That tight, swollen, undo-the-top-button feeling is hard to pin down — partly because food reactions can be delayed by hours, so it’s easy to blame the wrong meal. A structured elimination plan helps you stop guessing randomly and explore systematically, and your personalised report gives you a shortlist of where to start.
What this screen is — and what it is not
What it is
A hair screen of your sample across 700+ items — including the usual bloating suspects: dairy, wheat, yeast and high-histamine foods
A personalised report that groups those items into a shortlist of foods worth exploring first
A starting point for a structured 6-week elimination plan — stop guessing randomly, explore systematically
Emailed within 3 days of your sample arriving at our UK lab, and covered by our 90-day money-back guarantee
What it is not
NOT a medical diagnosis or coeliac test (coeliac requires specific blood tests and GP confirmation)
NOT an IgE allergy test (we don’t test for immediate, severe allergies — see a doctor urgently for suspected anaphylaxis)
NOT a diagnostic test for lactose intolerance or any other medical condition — those need your GP
Does NOT measure your DAO enzyme level, your gut bacteria, or anything happening inside your body
Does NOT treat, cure, or relieve bloating — any improvement comes from the elimination process you follow; the report tells you where to start
How Food Can Trigger Bloating
Bloating happens when gas builds up in your digestive system faster than your body can release it. The gas comes from two main sources: swallowed air, or fermentation — gas created when your gut bacteria work on carbohydrates you haven’t fully digested. Some foods are harder to break down than others. Dairy contains lactose, which many people struggle to digest; it pulls water into the intestine, where bacteria ferment it and create gas. Beans and certain vegetables carry complex sugars that pass into your colon undigested and ferment there. High-histamine foods such as aged cheeses and fermented products can also be linked to bloating in people whose bodies find histamine harder to break down. Timing is the clue most people miss: bloating within 15–30 minutes usually points to the stomach end of digestion, while bloating one to three hours after eating often points to fermentation lower in the gut — which means the meal responsible may not be the one you just ate. That delay is exactly why guessing fails, and why a structured elimination with a food diary works. Two honest notes. First, bloating has many causes that aren’t food at all — constipation, stress, eating quickly, even how you breathe — as well as conditions your GP can check for, so see your GP if bloating is persistent or severe, especially with pain, weight loss or a change in bowel habits. Second, a hair screen doesn’t measure any of this: not gas, not enzymes, not what’s happening in your gut. It screens your sample across 700+ items and gives you a personalised shortlist of foods worth exploring first. The learning — and any improvement — comes from the elimination you run.
Does this sound like you?
After eating, does your belly feel visibly swollen or tight within 15–30 minutes? Note what you ate and whether it passes within a few hours.
Do you often feel bloated 1–3 hours after meals, even when portions are normal? Track whether this happens with certain food groups (dairy, wheat, beans, veg).
When you eat quickly or while stressed, does bloating get worse? This can signal swallowed air rather than a food trigger—try eating slowly for a few days and note the difference.
Do you feel bloated more on days when you eat fermented foods (yoghurt, aged cheese, sauerkraut, kombucha) or high-FODMAP vegetables (onions, garlic, broccoli, cauliflower)?
Over the past 2 weeks, on how many days have you felt bloated? If it’s most days, especially with pain or other symptoms (weight changes, altered bowel habits, fatigue), that’s worth discussing with your GP.
Have you noticed bloating improve when you’ve avoided one specific food before? (E.g. ‘I felt better when I skipped milk’, or ‘Bread always makes me puffy.’) These hunches are exactly what an elimination diet helps confirm.
Related foods worth checking at the same time
People reacting to wheat may also respond to rye and barley (all contain gluten or similar proteins), but not necessarily to rice or oats
Dairy sensitivity can overlap with histamine sensitivity, especially if fermented dairy (cheese, yoghurt) triggers bloating more than milk
High-FODMAP vegetables like onions, garlic, and cauliflower often cluster together in triggering bloating; if one bothers you, others likely will too
People sensitive to yeast may also react to fermented foods (bread, beer, kombucha, sauerkraut) and aged cheeses where yeast or related fungi are present
Beans and legumes share similar fermentable sugars, so if lentils cause bloating, chickpeas and other beans likely will too
Carbonated drinks and artificial sweeteners (especially sugar alcohols like sorbitol) can trigger gas and bloating independently of food sensitivities
Examples of what the 700+ item panel covers
Dairy: milk, whey, casein, lactose
Gluten grains: wheat, barley, rye (and oats, which are often cross-contaminated)
High-histamine foods: aged cheeses, cured meats, fermented vegetables, certain fish
High-FODMAP foods: onion, garlic, beans, lentils, certain fruits such as apples and pears
Everyday additives and sweeteners found in processed foods
How to run a focused elimination
Plan for The 6-week core plan: a structured elimination with a daily food diary, then a careful reintroduction one food at a time afterwards.
Day one: start your food diary. Note what you eat, when, and when any bloating shows up — how strong it is and how long it lasts. The diary matters twice over: it’s how you’ll spot patterns, and the 90-day money-back guarantee asks you to follow your plan for at least 6 weeks with a food diary.
Weeks 1–2: remove the foods at the top of your report’s shortlist (for many people that’s two or three groups, such as dairy and wheat) completely. Keep everything else the same, so you’re testing one change rather than five.
Weeks 3–4: keep them out. If bloating is easing, that’s a useful signal. If nothing has shifted, look at the other usual suspects — eating speed, stress, fizzy drinks, constipation — alongside the next foods on your shortlist.
Weeks 5–6: hold steady and let your diary build a clear before-and-after picture. Six weeks feels long, but it’s what separates a real pattern from a fluke week.
Afterwards — reintroduce one food at a time: eat a normal portion at two or three meals over two days, then pause for three days before testing the next. If bloating returns, you’ve likely found a trigger; if it doesn’t, that food goes back on the menu.
One food per cycle, always: if you test dairy and wheat together and bloat, you won’t know which one mattered. Clarity beats speed.
Once you’ve worked out which foods don’t suit you, you have options. Some people keep them out; many find smaller portions or occasional servings sit fine. Elimination is a tool for exploration, not a lifelong sentence — and a registered dietitian can help if you want support reintroducing foods or keeping your diet balanced. If your reintroductions don’t explain your symptoms, that’s useful information too, and a good reason to go back to your GP.
One customer’s experience
Becca, 36, had spent two years quietly undoing the top button of her jeans by mid-afternoon. She tried skipping bread one week and milk the next, but the bloating never followed a pattern she could see — mostly, she realises now, because it often arrived hours after the meal that mattered, so she kept blaming the wrong food. She saw her GP first, who checked her over and was satisfied nothing needed medical attention. Rather than guess her way through every food group, she used a £49 hair screen to get a shortlist of foods worth trialling first — hers grouped dairy, wheat and a few high-histamine foods at the top. She removed them for her 6-week plan, kept a food diary from day one, and by week four the afternoon tightness had eased noticeably. Reintroducing one food at a time afterwards taught her the specific part: milk and soft cheese were her problem; bread, to her surprise, wasn’t. No verdict and no magic — six weeks of removing and re-adding food is what drew the map. The report just handed her the starting pen.
Common questions
Is bloating always caused by food?
No. Bloating can stem from swallowing air while eating quickly, constipation, hormonal changes, stress, or how your digestive muscles move — as well as conditions your GP can check for. That’s why, if bloating is persistent, painful, or comes with weight loss or changes to your bowel habits, it’s important to see your GP first to rule out other causes.
How is this different from an allergy test?
An allergy is an immediate immune (IgE) response that can be serious — hives, swelling, trouble breathing within minutes. This screen does not measure IgE antibodies and is not an allergy test; if you suspect an allergy, speak to your GP. Intolerance-type symptoms like bloating tend to behave differently — they’re often delayed by hours, sometimes a day or more — which is why a structured elimination with a food diary is the reliable way to test whether a food suits you.
What’s the difference between a food intolerance and a food sensitivity?
The words get used loosely, and honestly the label matters less than the method. Lactose intolerance, for example, is a digestive issue — the body lacks the enzyme to break a food down properly, which can mean gas and bloating. People use ‘sensitivity’ more broadly for foods that just don’t seem to suit them, often with delayed symptoms. Whatever the cause, the way to test a specific food is the same: remove it, keep a diary, reintroduce it carefully, and watch what happens.
Why do fermented foods cause bloating in some people?
Fermented foods like aged cheese, yoghurt, sauerkraut, and kombucha are naturally high in histamine, and these foods can be harder for some people to break down. If you notice a pattern with fermented foods, they’re worth a place on your elimination shortlist so you can test the pattern properly.
How long does it take to see whether a food is linked to my bloating?
Intolerance-type symptoms are often delayed — hours, sometimes a day or more after eating — which is exactly why they’re hard to spot without a diary. During elimination, you might notice improvement within 1–2 weeks if a removed food was a major factor, though the full 6-week plan gives you the clearest picture. During reintroduction, allow 3 days between foods so you can link any returning symptoms to the right one. Patience pays off — you end up with answers instead of hunches.
When should I see my GP instead of trying elimination at home?
See your GP if bloating is persistent (most days over several weeks), painful, or comes with warning signs: unexplained weight loss, blood in stools, fatigue, or changes to bowel habits — or if it came on suddenly and severely. Your GP can rule out conditions that need different approaches, including coeliac disease. An elimination diet is best run once the serious causes have been considered.
When to speak to your GP. See your GP if bloating is persistent (lasting several weeks or occurring most days), is affecting your quality of life, or comes with pain, weight loss, fatigue, changes to bowel habits, or blood in your stools. Your GP can rule out coeliac disease, IBS, and other conditions that may need specific medical approaches. Bloating after eating is common and often food-related, but it can also signal constipation, stress, how quickly you eat, or other factors—your GP will help narrow it down. If bloating comes on very suddenly with severe stomach pain, or you’re vomiting, call NHS 111 or 999 for urgent advice.
