10 ways to boost your gut health
Dietician Dr Megan Rossi explains why the trillions of bacteria that live inside you are so beneficial, and what you need to do to look after them
ANYONE with stomach problems, such as bloating and IBS-type symptoms, is likely to be aware of the importance of gut bacteria.
And improving the diversity of the trillions of bacteria that live in our gut (38trillion is a commonly quoted figure) is increasingly being seen as a way to achieve good health in general.
About 1000 to 1500 species of bacteria have been identified in the gut microbiota (the mixture of bacteria, yeasts and fungi found in the digestive tract), and study after study is showing the potential importance that diversity has for maintaining good health.
This is more helpful than talking about good and bad bacteria, which gives the impression that taking a probiotic can cancel out eating a bad diet, when the truth is it can’t.
Research suggests the state of our microbiota may affect a multitude of health issues, from general immunity, IBS, bloating, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, to the stiffness of the arteries present in heart disease, kidney disease, skin conditions and even mental health problems.
“We now believe the gut microbiota can affect just about every organ in the body and is very important in the body’s immune system,” said dietitian Dr Megan Rossi, research fellow at King’s College London, who also runs The Gut Health Clinic in London’s Harley Street.
“It’s early days, in that we’ve yet to determine whether intervening on the gut microbes can improve the health of our other organs, with diets targeting gut microbes, but that’s where science is heading. It’s looking promising in many areas, including mental health,” she added.
Here, Megan explains how to achieve a healthy gut based on the latest science and research...
1 Think diversity
“You need to eat as wide a range of plant-based foods as possible,” advises Megan. “I tell people to aim for 30 different plant-based foods a week – that’s nuts, seeds, wholegrains, legumes and fruit and vegetables.
“Research has suggested that if you’re having fewer than 10 of these plantbased foods a week, your microbial diversity isn’t very strong. Vary the foods you eat from week to week and always be open to trying new things.”
2 Fill up on fibre
The fibre found in foods such as beans, pulses, artichokes, legumes and brussels sprouts contains prebiotics that “feed” the beneficial bacteria that live in your gut. If you can increase the amount of fibre you eat, it will benefit pretty much every organ in your body, including your heart.
“Current Department of Health guidelines recommend we should be eating 30g of fibre a day but most of us are only eating 19g,” said Megan.
“I believe we should be aiming even higher.
“Increase the amount you eat gradually to give your body time to adjust to it.”
3 Ferment your foods
Include healthy fermented foods in your diet every day. Fermentation involves bacteria or yeast to make foods such as yogurt, kefir (a traditional homemade fermented drink made from milk that contains live bacteria) and kombucha (made from fermented tea, sugar, bacteria and yeast). They generally contain a wide range of different types of bacteria, so are believed to be beneficial for the gut microbiome. “Kefir is the one with the most scientific evidence behind it,” said Megan. “It has about 20 different types of
bacteria and yeast in it and the diversity is much greater than in yogurt. I drink 100ml of kefir a day. “You can now buy kits to make kefir – you add milk and leave it on your worktop to ferment for a few hours, then it’s ready to drink.” Other popular healthy fermented foods include kimchi, a type of spicy Korean pickled cabbage, and sauerkraut, a fermented cabbage.
4 Say no to sweetener
Although artificial sweeteners can reduce your calorie intake, they may also destroy the diversity of your gut microbiome. Clearly, this needs to be weighed up against the need to cut down on sugar.
“Evidence coming from animal studies suggests artificial sweeteners are probably not a great thing to include in your diet in large amounts,” revealed Megan.
“Whether it’s better to have sugar instead of sweeteners depends on a number of things, including your weight and medical history.”
5 Buy live yogurt
Although there are lots of different types of yogurt on the market, not all of them contain beneficial gut bacteria. “Look out for cartons with labels that say they contain live cultures,” said Megan. “It doesn’t really matter if they’re full fat or made from skimmed milk. “Although full-fat yogurts are shown to protect the bacteria from stomach acid and may have the edge in that way, that’s a mechanistic benefit rather than any superiority of the bacteria in the yogurt.”
6 Probiotic power
Take a probiotic only if you’re on antibiotics or have IBS. There isn’t any evidence that taking a probiotic supplement offers health benefits to healthy people but there are studies that show specific strains of bacteria can help treat certain conditions.
“If you’re taking antibiotics, one strain of yeast, called saccharomyces boulardii, taken at a dose of 10billion colonyforming-units (CFUs) twice daily, can reduce by 50 per cent the incidence of diarrhoea, which affects about 30 per cent of people taking antibiotics,” said Megan.
“When it comes to IBS, there are four probiotic supplement products on the market that have been shown in a study to be effective in treating symptoms: Symprove, Alflorex, Bio-Kult and VSL#3. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that these would work for everybody but the pooled results of all studies found that probiotics reduce IBS symptoms by 20 per cent.”
7 Swap your staples
When it comes to a good gut diet, variety is key. “If you eat rice a lot, try wild rice, quinoa or buckwheat,” said Megan. “Even eating yellow and green peppers as well as red will help. If you’re buying chickpeas, why not try butter beans, red kidney beans and black beans, too?”
8 Go mad for Mediterranean
Eat like people from the Mediterranean to boost your mood. “This is an emerging area,” said Megan, “but we’ve seen in some studies that eating a high-fibre Mediterraneanstyle diet of fruit, vegetables, legumes, extra-virgin olive oil and wholegrains can improve depression scores in some people.”
9 Consult a dietician
If you suffer from IBS symptoms such as bloating, wind and diarrhoea, you may be tempted to try the lowFODMAP diet. It involves avoiding a type of poorly absorbed carbohydrate found in foods such as onions, garlic, lentils, brassicas such as cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli, and wheat.
However, it shouldn’t be undertaken without the supervision of a registered dietitian, warned Megan.
“Many FODMAPs are essentially prebiotics, so by cutting them out you could be starving your gut bacteria of food. Also, the diet is very complex and should only be followed for four to six weeks. After that, FODMAPs should be systematically reintroduced with the help of a dietitian so you can identify what your tolerance is.”
10 Avoid the low-carb fad
“The ramifications of the trend for eating a low-carb diet without a medical recommendation are worrying because fibre is a type of carbohydrate,” said Megan. “In the short term, you can lose weight. However, you can also damage your gut bacteria, which may in the long run have consequences such as an increased risk of colon cancer.” ■■ The Gut Health Doctor (Penguin Life, £16.99) is out September. Pre-order from Amazon. Follow Megan on Instagram @ theguthealthdoctor, or go to www.the guthealthdoctor.com ■■ Feature from February’s issue of Healthy Food Guide (in supermarkets and WHSmith). Go to healthyfood.co.uk for subscriptions
Current guidelines say we should be eating 30g of fibre a day but most of us only manage 19g