Eating for gut health

It seems every time you read the newspaper these days there’s something new about gut health. Our understanding of how our gut microbiome works is still growing, but we know now that it can influence so many factors that impact our health - everything from weight, cholesterol and mental health to sleep and chronic diseases. The gut microbiome’s resume includes making vitamins, hormones, chemical messengers and amino acids, not to mention communicating with other vital organs including your brain, liver and heart. It’s so important that it’s earned the nickname the ‘second brain’. What we eat directly influences the composition of micro-organisms inside our gut. So, what should we be feeding it?

Dr Saliha Mahmood-Ahmed, a gastroenterologist in the UK, gives us tips on how to eat for gut health, including lots of prebiotics (fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, wholegrains, legumes and pulses, spices) and probiotics (fermented foods like live yoghurt, kombucha, sauerkraut). As Michael Pollen has said, “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” Dr Mahmood-Ahmed would like to see fruit and vegetables being ­prescribed to patients, as “long-term, that is going to be cheaper than a lot of the medication we are prescribing people.”

As an example of a gut nourishing diet, Professor Barbara Ryan, a consultant gastroenterologist, has written about what she eats in a typical day to keep her gut healthy.

In New Zealand, researchers have recently published findings that suggest how compounds derived from fruit and vegetables can positively influence gut health.