How to support gut health | Activia

Dr Zoe Williams’ guide on how to support gut health

In recent years, there’s been a real buzz emerging around the gut and how it works. As more and more people seek advice around how to improve gut health, questions like ‘how can I heal my gut?’ and ‘how can I get more good bacteria naturally?’ are increasingly common.

Research from Activia shows that despite suffering from conditions that could indicate gut issues, such as heartburn, bloating, and constipation, we’ve still got a lot of learning to do when it comes to how to improve gut health. For example:

• What is the gut?

• How does it function?

• How we can best take care of it?

Here I’ll be telling you more about the gut and how it works, how a healthy gut full of lots of good bacteria can support your overall health, and providing my top tips on how you can naturally support your gut health, naturally.

Gut health - we’ve got a lot to learn!
While 82% of adults agree that the gut is an important part of their body to look after, nearly half don’t know where to start when looking to improve gut health.

This is hardly surprising though, since, after all, some of the science surrounding gut health is fairly new to even scientists and doctors. We’re learning more and more about the gut and gut health all the time, especially when it comes to how it’s linked to other areas of the body, including the brain and the immune system.
It’s an exciting to think that because of the ever-increasing understanding around how the gut works and how we can improve gut health, this can potentially help us to lead healthier, and happier, lives.

What is the gut?

Your gut is a seven-metre tube which is home to over 10 trillion microbes, largely gut bacteria. One of your gut’s main jobs is to digest food, absorb nutrients, and excrete waste [1], but it plays a much bigger role in your overall health than you might think.

Your gut contains 70-80% of your immune cells, so taking care of your gut health can help you fight off pathogens and stay fit and healthy [2].

Scientists are also building a better understanding of what we call your ‘gut-brain axis’. This is the connection between your gut and your brain that allows one to affect the other, which means your gut health may have an impact on your mental health and mood [3]. However, we’re still waiting for any definitive answers when it comes to any links between gut health and the brain.

What is gut health?

Largely speaking, a healthy gut is a diverse gut. Ideally, you want lots of different types of good bacteria working together in your gut to support your overall health [4]. So the best way to support your gut health is to create an environment where a diverse range of bacteria can flourish.

If you’re thinking that this might be easier said than done, you might be surprised. Let’s take a look at just some of the simple ways you can increase the good bacteria naturally in your gut.

My 5 top tips for supporting gut health

There are lots of things you can do to support your gut health, and a little bit of knowledge goes a long way. So, here are my top five tips for how you can give your gut some TLC.

1. Diet is important for gut health

It probably doesn’t come as much of a surprise that the food you put into your body can have a huge impact on your gut health. That’s because the kinds of foods you eat determine what types of gut bacteria can thrive [5].

Fibre

One of the best things you can do to support your gut health is to get enough fibre in your diet. We should all be aiming to consume around 30g of fibre per day, which you can get from wholegrains, legumes, nuts, seeds, fruits and vegetables [6]. Fibre can improve gut health by supporting normal bowel function and reducing the risk of constipation [6].

And here’s the interesting thing about fibre – when it reaches the large intestine, it provides food and nutrients for the good bacteria in the gut. Gut microbes break down the fibre, producing lots of helpful compounds that are sent all around your body, including to your brain, skin, heart and kidneys [7]. So showing your gut some love by getting enough fibre in your diet can actually help support your overall health as well as your gut health.

Fruit and veg

For a diverse, healthy gut, it’s important to eat a wide range of different plants. This is because different species of microbes prefer different kinds of plant fibres. For a diverse gut microbiome filled with lots of good bacteria, you should aims for at least 30 different species of plants - fruits, veg, and legumes - per week [8].

That might sound like a lot, but there are things you can do to make it easier, like buying foods which already have different plants mixed together. For example, you could use tins of mixed beans in your chilli, mixed nuts and seeds for snacking, and bags of stir fry veggie mixes. In fact, if you included those products in your weekly shop, you’d be over halfway to your target of 30. So supporting your gut health doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive, it just requires small, purposeful changes.

Fermented foods

Fermented foods like yogurt, sauerkraut, kombucha, kefir, kimchi, tempeh and miso can all be beneficial for your gut health. That’s because fermented foods contain live cultures (like probiotics and prebiotics) which help increase the diversity of your gut bacteria [9].

You can include more fermented foods in your diet by making simple swaps, like choosing kombucha over fizzy drinks, or including a gut-friendly yogurt in your breakfast or as a snack.

2. Stay hydrated

Getting enough fibre is all well and good, but it can’t do its job if you don’t drink enough water to support it. Making sure you’re hydrated is a really good way to support a healthy and diverse gut [10].

As a rough guide, you should aim for around two litres of water a day, but the exact right amount will be different for each person. The best way to tell you’re getting enough water is by checking the colour of your pee. It should be clear to pale yellow, so if it looks dark yellow or brown then you’re probably not hydrated enough.

3. Feel good through exercise

Getting regular exercise can be a great way to improve your gut health naturally, by increasing the diversity of your microbiome and supporting regular bowel habits [11] [12]. You don’t have to become an olympic athlete to support your gut health. Just try to fit more walking, running, cycling, or any activity you enjoy, into your daily routine. Even taking the stairs instead of the lift can help - every little change counts.

Plus, when we exercise our brain releases a powerful mix of feel-good hormones that can make us feel good. Bonus!

4. Prioritise restful sleep

Perhaps a less obvious way of supporting gut health naturally is by getting enough sleep. This is there’s a link between the amount of sleep you get and the diversity of bacteria in your gut [13].

Sleep deprivation can impact our food choices and affect our hunger hormones. This can make us more likely to overeat, or to reach for highly processed foods that contain more sugar and fewer nutrients. All of which can have a negative effect on our gut health, and in turn impact our sleep. A vicious cycle!

Most adults require between seven and nine hours of sleep per night. But it’s not just the amount of sleep you get that matters – it’s the quality. If you’re not sleeping well, try improving your sleep hygiene by creating a consistent routine and creating a good sleeping environment.

5. Reduce stress

It’s normal to experience some stress day to day, but too much can start to have a negative impact on your gut health. Prolonged stress can cause our body to produce more of the ‘stress hormone’ cortisol, which can damage the gut and cause inflammation [14].

To improve your gut health, try to manage your stress levels by practising meditation, using breathing exercises, and spending time with loved ones. This can help to reduce the amount of cortisol whizzing around your body, improving your gut health as well as your overall wellbeing.

If our guts are healthy, then we shouldn’t have too many troubling gut symptoms. But if your gut does need a little love, it will show up in symptoms like:

• Constipation

• Diarrhoea

• Stomach pain

• Bloating

• Heartburn

• Excessive flatulence

If you’re experiencing these symptoms (or you just want to do more to support your gut health), try out some of the tips I’ve shared here. If your symptoms continue, or make you feel unwell, it’s important to get in touch with your GP so that you can get the medical advice that you need.

Reviewed on May 2024 - Authored by Dr. Zoe Williams