How Digestive Herbal Bitters Can Benefit Gut Health
Liferoot’s Zen Bitters
BY AMY LUPTON
Common Digestive Complaints? Herbal Bitters Can Help
What do indigestion, gas and bloating have in common? They can be helped with Herbal Bitters!
You might be thinking of the bitters that are served in a cocktail, but digestive bitters have been around since Ancient Egypt. The Egyptians used bitters to help ease digestive complaints. Monks from Europe used bitters in their beverages for spiritual and health purposes, and Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda have used the concept of bitters for health for thousands of years.
While many people are familiar with herbs like peppermint and ginger for easing gas, cramping, and nausea, bitters offer a unique and often overlooked set of benefits for the digestive system.
The bitter truth is you need bitters! Back in the day bitter herbs and foods were eaten a bit more regularly than they are now (you can blame the almighty sugar for that) and they are slowly now being recognized as the forgotten taste of health.
What Are Digestive Bitters and How Do They Work?
Digestive bitters are blends of herbs, roots, barks, and sometimes fruits or flowers, known for their distinctly bitter taste. Many foods have a bitter flavor naturally, but many people don’t eat enough bitter foods in our modern culture. Foods like dark chocolate, dandelion greens and arugula, cruciferous veggies, and several herbs have been replaced with many sweeter foods.
The key to bitters’ digestive benefits lies in their taste. When you consume bitters, the bitter receptors on your tongue are activated, sending signals through nerves to your digestive system. This triggers a cascade of digestive responses, including increased saliva production, stimulation of gastric juices, and enhanced bile and enzyme secretion.
Bitters can also help nutrient absorption breaking down your food more throughly.
Bitters can ease acid reflux and heartburn, by actually increasing stomach acid in turn keeping the esophageal sphincter closed and reducing symptoms of acid reflux and heartburn.
Bitters for Appetite Control and Sugar Cravings
With modern day demand of drugs to help with weight loss, bitters can influence gut hormones that regulate appetite, such as GLP-1 and ghrelin, helping to reduce overeating and cravings for sugary foods. These can be a helpful alternative to popular drugs.
Bitters and the Immune System: The Forgotten Herbal Allies
While many herbal remedies are popular when it comes to illness (such as elderberry, echinacea, adaptogens, and medicinal mushrooms), there are many herbal remedies that aren’t often discussed to boost immune function. And bitter herbs are one of them. But there are also many bitter foods too that we can incorporate into what we eat.
”Bitters change the way our guts work, especially when we taste them, making our stomachs feel fuller more quickly and affecting the secretion of enzymes that digest our food,” said Guido Mase in his book DIY Bitters. He goes on to say, “And, along with supporting healthy digestion, bitters also enhance the liver’s ability to flush inflammatory compounds and irritating substances from our bodies.”
How to Use Digestive Bitters for Gut Health
Before Meals: Take a few drops or sprays on the tongue about 15 minutes before eating to stimulate digestive juices. You can add to water or sparkling water as a refreshing tonic.
After Meals: Bitters can also be used after eating to ease indigestion or feelings of fullness. Just take under tongue for best benefits.
Who Should Avoid Digestive Bitters?
People with active peptic ulcers, liver disease, or gallstones should consult a qualified healthcare provider before using bitters. Pregnant individuals should opt for gentle preparations like dandelion root tea.
Why We Love Liferoot Zen Bitters
What’s Special About Our Bitters:
We use only organic and amazingly crafted and harvested herbs. When plants are treated with respect, not given dangerous chemicals, and harvested with care to capture the best and most nutrition and botanical nutrition… then you can see this translated to the response the body has to them.
We make our bitters with organic tequila. We use tequila in our tinctures because we find that our sensitive clients respond better to an alcohol that is not made with grain, corn or wheat. We also only choose organic alcohol so there is no pesticide residues.
They are gentle yet potent. We believe when you commit to a product, it should be effective, but not overpowering. Our tinctures and tonics are made with this concept in mind. Start slow and titrate up to your desired amount.
As always, do your own research, be your best advocate, make decisions that help your body, mind and soul.
Resources for Further Research
Effects of Bitter Substances on GI Function, Energy Intake and Glycaemic Control in Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes - PubMed (2021)
NCBI - WWW Error Blocked DiagnosticEffects of Bitter Substances on GI Function, Energy Intake and Glycaemic Control - PMC (2021)
Effects of Bitter Substances on GI Function, Energy Intake and Glycaemia-Do Preclinical Findings Translate to Outcomes in Humans?What to Know About Digestive Bitters - Consensus (2025)
What to Know About Digestive Bitters - Consensus: AI Search Engine for ResearchDigestive Bitters: Benefits, Risks and More - WebMD (2024)
What to Know About Digestive BittersBitters and Heart Health: Emerging Research - Urban Moonshine (2016)
Bitters and Heart Health: Emerging ResearchDo Digestive Bitters Work? - Cleveland Clinic (2024)
The Benefits of Bitters: They’re Not Just for CocktailsThe Effect of Gastrointestinal Bitter Sensing on Appetite Regulation - ScienceDirect (2023)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0195666322004275Bitters: Time for a New Paradigm - Wiley Online Library (2015)
Bitters: Time for a New Paradigm