: rebalance the gut, start a probiotic or remove another food. After months of trying to “fix your microbiome”, it may be more useful to ask Why does this keep happening? rather than What else can I take?
Bloating that is frequent, doesn’t go away or continues despite dietary changes is worth discussing with your GP, particularly when it comes with other unexplained symptoms, rather than continuing to experiment with your diet.
Why the gut–skin connection shaped Flora Daily Biotic
The gut–skin connection shaped Flora Daily Biotic from the beginning.
Each delayed-release capsule provides 20 billion live cultures across 9 probiotic strains, alongside 10mg of zinc, 100% of the daily NRV. Zinc contributes to the maintenance of normal skin and the normal function of the immune system, and the formula contains no added sugars, preservatives, sweeteners or colours.
CFU count is only one part of the picture; strain choice, formulation and delivery matter too.
For us, “skin-first” means the relationship between the gut and skin informed Flora Daily Biotic from the beginning. It sits within the same wider way we have always thought about sensitive skin: looking beyond the surface as well as caring for it.
How to tell if your gut-health routine is actually helping
Start with the thing you actually wanted to improve. Perhaps it’s bloating after dinner, bowel regularity, urgency or being able to eat a wider range of foods comfortably.
Watch that rather than an abstract idea of “better gut health”, and try not to change several other things at the same time. A useful intervention should change something you can actually notice; taking more supplements or following more food rules isn’t progress on its own.
When you’ve given something a reasonable trial and nothing has changed, that tells you something too. It may not be the right intervention, or the symptom may need properly investigating rather than another adjustment to your diet.
Continue exploring
For more from By Sarah, follow @bysarahlondon, where we share what we’re learning about skin, wellbeing and the things that can make a real difference day to day, alongside nutrition and gut-health insights from our Co-founder and Registered Nutritionist, Sarah.
And if this article has left you with a question, or there’s something you’d like us to explore next, we’d genuinely love to hear from you. You can always message us at care@bysarahlondon.com.
This Journal article is for general information and isn’t intended to diagnose or treat a health condition. If you have persistent or unexplained digestive symptoms, speak to your GP or an appropriately qualified healthcare professional.
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