Gut health isn't just about uncomfortable digestive complaints, as we may think. It is also intrinsically linked to many other aspects of our health.
You may be familiar with the phrase, "you are what you eat." While this isn't literally true, you don't become a banana just because you eat one.
In another sense, it's not far off. The food you eat affects the balance of bacteria in your gut, affecting your health and immune system.
Gut health is closely linked to the risk of disease. By changing your dietary habits, you can alter the composition of microorganisms in your gut to help you live a long, healthy, and happy life.
In this article, find out why good gut health is so important and discover the top 6 foods to eat to boost your overall health.
Looking to boost your achieve optimal gut health? Then check out our guide to the best prebiotic supplement!
Why Is Gut Health Important?
The gut microbiome comprises trillions of bacteria, fungi, and other microbes. Some of these are beneficial to our health and carry out essential activities, like helping with digestion, regulating weight, and supporting the immune system. At the same time, others can cause harm to our health and lead to illness if their levels become too high.
A healthy gut comprises a concoction of both good and bad microbes that work in synergy together and ensures the digestive system functions as well as it should. A healthy gut also communicates with the brain through nerves and hormones to help maintain overall health and wellbeing.
An unhealthy gut is when there is an imbalance between these microbes, and the good outweighs the bad. This can have a number of adverse effects on our health, such as impairing the immune system, increasing inflammation and risk of disease, affecting our mood and energy levels, and causing stomach complaints.
Interactions between the gut and the immune system are complex. Scientists believe that a poor diet and high levels of unhealthy microbes in the gut cause the immune system to trigger inflammation 1.
While short-term inflammation is necessary to help our bodies fight infections and heal injuries, when it continues, it becomes chronic and can lead to various diseases, including obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. Whereas plenty of "good" microbes in the gut boost levels of important immune cells that help the body fight illness.
It is widely accepted that a diverse microbiome containing many beneficial microbes is associated with good health and a healthy immune system.
Diet is the most significant influence on the composition of your microbiome. The good news is this can be easily changed!
Here are some of the best foods for gut health.
1. Probiotics
Probiotics are live "friendly" bacteria that help support a healthy gut by restoring the balance of good bacteria. They are usually added to foods like yogurt or taken as supplements and can also be found in fermented foods.
Research suggests probiotic supplements can help improve microbiome health and prevent inflammation 2. They are known to help manage:
- Irritable bowel syndrome
- High cholesterol
- Nutrient absorption
- Diarrhea
- Constipation
- Weight gain
- Lactose intolerance
2. Prebiotics
Prebiotics are not to be confused with probiotics. Although similar in the sense that they improve your levels of good bacteria in the gut, they work in a slightly different way.
Prebiotics are a type of indigestible fiber, so they travel down to your lower digestive tract. Here, they provide a source of food for your gut's healthy bacteria, allowing these bacteria to thrive and grow in numbers. Think of them like garden fertilizers that help plants grow. In this case, your gut is the garden!
Foods that contain prebiotics include:
- Onions
- Garlic
- Asparagus
- Bananas
- Wholegrains
- Beans
Getting plenty of prebiotics through diet alone is challenging. Taking a prebiotic supplement like Performance Lab Prebiotic can help nourish the healthy bacteria in your gut, improve digestive health, relieve discomfort and boost your immune system.
3. Fermented foods
Fermented foods have undergone a fermentation process where yeast and bacteria break down their sugars, giving them a unique taste.
They have boomed in popularity among health enthusiasts because of their significant benefits on gut health.
Fermented foods include:
- Yogurt
- Kimchi
- Sauerkraut
- Kefir
- Kombucha
Their health benefits are largely because of the huge amounts of live bacteria they contain. These help increase the diversity of your gut microbiome and the number of good bacteria. One of the most important is known as lactobacilli.
One study shows that people who eat large amounts of yogurt have higher levels of lactobacilli in their intestines and less enterobacteriaceae, a type of bad bacteria that contributes to gut inflammation and disease 3.
Fermented foods also increase conjugated linoleic acid production, a type of omega-6 fatty acid that helps support a healthy immune system and reduces the risk of disease.
4. Nuts and seeds
Nuts and seeds are not only packed full of essential nutrients to support overall good health, but they also provide a great source of fiber and polyphenols to feed your gut, as well as healthy fats. These help prevent blood sugar spikes and can improve cardiovascular health.
5. Legumes
For those who don't know, legumes are the fruit and seed of a plant and include things like peas, beans, and lentils. They provide a rich source of different prebiotic fiber types broken down in the large intestine by your gut bacteria 4.
6. Fruit and vegetables
We aren't saying you need to become a vegetarian to have a healthy gut. But adding more fruit and veg to your diet is important because they provide a great source of prebiotic fiber to feed you healthy gut bacteria.
Foods like apples, artichokes, blueberries, almonds, and pistachios have been shown to increase levels of beneficial bacteria, Bifidobacteria, which can help reduce intestinal inflammation and improve overall digestive health.
They also contain polyphenols (plant micronutrients) that can help suppress the colonization of harmful microbes in the gut 5.
Summary
A healthy gut comprises a good balance of friendly and harmful bacteria and is an essential foundation for overall good health. It regulates the immune system, nutrient absorption, mood, and energy.
Lifestyle factors such as eating a poor diet, alcohol, stress, and smoking can all affect the composition of your microbiome and cause imbalances. Without enough healthy bacteria in your gut, your immune system is compromised, and you are more susceptible to illness and disease.
Feeding your good bacteria is key to improving your gut health. This involves adapting your diet to include foods rich in prebiotic fiber and probiotics. You can also help it along by taking Performance Lab Prebiotic!
References
- Tilg, Herbert, et al. "The intestinal microbiota fuelling metabolic inflammation." Nature Reviews Immunology 20.1 (2020): 40-54.
- Hemarajata, Peera, and James Versalovic. "Effects of probiotics on gut microbiota: mechanisms of intestinal immunomodulation and neuromodulation." Therapeutic advances in gastroenterology 6.1 (2013): 39-51.
- Lisko, Daniel J., G. Patricia Johnston, and Carl G. Johnston. "Effects of dietary yogurt on the healthy human gastrointestinal (GI) microbiome." Microorganisms 5.1 (2017): 6.
- Clemente, Alfonso, and Raquel Olias. "Beneficial effects of legumes in gut health." Current Opinion in Food Science 14 (2017): 32-36.
- Kumar Singh, Amit, et al. "Beneficial effects of dietary polyphenols on gut microbiota and strategies to improve delivery efficiency." Nutrients 11.9 (2019): 2216.
