Improve your Gut Microbiome

The gut microbiome is comprised of organisms such as bacteria, yeasts, fungi, viruses and protozoans that live in the gut or gastrointestinal tract.

The gut plays an important role in the absorption and synthesis all the nutrients from the food you have eaten so they can be used around the body where they are needed.

Our gut microbiome begins to develop from an early age and is influenced by genetics, delivery method, age, stress, illness, environment, medication use and diet. This means everyone’s gut is different so there is no ‘ideal healthy gut’, but there are things we can do to keep our gut running as optimally as possible.

Eat a diverse range of food

A gut containing diverse range of species of bacteria is considered a healthy gut. Each species of bacteria plays a different role within your gut and requires different nutrients to grow.

The best way to ensure you are taking in as many different nutrients as you can is to eat a diverse range of foods. Much like the expression ‘eat the rainbow’, ensuring your dinner plate is full of different colours is the easiest way to ensure a range of nutrients in your diet.

Eat foods rich in polyphenols

Polyphenols (found in colourful whole foods) are considered prebiotics because they feed certain bacteria in your gut, increasing the population of bacteria, in turn, promoting a healthy gut.

Polyphenols also have antioxidant properties making them helpful in treating inflammatory gut diseases.

Try eating fermented foods

Fermented foods are a natural source of probiotics, some research has suggested that probiotics can support a healthy gut microbiome potentially preventing gut inflammation and other intestinal problems.

Fermented foods include:

• Fermented vegetables
• Kefir
• Kimchi
• Kombucha
• Miso
• Sauerkraut
• Tempeh

Reduce processed sugar intake

Consuming too much processed sugar may cause an imbalance of gut microbes called gut dysbiosis. One study suggested that the standard Western diet (high in both sugar and fat) negatively affects the gut microbiome, which in turn can influence the brain and behaviour.

Eat more whole grains

Whole rain foods contain a lot of fibre and non-digestible carbs. These carbs are not absorbed in the small intestine. Instead, they make their way to the large intestine where they are broken down by microbiota and help to promote the growth of certain beneficial bacteria.