What Is Gut Health And Why Is It Important For Us?

What is Gut Health and why is it important?

The seven-meter tube known as your gut is a hugely important part of your body. And not just for its role in digestion! You owe much more to the gut than you may know. For instance, it’s home to a whopping 100 million neurons. 90% of the serotonin in your body also happens to be produced in the gut.

Maintaining good gut health is therefore very important! Let’s look at ways you can help make your gut health better and how it will help your body.


What makes a healthy gut?

Every adult human has around 10 trillion bacteria in their gut – that’s 1500 times more than the number of people on Earth! It’s a strange thought, but don’t worry – not all of these gut bacteria do you any harm. In fact, some are actually beneficial for you!

These micro-organisms living in your gut are known collectively as your gut microbiota or gut microflora. Scientists believe that diversity in your gut microbiota plays a role for good gut health.

When you’re born, there aren’t nearly as many different types of microbe living in your gut. The gut microbiota is built in the first years of life to reach its greatest stability in adulthood. Its diversity decreases with old age. This process of evolution of your gut microbiota depends on your diet, environment, and lifestyle.

Research has increasingly shown how important the bacteria in our gut may be to our health, and it has been suggested that a fibre rich diet can help increase the good bacteria in the gut. Some fibre types provide a food source for ‘friendly’ gut bacteria helping them to increase and produce substances which are thought to be protective such as short-chain fatty acids.

On the flip side, an unbalanced diet and stress can impair your gut health.
So, it’s key to have a balanced diet every day and a healthy lifestyle in general.


How good gut health helps your body?

Supporting your gut health with the right diet and lifestyle is of paramount importance because the gut plays a key role in your digestion and metabolism. Its primary function is the digestion and absorption of nutrients, and the excretion of waste. But the gut has a lot more tricks up its sleeve.

To begin with, your gut is also lined with certain cells that secrete massive quantities of antibodies into the gut to support your overall wellbeing.

Then, there is the ‘gut-brain’ axis. It refers to the fact that your gut and brain are connected, and information flows on a two-way street from the gut to the brain, and vice versa. Otherwise, there would have been much chaos in the gut and misery in the head!

Now let’s take a look at how yogurts can help to support your gut health!


Another yoghurt bonus

Yoghurts are sources of calcium. Calcium is well known for helping to maintain healthy bones and teeth, but it also supports the normal functioning of your digestive enzymes, which helps with your gut health.

Yogurts that are a source of calcium can therefore be a delicious way to support your gut health as part of a varied balanced diet and healthy lifestyle.

As we’ve seen, a healthy gut is key to supporting your overall well-being, so be sure to show yours some love and it will help you feel good from the inside out!

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2021 Danone Ltd. All Rights Reserved. *Activia contains calcium which contributes to the normal function of digestive enzymes. Enjoy as part of a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle.

†Contains naturally occurring sugars.

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