Nutrition – Good for your gut

You may think that your gut – from stomach, through to small intestine, to large intestine – is simply there just to digest your food, absorbed nutrients and excrete waste. While all of these are vital functions, there is a lot more going on in there, and it’s due to bacteria.
Usually when we associate bacteria with our gut, illness springs to mind such as gastroenteritis or food poisoning. However, it turns out that there are actually some bacteria living in our gut that are very beneficial to our health.

In our gut we carry a vast population of bacteria – called our “microbiota”. This microbiota is made up of trillions of bacteria. More than 1000 different species have been identified, and we carry about 150-170 different species, the combination of which is as unique to each of us as our fingerprint.

Our gut microbiota carries out many important health functions in our body. It protects us from harmful microorganisms, aids digestion and nutrient absorption, contributes to immune function, and may even impact our mental health.

If for some reason our microbiota has been compromised – due to, say, a tummy bug, antibiotics, or chemotherapy – you can help boost the population of beneficial bacteria by taking probiotics. Probiotics are beneficial bacteria found in certain foods or supplements.
You can find probiotics in foods and drinks such as yoghurt, raw sauerkraut, kefir and kombucha; or you can take them in supplement capsules. With food sources you need to be careful if you have digestive issues or poor immunity, as they may contain unknown microbes that may upset your tummy or make you ill. In these situations, it is safer to take probiotics as a supplement capsule, but even then you must be careful. It is best to check with your doctor, and stop taking them immediately if they make you ill.

Now it is important to remember that your microbiota is a living organism – in fact trillions of living organisms – and they need to be fed and looked after to be healthy. This means that your diet and lifestyle are important in maintaining a healthy microbiota. One of the best foods for your microbiota is prebiotics. These are a type of dietary fibre found in a variety of plant foods. We can’t digest this fibre, so it passes through into our bowel where the bacteria ferment the prebiotics, providing us with important nutrients and chemicals.
There are many foods that naturally contain prebiotics such as wheat, oats, legumes, onion, garlic, banana and asparagus. We often hear how important fibre is, and it turns out that most people don’t eat enough of it. Fibre is important to keep our gut functioning properly and to feed our beneficial bacteria. A healthy gut needs to be full of healthy bacteria, for a healthy, happy you.

Nicole Wilson, Registered nutritionist
www.nutritionkitchen.co.nz