There are many nutrients in wholefoods that cannot be packaged into a single supplement. Nutrients in foods also interact with each other in a helpful way and this cannot be replicated in a pill. Many people are interested in taking probiotic supplements. In some cases, there is research to support taking a probiotic, however just like medications, you need to take a specific probiotic for the health condition you are trying to manage.

While antibiotics can be very important and useful, they can also have a negative impact on your gut microbiome. Antibiotics aim to kill the harmful bacteria when you have an infection or illness, but in doing so they can remove some of the beneficial bacteria in your gut.

Research into gut health is relatively new and understanding of this complex topic is developing. Be careful of non-evidence-based information about gut health. Focusing on eating healthily with the tips suggested on this page is the best evidence we have so far.

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Skip to main content. Healthy eating. Home Healthy eating. Gut health. Actions for this page Listen Print. Summary Read the full fact sheet. On this page. What is gut health and gut microbiome?

Why gut health is important Signs of an unhealthy gut How to improve your gut health Gut health and diet Gut health and breastfeeding Gut health and exercise Gut health and stress Gut health and sleep Gut health and probiotic supplements Gut health and antibiotics Myths about gut health Where to get help.

The health of your gut can impact both your physical and mental health. It is understood that there are links between gut health and: the immune system mental health autoimmune diseases endocrine disorders — such as type 2 diabetes gastrointestinal disorders — such as irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease cardiovascular disease cancer sleep digestion.

Signs of an unhealthy gut Your gut microbiome can be affected by: stress too little sleep lack of physical activity eating too many ultra-processed foods smoking and drinking alcohol taking antibiotics. How to improve your gut health You may be able to improve your gut health through lifestyle and diet changes.

Gut health and diet Your gut bacteria are influenced by what you eat. Eat a high fibre diet Fibre is important for our gut health for many reasons. Foods that are high in fibre include: vegetables beans and legumes fruit bread and cereals nuts and seeds. They are found in some types of: vegetables — for example leek, onion and garlic legumes — for example chickpeas, beans and lentils wholegrains — for example rye bread, barley and oats nuts — for example pistachios, cashews and almonds.

Aim to eat at least 30 different types of plant-based foods a week. Limit ultra-processed foods Eat foods that are as close to their natural state as possible to support your gut health.

Drink water Water is the best fluid to drink and provides benefits to gut health. Drinking plenty of water may also be linked to increased diversity of bacteria in the gut. Eat foods rich in polyphenols Polyphenols are plant compounds that may beneficially impact our gut microbiome.

Foods rich in polyphenols include: herbs and spices colourful fruits and vegetables nuts and seeds green and black tea coffee cocoa and dark chocolate. Eat slowly Chewing your food thoroughly and eating slowly may reduce digestive discomfort such as gas, pain and bloating. Eat fermented foods Fermented foods External Link have undergone a process in which their sugars are broken down by yeast and bacteria.

Fermented foods include: yoghurt kimchi sauerkraut kefir kombucha tempeh. Gut health and breastfeeding Breastfeeding helps an infant develop a healthy gut microbiome, which may help protect against certain health conditions later in life.

Gut health and exercise Regular cardiovascular exercise such as walking and cycling can stimulate the muscles of the gut to move digestive contents through the body. Exercise can also positively affect the gut microbiome.

Gut health and stress Stress can impact your gut health. What you eat, your gut health and your mental health are all linked.

Gut health and sleep Not getting enough or sufficient quality of sleep may impact your gut microbiome and may contribute to digestive discomfort. Gut health and probiotic supplements It is best to improve your gut health through food and other lifestyle factors rather than supplements.

Gut health and antibiotics While antibiotics can be very important and useful, they can also have a negative impact on your gut microbiome.

Myths about gut health There are no miracle cures for good gut health. Where to get help Your GP doctor A dietitian Dietitians Australia External Link Food and Mood Centre, Deakin University External Link The Gut Foundation External Link.

Resources External Link , Food and Mood Centre, Deakin University. Blog External Link , Food and Mood Centre, Deakin University. How to improve your gut health External Link , Vic Health. What you need to know about gut health External Link , Deakin University. Understanding gut health: Signs of an unhealthy gut and what to do about it External Link , Healthline.

How your gut health affects your whole body External Link , WebMD. Your digestive system: 5 ways to support gut health External Link , Johns Hopkins Medicine.

Sauerkraut, cucumber pickles and yogurt are popular probiotic fermented foods. Photo courtesy of Marek Uliasz, PixelsAway. UM: What can happen if the gut microbiome is unhealthy or unbalanced?

LSL : Diet, drugs, and poor lifestyle habits can all induce dysbiosis of the intestinal microbiota. Dysbiosis is diagnosed as the loss of beneficial bacteria, overgrowth of bad bacteria, or the decrease of overall gut microbiome diversity. People in dysbiosis develop symptoms, including inflammation of the bowel, diarrhea, food intolerance, gas, and bloating.

The gut microbiota is also considered a major immune organ. Dysbiosis may result in autoimmunity and host cell damage, leading to systemic diseases and chronic diseases, such as such as diabetes both type 1 and type 2 , obesity, Crohn's and celiac diseases. Furthermore, some research indicates that dysbiosis of the gut microbiota may be linked to several mental illnesses, including anxiety and depression, which are serious concerns in society today.

This is referred to as the gut-brain-axis, a bidirectional communication between the central nervous system and gut microbiota. UM: What exactly are probiotics and how can they promote a healthier gut microbiome? JL : Probiotics are living microorganisms that are ingested for their health promoting benefits.

LSL : You can find probiotics in yogurt, other fermented foods, and dietary supplements. The most common probiotics are bacteria that belong to groups called Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium.

Other bacteria may also be used as probiotics, and so may yeasts such as Saccharomyces boulardii. Probiotics promote a healthier gut microbial ecosystem by, 1 helping to re-balance your body's community of microorganisms after being disturbed for example, after using antibiotics , 2 producing substances metabolites that have desirable effects, 3 influencing your body's immune response and the brain-gut interactions.

Assortment of foods high in prebiotics for healthy gut and digestive system. Photo courtesy of Danijela, Adobe Stock.

UM : What is the difference between probiotics and prebiotics? JF : A probiotic is, in essence, an edible form of bacteria. A prebiotic is something you eat that promotes the growth of healthy gut bacteria that are actually already present in your gut microbiome.

LSL : You can also combine probiotics and prebiotics to create synbiotics. Within synbiotics, probiotics and prebiotics work together. The prebiotic serves as a source of food for the probiotic. UM : It's widely acknowledged that eating a diet high in fruits and vegetables is healthy.

Can you explain how this would affect the gut microbiome? KM : Fruits and vegetables have a lot of nutrients that are important to overall health, but they also include the fibers that are not digestible by human cells but are digestible by the gut microbiome.

Along with fibers, they include polyphenols that are also important to consume in small doses. When these bioactive compounds reach the colon large intestine , the bacteria that composes the gut microbiome can digest these compounds.

This digestion will help the gut microbial community members grow and may increase the diversity of its members, particularly those that are associated with healthier outcomes. JL : And in addition to fiber, fruits and vegetables are also good sources of resistant starches and phytochemicals.

Fiber and resistant starch commonly found in potatoes, beans, etc. are excellent prebiotics that are utilized as a source of energy to fuel the replication of many 'good' bacteria.

A steady supply of these helps the beneficial microbes to dominate the microbial community. JF : Ultimately, the gut microbiome is dependent on their host for their nutrition.

There are a lot of components in fruits and vegetables that the human cells can't actually break down and use themselves. In this case, these components enter the colon where they are available for the microbes.

The microbiome combined carries an enormous number of genes that the human cells don't have; these genes code for enzymes that can break down and use these as a source of nutrition.

A SHIME Simulator of the Human Intestinal Microbial Ecology machine mimics the stomach, small intestine, and the large intestine. Photo courtesy of the Dairy and Functional Food Research Unit. UM : How do non-nutritive and alternative sweeteners like aspartame or stevia affect the gut microbiome?

KM : The effect of non-nutritive and alternative sweeteners on the gut microbiome depends on which sweeteners you are referencing. Not all non-nutritive and alternative sweeteners are the same.

For example, artificial non-nutritive essentially zero calorie sweeteners such as aspartame, sucralose, and saccharin have been shown to affect the gut microbial community in terms of its composition, its structure, and the metabolic byproducts. The alterations in the gut microbial community caused by these non-nutritive artificial sweeteners often induce glucose intolerance.

In our study, however, we learned that the compounds in stevia steviol glycosides did not induce measurable change in the gut microbial community in vitro. Additionally, our in vivo experiment involving steviol glycosides and erythritol a sugar alcohol that also functions as a non-nutritive sweetener indicated that these compounds could help increase gut microbial diversity.

The gut microbiota is also considered a major immune organ. Dysbiosis may result in autoimmunity and host cell damage, leading to systemic diseases and chronic diseases, such as such as diabetes both type 1 and type 2 , obesity, Crohn's and celiac diseases.

Furthermore, some research indicates that dysbiosis of the gut microbiota may be linked to several mental illnesses, including anxiety and depression, which are serious concerns in society today. This is referred to as the gut-brain-axis, a bidirectional communication between the central nervous system and gut microbiota.

UM: What exactly are probiotics and how can they promote a healthier gut microbiome? JL : Probiotics are living microorganisms that are ingested for their health promoting benefits. LSL : You can find probiotics in yogurt, other fermented foods, and dietary supplements.

The most common probiotics are bacteria that belong to groups called Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium. Other bacteria may also be used as probiotics, and so may yeasts such as Saccharomyces boulardii.

Probiotics promote a healthier gut microbial ecosystem by, 1 helping to re-balance your body's community of microorganisms after being disturbed for example, after using antibiotics , 2 producing substances metabolites that have desirable effects, 3 influencing your body's immune response and the brain-gut interactions.

Assortment of foods high in prebiotics for healthy gut and digestive system. Photo courtesy of Danijela, Adobe Stock. UM : What is the difference between probiotics and prebiotics?

JF : A probiotic is, in essence, an edible form of bacteria. A prebiotic is something you eat that promotes the growth of healthy gut bacteria that are actually already present in your gut microbiome. LSL : You can also combine probiotics and prebiotics to create synbiotics. Within synbiotics, probiotics and prebiotics work together.

The prebiotic serves as a source of food for the probiotic. UM : It's widely acknowledged that eating a diet high in fruits and vegetables is healthy. Can you explain how this would affect the gut microbiome?

KM : Fruits and vegetables have a lot of nutrients that are important to overall health, but they also include the fibers that are not digestible by human cells but are digestible by the gut microbiome. Along with fibers, they include polyphenols that are also important to consume in small doses.

When these bioactive compounds reach the colon large intestine , the bacteria that composes the gut microbiome can digest these compounds. This digestion will help the gut microbial community members grow and may increase the diversity of its members, particularly those that are associated with healthier outcomes.

JL : And in addition to fiber, fruits and vegetables are also good sources of resistant starches and phytochemicals. Fiber and resistant starch commonly found in potatoes, beans, etc.

are excellent prebiotics that are utilized as a source of energy to fuel the replication of many 'good' bacteria. A steady supply of these helps the beneficial microbes to dominate the microbial community. JF : Ultimately, the gut microbiome is dependent on their host for their nutrition.

There are a lot of components in fruits and vegetables that the human cells can't actually break down and use themselves.

In this case, these components enter the colon where they are available for the microbes. Aim for a balanced diet that includes lots of plant-based foods, lean proteins, and fiber.

Getting enough sleep can help promote a healthy gut. Sleep deprivation can lead to a decrease in beneficial gut bacteria. In turn, a lack of beneficial bacteria in the gut can lead to more sleep issues.

While some medications are truly necessary and serve a purpose, like life-saving antibiotics, limit them to what you really need and what your doctor recommends.

Antibiotics, for example, can totally deplete the good bacteria in your gut while fighting off the bad bacteria. A great way to improve your gut health is to add a prebiotic and probiotic to your diet.

Prebiotics can easily be added to your diet by eating more foods such as bananas, garlic, onions, and leafy greens. Probiotics can be found in yogurt and fermented foods such as sauerkraut, kimchi, kombucha, non-pasteurized pickled vegetables, and kefir.

One of the simplest ways to promote good gut health is to drink more water. Increased water intake can help keep things moving in the digestive tract as well as promote a healthy balance of gut bacteria. Avoid replacing water with things like caffeinated or alcoholic beverages which can further irritate your gut.

Small changes like taking a walk, getting a massage, yoga, or something as simple as getting in a few laughs can reduce stress hormones allowing the gut to produce more serotonin and dopamine.

Richard L. Dennis E. Laurence S. Elissa E. Benjamin Levitzky. Vera Denmark. Fernando Calmet. Daria Homenko. Celiac Disease. Chronic Viral Hepatitis. Some medication can even wipe out some bacteria, leading to an imbalance.

Eating a plant-based diet that includes fermented foods and fiber from colorful fruits and vegetables, having healthy sleep habits and managing stress levels are other ways to support a healthy gut. If you want to adopt a healthier lifestyle, start easy with small diet changes and build from there.

Taking a small step toward eating healthier can be as simple as eating seasonally. Fruits and vegetables that are in season are tastier and have more nutrients.

Constipation, weight gain, diarrhea, bloating and gas are signs that something is off. Some people have bad breath or skin irritation. You may notice these symptoms affecting your quality of life.

The breakdown of nutrients continues in the stomach, and most of your nutrients are absorbed in the small intestine. When should you see a doctor about gut issues? If your bowel habits have been abnormal for a few weeks to a month, talk to your doctor. Patients undergoing cancer treatment should always tell their care team when they notice bowel changes or are experiencing rapid weight loss or gain.

Healthy bacteria already exist in your gut. But you have control over creating the environment for it to grow. Request an appointment at MD Anderson online or by calling My Chart.

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