Most Replayed Moment: Are You Really Gluten Intolerant? It Could Be This Instead! artwork

Most Replayed Moment: Are You Really Gluten Intolerant? It Could Be This Instead!

The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett

July 10, 2026

Your gut symptoms might not be caused by gluten. Dr Will Bulsiewicz is a leading gastroenterologist and gut health expert specialising in the microbiome, digestion and the science of food.
Speakers: Steven Bartlett, Will Bulsiewicz
**Steven Bartlett** (0:00)
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On this point about bloating, discomfort, irregular digestion, if I have one of those things, does that theoretically mean that something is not right?

**Will Bulsiewicz** (1:12)
Everyone gets bloated once in a while, so I think it would be unfair to make it sound like you should never have any adverse symptoms at all.

**Steven Bartlett** (1:20)
But if it's prolonged?

**Will Bulsiewicz** (1:22)
If it's a chronic health issue? If you're the type of person who you wake up in the morning and you say, I hope today is going to be a good day. I hope I don't have to deal with that specific issue. You have a problem.
We already know, and then we have to work on that to address that issue. How we go about that, I think, needs to be on some level personalized. But the tools that are at our disposal remain the same. It's just a matter of like, let's put it on the table.
Here are your choices. You pick which ones are most applicable to you. Where are the opportunities for you? And I can't tell you that without knowing more about you.

**Steven Bartlett** (1:56)
What about this issue of people getting gassy, like farting a lot?

**Will Bulsiewicz** (1:59)
Yeah.

**Steven Bartlett** (2:00)
Is that typically associated with one particular gut issue? Or is that, again, could that be a plethora of issues?

**Will Bulsiewicz** (2:06)
So it could be a plethora of issues.
This is a common problem. If I have to like start with, what is my number one thing? It's constipation. For sure. 100%. There are so many people who are listening right now that are constipated and they don't even know it because they poop every day and they think that how often they poop is the definition. And that's not true. So constipation is what happens when you're not adequately emptying your bowels.
And that could be a frequency problem, but it could also be that it's a partial poop.

**Steven Bartlett** (2:44)
Oh, OK, because I thought constipation was if you just haven't been to the toilet and nothing comes out.

**Will Bulsiewicz** (2:48)
Look, don't get me wrong. If you don't poop for a week, I know you're constipated. I don't need to ask any more questions. If you go a week, but if it's there are people who they poop every other day, that's their normal. They feel fine. They don't have any gut symptoms. They don't have a constipation problem. We're OK.
Right.

**Steven Bartlett** (3:05)
So frequency is not the be all and end all.

**Will Bulsiewicz** (3:08)
It's part of the equation. Right. But there's also people who they poop. And I want to sort of paint the picture and forgive me. I feel very comfortable talking about poop. This is what I've done for a living. But they go to the bathroom in the morning. They struggle.
It's not satisfying. They had to work really hard to get a little nugget to come out. And then they feel like they still have to go.
And maybe 45 minutes later, they poop again. Okay, that's not a new poop. You're doing partial poops. You're probably doing a 20% or 25% poop. So you could poop three, four times during the day. You might not still be fully emptying your bottles. Right? And so that's an example of a person who can actually be struggling with bloating and constipation and not think because they're like, Doc, I'm pooping three times a day.

**Steven Bartlett** (4:01)

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