Do you know which foods are best and which foods are worst for your gallbladder? When it comes to foods that may harm the gallbladder, most people think of oily, fatty, rich and creamy meals. It is certainly true that foods like this can make your gallbladder sluggish, and in time raise the risk of stones. However, gluten can also be a culprit and cause serious gallbladder problems in some individuals.

Digestive problems are commonly associated with gallstones. Some people are not surprised to discover they have gallstones because they have wined and dined and eaten their way through a parade of rich foods and sugary treats. However, sometimes people who are very careful with their diet and who try to eat healthy foods still develop gallstones. Sometimes the gallstones develop very early in life, such as the early 20s. These are the atypical gallbladder patients and we have to suspect that something is very wrong with their digestion and liver function.

Food intolerance, irritable bowel syndrome, celiac disease and insufficient stomach acid (hypochlorhydria) can all increase the risk of gallstones. Digestive problems can increase the risk of gallbladder disease by interfering with the ability of the gallbladder to contract properly.

Celiac disease and gallstones

Celiac disease is a severe form of gluten intolerance whereby ingesting gluten prompts an autoimmune reaction in the body. Gluten is found in wheat, rye, barley, spelt, triticale, kamut and many processed foods that contain any of these grains. People with celiac disease develop inflammation in their intestines when they eat gluten. The hormone that stimulates the gallbladder to contract is mostly made in the first part of the small intestine called the duodenum. This hormone is called cholecystokinin (CCK) and people with celiac disease usually do not produce adequate levels if they are consuming gluten. The gluten itself also seems to interfere with the ability of the gallbladder to contract because celiacs commonly have a very low bile ejection fraction during a HIDA scan if they are regularly consuming gluten.

Sometimes gallstones are the first manifestation of celiac disease in people who weren’t aware they have the condition. They typically occur early in life, in the 20s or early 30s. It’s not just people with celiac disease who tend to suffer these gallbladder problems. They are also highly prevalent in people with non-celiac gluten sensitivity.

Unfortunately people with celiac disease or any other food sensitivity are the ones most likely to still experience pain and discomfort after having their gallbladder removed. This is simply because there was nothing wrong with the gallbladder itself; it was just not able to function correctly while the patient was eating foods that don’t agree with them. It is a tragedy when these food sensitivities aren’t discovered until after the patient has lost an important organ.

Food sensitivities and gallbladder problems

If you eat a food that your digestive system cannot properly break down, this can cause chronic irritation to the lining of your small intestine, and give you an excessively permeable gut lining (leaky gut). If your gut is inflamed, it will not produce sufficient levels of the hormone CCK, which means your gallbladder won’t get the message to contract properly.

Everyone with food sensitivities would greatly benefit from a glutamine supplement. Glutamine is an amino acid which helps to soothe and repair an irritated or inflamed digestive lining. It is actually used as fuel by the cells that line the digestive tract. An overgrowth of harmful gut bugs can also inflame the gut lining, and this responds well to Intestinal Parasite Cleanse capsules.

Which foods are most likely to promote gallbladder problems? Apart from gluten; dairy products, nuts, soy, corn and eggs are common culprits. If you have a gallbladder condition, you may wish to try eliminating these foods for a month to see if that improves your condition.

If there is too much fat in your bile, the bile becomes a lot thicker and doesn’t flow as freely.  A thick liquid always moves a lot more slowly than a thin watery fluid.  Thick bile doesn’t squirt out of your gallbladder the way it is supposed to when your gallbladder contracts.  Therefore, if the bile in your gallbladder is excessively thick, each time your gallbladder contracts, less bile will flow out and more will be left behind.

This means less bile will enter your intestines every time you eat a meal that contains fat.  That means you’ll probably have symptoms of poor fat digestion, such as bloating, burping, nausea, possibly diarrhoea after a fatty meal and possibly discomfort over the right side of your upper abdomen after a big meal. It also means gallstones are probably forming and growing inside your gallbladder. Taking an ox bile supplement is very beneficial because it helps to make the bile thinner, can soften gallstones, and improves fat digestion.

The health of your liver is also paramount because individuals with a sluggish liver, fatty liver or inflamed liver do not produce sufficient good quality bile. Livatone liver tonic helps to improve bile production by the liver, and assists bile flow in the gallbladder.

So you can see that the gallbladder itself is not to blame for stone formation; rather it is the excessively thick bile inside the gallbladder, due to liver and digestive problems.  Sludge is the forerunner to gallstones. Having excessively thick bile inside the gallbladder makes it much more difficult for the gallbladder to contract properly and expel all the bile that’s inside.  Therefore stagnant bile is never able to leave your gallbladder.  It remains there indefinitely and predictably eventually forms gallstones.

If you don’t address the dietary, digestive and metabolic factors that cause gallstones to form in the first place, this scenario will only get worse. Gallstones can become so large or numerous that they interfere with the ability of the gallbladder to function properly.

For more information see my book Save Your Gallbladder: And what to do if you’ve already lost it.

The above statements have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose, treat or cure any disease.

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