Stomach Cramps and Oatmeal
Health ConditionsDigestive Health

Stomach Cramps and Oatmeal

Stomach Cramps and Oatmeal
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Updated on July 31, 2025
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Oatmeal is an excellent choice for breakfast, as it provides you with important nutrients while keeping you feeling full.

 But if your morning oatmeal gives you stomach cramps, you might assume it’s due to an allergy and be tempted to give up this healthy food.
Oats are not one of the most common food allergens — however, it’s possible your stomach may be sensitive to some of the components in oatmeal.

 If that’s the case, you could add oatmeal back into your diet gradually, after a period of exclusion.

 That would give your body time to adjust, and the symptoms would gradually disappear.

Carbohydrates and Gas

Your stomach and small intestine don’t fully break down the carbohydrates — the sugars, starches, and fiber — in foods, including oatmeal.

 Carbohydrates travel to your large intestine, where bacteria continue the digestive process, and gas is released as a by-product.
Symptoms of gas include burping, flatulence, bloating, and stomach pain.

 Whole grains, including oatmeal, are a common cause of gas in many individuals.

Too Much Fiber

Soluble fiber, a carbohydrate that comes from plants, has numerous health benefits.

 It helps you maintain a healthy weight, can help treat heart disease and diabetes, and prevents constipation. Soluble fiber, however, can also cause you to experience stomach cramps, gas, and bloating as it draws in water, turns to gel, and slows down your digestion. This should subside once the bacteria in your body adapt to the amount of fiber you’re eating.
Oatmeal is a good source of soluble fiber.

 Increase your oatmeal intake gradually over a few weeks, to allow your body to adapt to your fiber intake — and drink plenty of water, which helps move fiber through your digestive system.

Intolerance to Oats

If you have an oat intolerance or allergy, you may experience digestive problems, including cramping, bloating, gas, nausea, vomiting, and stomach pain, after consuming oatmeal.

 With an allergy, your body mistakes a protein in oats for something harmful, causing your immune system to react against it. If you’re intolerant, oats will irritate your digestive system, but symptoms may not appear for several hours.
Food allergies cause symptoms every time the food is eaten, and the symptoms typically appear within a couple of hours.

 An allergic reaction to a food may also lead to anaphylaxis, which can be life-threatening and may affect your breathing. If you’re allergic to oats, you need to avoid them to prevent serious health consequences. A food intolerance is dose dependent and is not the same thing as an immune reaction. In that case, you may be able to eat oats in smaller amounts without experiencing abdominal discomfort.

Maybe You’re Allergic to Wheat

Oat allergies are uncommon, but if you have a wheat allergy you may still experience stomach cramps after your morning bowl of oatmeal, since oats and wheat are typically processed in the same facility.

People with celiac disease are unable to eat gluten, a protein commonly found in grains, including wheat.

 Oats don’t contain gluten, but if they’re contaminated with wheat and you have celiac disease or a wheat allergy, you may develop symptoms such as stomach cramps after eating them.

 You might also be allergic to the additives in some oatmeal products.

 Buy 100 percent oats, rather than oatmeal that contains added sugars, food coloring, and fruit flavorings.

The Takeaway

  • Oatmeal is a breakfast staple for a reason — it offers fiber that can keep you satiated for hours, among other essential nutrients.
  • Stomach cramps from oatmeal can be due to digestive issues that lead to gas, or an excessive intake of soluble fiber, which can lead to bloating and discomfort as it slows digestion.
  • Digestive issues can also stem from an intolerance to oats, where symptoms might be delayed, or from an oat allergy, which typically causes immediate and potentially severe reactions. Intolerances may be overcome with a gradual reintroduction of oats.
  • Cross-contamination with wheat during processing, as well as allergic reactions to additives in processed oatmeal products, can also cause an upset stomach, especially for individuals with wheat allergies or celiac disease.
EDITORIAL SOURCES
Everyday Health follows strict sourcing guidelines to ensure the accuracy of its content, outlined in our editorial policy. We use only trustworthy sources, including peer-reviewed studies, board-certified medical experts, patients with lived experience, and information from top institutions.
Resources
  1. Cereals, Oats, Regular and Quick, Not Fortified, Dry. U.S. Department of Agriculture. April 1, 2019.
  2. Food Allergies: The “Big 9”. U.S. Department of Agriculture. March 21, 2024.
  3. Valido E et al. Systematic Review of the Effects of Oat Intake on Gastrointestinal Health. The Journal of Nutrition. October 2021.
  4. Food Intolerances and Allergies. Mantas MD Gastroenterology.
  5. Symptoms and Causes of Gas in the Digestive Tract. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. June 2021.
  6. Mutuyemungu E et al. Intestinal Gas Production by the Gut Microbiota: A Review. Journal of Functional Foods. January 2023.
  7. Fiber. MedlinePlus. July 23, 2024.
  8. Soluble and Insoluble Fiber Foods List. North Ottawa Wellness Foundation.
  9. Does Drinking Water During or After a Meal Help or Harm Digestion? Mayo Clinic. March 7, 2025.
  10. Food Allergy vs. Intolerance: What’s the Difference? Cleveland Clinic. April 13, 2022.
  11. Food Allergies and Intolerances. Children’s Health Care. September 19, 2022.
  12. Khadavi A. Oat Allergy: Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Treatment. Alan Khadavi, MD Allergy and Asthma Care. May 4, 2023.
  13. Thompson T et al. Gluten Cross Contact in Oats: Retrospective Database Analysis 2011 to 2023. Frontiers in Nutrition. November 21, 2023.
  14. Gluten-Free Diet. Mayo Clinic. December 21, 2024.
  15. Food Additives and Allergies/Intolerances. Food Allergy Research & Education.
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Waseem-Ahmed-bio

Waseem Ahmed, MD

Medical Reviewer

Waseem Ahmed, MD, is an assistant professor of medicine in the Karsh Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and serves as Director, Advanced Inflammatory Bowel Disease Fellowship and Education within the F. Widjaja Inflammatory Bowel Disease Institute.

He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan and attended medical school at Indiana University. He then completed an internal medicine residency at New York University, followed by a fellowship in gastroenterology and hepatology at Indiana University, and an advanced fellowship in inflammatory bowel disease at the Jill Roberts Center for Inflammatory Bowel Disease at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medicine. Prior to his current role, Dr. Ahmed served as an assistant professor of medicine within the Crohn’s and Colitis Center at the University of Colorado from 2021-2024.

Dr. Ahmed is passionate about providing innovative, comprehensive, and compassionate care for all patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). His research interests include IBD medical education for patients, providers, and trainees; clinical trials; acute severe ulcerative colitis; and the use of combined advanced targeted therapy in high-risk IBD.

He enjoys spending time with his wife and dog, is an avid follower of professional tennis, and enjoys fine dining.

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Michelle Fisk

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Michelle Fisk began writing professionally in 2011. She has been published in the "Physician and Sports Medicine Journal." Her expertise lies in the fields of exercise physiology and nutrition. Fisk holds a Master of Science in kinesiology from Marywood University.

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