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It's 6.40am. Gym bag by the door, flat white in one hand, shaker rattling in the other, creatine already scooped in. By eight your stomach feels like a bouncy castle, and three suspects are in the frame. So, can coffee cause bloating, or is it the creatine, or the protein powder? Here's what the research reports on each one, who it studied, and where the evidence runs out. None of this is a diagnosis. It's the file on the usual suspects.

You're in the fridge aisle on a Saturday morning, post parkrun, and every second bottle has "gut health" in big friendly lettering. Some have a little cartoon tummy. Turn one over and the back reads like a different document. That gap is what this post is about: what sits behind a gut health drink label, and what the front of pack is allowed to say.

We're sticking to the label here, at category level. Not what any particular drink does for anyone's insides, just what turns up on the can and how to read it.

If you've searched for high protein low calorie drinks UK, you've probably noticed the same problem everywhere: most drinks are one or the other, not both. A lot of "high protein" options on UK shelves are just as calorie-dense as a dessert, thanks to dairy bases, added sugar and thickeners doing most of the work alongside the protein itself. Low calorie, high protein options are rarer than the marketing suggests, and worth knowing how to spot.

A new style of protein drink has started turning up on UK shelves this autumn: protein waters marketed as "clear" rather than the usual thick, milky shake. If you've searched clear protein drinks UK recently, you've probably noticed the same thing, a wave of near-transparent, water-like protein products positioned as a lighter alternative to the traditional shake. It's a genuinely interesting shift, but "clear" on the label doesn't automatically mean better, and it's worth understanding what the format actually delivers before deciding whether it's the right fit for you.