Dr C’s check-up:

“A healthy gut protects your brain”

Our brains and guts are closely linked, and if you look after one, the other benefits – it’s called the gutbrain axis. In the olden days, the two were thought of as being very separate, then we started calling the gut the “second brain” when I was at medical school.

UNDERSTAND GUT FEELINGS

Our guts are sensitive to emotion – it’s why we get butterflies when we’re excited, or get a knot in our stomach when we’re anxious. Emotions trigger symptoms in the gut. And the connection goes both ways: a troubled gut can send signals to the brain, a troubled brain sends signals to the gut. Just like our brains, the gut has its own neurosystem and neurotransmitters, and your gut microbiome – the trillions of bacteria that fill your gastrointestinal tract – affect health from birth until death.

WHY BACTERIA LASTS

I once had my poo analysed, and the lady could tell – at 40 – that I was born by C-section because I had very bland poo bacteria, without much variety. Since then, I have added fermented foods like sauerkraut to my diet to boost the numbers. Vaginal births give you more diversity because the baby comes into contact with bacteria from the mother. There’s a tribal tradition where, when a baby is born, they take a swab from the mother’s vagina and smear it all over the baby’s face. That makes sense, because it passes the good bacteria to the baby. That’s not to say a baby born by caesarean can’t have a healthy gut, it’s just that a vaginal birth definitely passes good bacteria on.

FEED YOUR MICROBIOME

Problems with the microbiome have been linked to mental health issues. Of course mental health is complex, and many factors play into whether you suffer, but research has shown that if you have a varied microbiome, it can cause changes in brain regions that are important for processing emotions. That doesn’t mean a poor diet causes mental health problems, but if you take good care of your gut, it will benefit your brain. When it comes to Alzheimer’s, dementia and Parkinson’s, diets that feed your gut, with lots of colour, variety and fibre seem to lessen risk. A recent study, like lots of others, linked inflammatory conditions like Crohn’s disease with a higher chance of developing dementia. That’s probably because inflammation upsets our gut bacteria, causing an imbalance. Inflammation, when it works, helps the body fight off bugs and repair damaged tissue, but when it’s being triggered all the time (chronic inflammation), it attacks different areas of your body – including your brain, because it’s on high alert. In Alzheimer’s, that could be why particular proteins are laid down in the brain. Looking after your gut and eating the right foods, like olive oil, fatty fish and coloured fruit and veg, can help avoid that happening as it reduces inflammation.

GO EASY ON BLEACH

Certain things dent the good bacteria in your gut – one of which is overzealous cleaning, such as bleaching everything and never being exposed to any kind of dirt, particularly when we are growing up. Taking a course of antibiotics wipes out good bacteria in your gut, too.

TRY A NATURAL AID

In some countries, people are prescribed kefir (a fermented milk drink) after antibiotics to replace good bacteria. I now tell all my patients who take antibiotics, as well as people with IBS and general groany guts, to drink kefir or eat sauerkraut. I don’t recommend probiotic tablets, because you don’t know if the billions you swallow will make it all the way to your gut. Food is better. You only need a spoon of sauerkraut, or a glass of kefir a day, and over time that will colonise your gut with far more diverse bacteria. We are covered in bacteria, and we need to keep it healthy, because it in turn keeps us healthy. It’s an odd thing to say when we’re all eagerly washing our hands – which we absolutely should be doing – but when it comes to our guts, bacteria are our friends.

EAT LOTS OF VEG

A fibre-rich diet is another way to feed the good bacteria, so lots of whole grains and vegetables. In fact, some experts now think one of the reasons that countries like Germany and South

Korea have done so well with coronavirus is that a key part of their diet is fermented foods and drinks. We should tuck in too!