What Is Gut Health? A Comprehensive Guide to Digestive Wellness

We take care of our skin, our hearts and our minds, but could the gut be that critical piece to health and wellness? The short answer: yes.

Here, we’ll unpack how our gut influences our physical and mental health, how to spot signs of an unhealthy gut and what to do about it.

Experts continue to learn more and more about the gut microbiome, the trillions of beneficial microorganisms in your gut, and the critical role it plays in our overall health.

“The medical community is becoming increasingly aware of the impact of the gut microbiome on multiple organs and processes that were previously considered to be minimally related to the gastrointestinal tract,” explains Dr. Robert Lerrigo, associate chief of gastroenterology and hepatology at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in California.

Simply put, the gastrointestinal system affects far more than just the stomach and intestines. It includes multiple body parts:

The gut microbiome also helps your body with many different functions, including:

Essentially, good gut health boils down to how effectively the body can carry out digestive functions without complications, such as discomfort, bloating or upset stomach, which can occur with digestive diseases, adds Kalee Eichelberger, a registered dietitian with Orlando Health Orlando Regional Medical Center.

There can be many, sometimes subtle, signs that your gut isn’t in balance. Look for the following signs for clues that something’s up with your gut:

If your stomach often feels upset or you frequently have gas or bloating, that could be a sign that your gut health isn’t optimal.

Feeling unwell after eating a specific food could point to an intolerance of that item or a component of it, which could be a sign of a problem in the gut. Keeping track of what you’ve eaten or trying an elimination diet can help you determine if you’re having a problem with a specific food or component of food, such as gluten.

It’s also worth noting that food intolerances are different from food allergies, which can be life-threatening and require an allergy diagnosis.

Do you suddenly have intense cravings for a specific food? Any changes in cravings could be a sign that your gut needs something to help bring it back into balance.

Gaining or losing weight without meaning to could point to an underlying issue in the gut. If your gut isn’t functioning optimally, your body may not be absorbing the nutrients it needs, leading to weight changes and potential nutritional deficiencies. You should talk to a health care provider any time your weight changes significantly.

Your specific blend of gut microbiota can affect how your immune system functions. As a result, a problem with your gut health can show up as rashes, skin irritations or an autoimmune disorder, such as Crohn’s disease or a thyroid problem.

If you get a lot of headaches or experience migraines, the problem may be related as much to your gut as to your head. There seems to be a direct line of communication between the gut and the brain, and a disruption in one could lead to problems in the other. These problems can sometimes lead to frequent headaches.

Fatigue is a vague symptom that occurs with a lot of other conditions. However, if you don’t have a reason to be feeling more tired than usual, your lack of energy might be related to your gut. Your circadian rhythm – the sleep-wake cycle that means you feel tired at night and alert during the day – is regulated in the brain, which is connected to the gut. If you have trouble falling or staying asleep, your gut health could be implicated in that cycle of insomnia.

Mood changes can be related to a broad range of problems, but it might be worth looking at your diet and your gastrointestinal health for an underlying cause. With your brain and brain chemistry tied to your gut microbiome, a problem there could lead to mood instability and changes in mental health status.

Having trouble going? Or going too often? Both constipation and diarrhea can be signs of problems with your gut health. While it’s not uncommon to experience constipation or diarrhea from time to time, if you develop chronic symptoms or can’t seem to find another reason to explain why it’s occurring, your gut microbiome could be to blame.

A single course of antibiotic use can disrupt the gut microbiome. The most common side effect of antibiotics tends to be diarrhea, though other conditions can crop up, especially if you received antibiotics in infancy or childhood.

“Indiscriminate use of antibiotics can result in severe dysbiosis (an imbalance in the gut microbiome) and can result in long-term health consequences,” says Dr. James Lee, a gastroenterologist with Providence St. Joseph Hospital in Orange County, California.

There are many ways to support good gut health, but perhaps the most critical is getting enough dietary fiber.

“Dietary fiber is the key nutrient for maintaining the diversity of gut microbiota,” Lee explains. “Low microbiota diversity is associated with many chronic inflammatory diseases, such as obesity, diabetes and IBD (irritable bowel disease).”

Fiber, or roughage, is an indigestible part of plants. Consuming foods high in fiber can help clean the gut and move waste products out.

If your diet is currently low in fiber, Eichelberger recommends gradually increasing dietary fiber to help prevent symptoms, such as gas and bloating. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics recommends that women aim for 25 grams of fiber per day, while men should aim for 38 grams per day.
If you have IBS or another digestive disease, you may be told to reduce the amount of fiber you’re consuming to reduce symptoms, so talk with your doctor or a registered dietitian.

Other recommendations for improved gut health include:

Any discussion of gut health also needs to include probiotics and prebiotics.

Both can be found in foods and supplements. Fermented foods are especially good sources of probiotics. Examples include:

Prebiotics can be found in many high-fiber foods. Especially rich sources of prebiotics include:

In addition, many companies offer probiotic and prebiotic supplements that are supposed to help these beneficial bacteria thrive.
However, it’s best to work on dietary changes first before resorting to supplementing, says Cesar Sauza, a registered dietitian with AltaMed Health Services in Los Angeles. If you are going to add a probiotic, he recommends looking for a supplement with various species of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium bacteria. Aim for 10 billion CFUs or greater for adults and 4 to 6 billion CFUs for children.

Be sure to check with your doctor before trying a supplement.

The gut microbiome has been implicated in several diseases and conditions, including:

Gut health can mean different things to different people.

“Gut health has almost a spiritual meaning to some who take to heart that mantra we’ve all heard before, ‘You are what you eat,’” Lerrigo says.

However, because research is ongoing, Lerrigo recommends proceeding with caution.

“It’s important to take a step back and realize that this is all very, very new territory for scientists,” he stresses. “There are some cases where the commercialization of the gut microbiome has grown beyond what’s supported by the actual science.”

Case in point, an article published in the British Medical Journal in 2018 showed that 80% of all research articles related to the gut microbiome published over the last 40 years were released between 2013 and 2017.

“We’ve come a long way in understanding the importance of the gut microbiome,” Lerrigo says. “However, we’re still in the early stages of translating this into therapies that actually help cure, control or prevent diseases.”