Why is gut health important?

The gut contains trillions of bacteria, fungi, and viruses. Together, they're known as the gut microbiome. The gut microbiome helps keep you healthy in several ways.

The gut supplies nutrients from food to the cells in your body. It also uses and produces vitamin K, which helps with blood clotting and bone health.

The gut also helps your body fight infection and provides you with energy. A healthy gut can reduce anxiety and improve mood. When you have a healthy gut, you have regular bowel movements and minimal gas and bloating. You may also have steady energy throughout the day.

But when you have an unhealthy gut, you may have more frequent symptoms like bloating, diarrhea, belly pain, or constipation. And it may cause other bowel problems like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and inflammatory bowel disease, such as Crohn's disease and colitis.

How can you improve your gut health?

There are a few things you can do to help your gut stay healthy.

• Eat enough fibre. Fibre-rich foods, like vegetables, fruits, legumes, and grains, are important for gut health. Fibre helps to feed your gut microbiome.
• Eat fermented foods. Fermented foods contain probiotics, which are types of bacteria or yeast that have health benefits. Probiotics are found in fermented foods like kefir, kimchi, kombucha, miso, sauerkraut, tempeh, and yogurt. Probiotics help keep the natural balance of organisms in the intestines. They reduce the growth of harmful bacteria to help keep the gut healthy. Probiotics are also sold as dietary supplements, but there is more research to support using food-based probiotics rather than supplements. Ask your healthcare provider or talk to a dietitian about probiotic supplements and food-based probiotics.
• Limit highly processed foods. These foods may hurt the helpful bacteria in the gut while feeding the unhelpful bacteria. Highly processed foods include sugary drinks like pop and energy drinks, store-bought baked goods like cakes and cookies, salty snacks like chips and cheese puffs, deli meats like bologna, and fast food.
• Stay active. Exercise like walking, cycling, yoga, or swimming is good for gut health.
• Manage stress. Keep an eye on your stress levels. Chronic stress can prevent the gut from working like it should. If you need tools for managing stress, a counsellor can help.