Almond milk does not cause gas for most people.
However, some people experience intolerance symptoms including gas from drinking almond milk. The most common causes are previously unknown nut allergies, or a reaction to other ingredients in the milk.
Let’s go through what your line of thinking should resemble if you’re having stomach issues from drinking almond milk.
Table of Contents
Start By Determining If It’s the Almond Milk Giving You Gas
One common scenario is someone switches from using dairy milk to almond milk in their cereal because the lactose is giving them stomach issues.
And while the lactose may be an issue, the cereal itself (or whatever else you have milk with) could be the issue.
You need to isolate the root cause at this point before diving any deeper.
There’s a few options at your disposal:
- If possible, consume the food or drink you usually have, but don’t add any milk to it. See if you still have gas afterwards.
- Switch to a different non-dairy milk. Coconut milk, rice milk, oat milk, and cashew milk are all easy enough to find these days.
- Eat whole almonds and confirm that you haven’t developed an intolerance or allergic reaction to them.
Do these one at a time for a few days to see if any of them are an issue.
Let’s say you do all that and find that the almond milk definitely is an issue, but you don’t appear to have an allergy.
There’s still one explanation that is likely…
Almond milk can trigger gas in some people with intolerance, but there are other possible explanations as well. Make sure it’s not your cereal or some other factor giving you digestion issues.
Do Almonds Typically Give People Gas?
Obviously you’re only getting a small fraction of an almond’s content in almond milk, but it’s still worth taking a quick look at how nuts like almonds affect gas problems.
Gas is produced in the large intestine as a result of carbohydrate fermentation by your gut bacteria. Since fiber doesn’t break down at all in the small intestine, it gets fermented later on.
Almonds are quite high in fiber, with 11 grams of fiber per 100 gram serving. It’s certainly possible to eat multiple servings of that size as well.
Due to their high fiber content, almonds can easily lead to excessive gas production. Even if almonds only make up a small part of almond milk, this may still play a role in almond milk causing gas.
Other Ingredients in Your Almond Milk Can Cause Gas
Personally I buy the unsweetened refrigerated almond milk, which is essentially just almonds and water.
If you buy sweetened ones, it could be the sugar causing stomach issues, which isn’t super likely, but possible.
If you buy the shelf stable type of almond milk, there are stabilizers added like:
- Carrageenan
- Lecithin
- Gellan Gum
- Artificial Sweeteners
- Natural Flavors (which can include hundreds of ingredients)
While most people don’t develop severe reactions to any of those, especially since they’re used in small amounts, it’s a possibility.
It’s not the most definitively proven topic, but there are claims that carrageenan in particular can cause inflammation, bloating, and other issues.
If you’re buying the shelf stable version of almond milk, you can also experiment with the refrigerated ones that typically have fewer ingredients. This can help you isolate any filler ingredients giving you gas.
Check the other ingredients in your almond milk and make sure there’s nothing that could be causing or contributing to your gas.
Summary
Almonds are hard to digest for some people, although it’s not that common.
And while almond milk has only a small almond content (about 2% by volume), it can still cause similar issues in those people with intolerances to almond products.
Confirm that the almond milk is the actual cause of the issue, and not your cereal or some other ingredient in your almond milk.
If the symptoms cause you any pain, you should see a doctor to see if there’s something more serious going on.
