How to increase good gut bacteria

Clinical experts, including Dr Jamal Hayat, and Julie Thompson, will be available from 12-23 April to answer questions on issues surrounding bowel incontinence, bowel cancer, constipation, IBS and any other bowel issues.

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Nadiarab
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Joined: Tue Apr 13, 2021 1:45 pm
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by Nadiarab on Tue Apr 13, 2021 2:24 pm

How to increase good gut bacteria

Hello dr,

How do we increase our good bacteria naturally? And what decreases good bacteria?

Thanks

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Julie Thompson
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by Julie Thompson on Tue Apr 13, 2021 6:26 pm

Re: How to increase good gut bacteria

Hi Nadiarab

Thank you for your question. There is a lot of information on line about various means of increasing the good bacteria in the gut - but generally the best way to do this is to include a good variety of fruits and vegetables and wholegrain foods in the diet (as many different ones as you can) and this improves the amount of food for the microbes in your gut (called prebiotics) and the fibre content of the diet - you can read about prebiotics here https://gutscharity.org.uk/advice-and-i ... robiotics/ rich sources include onions, garlic, asparagus, artichoke, chicory and banana but there is less evidence for using the prebiotic supplements you can purchase. However prebiotic foods are sometimes poorly tolerated in people with digestive complaints but should only be avoided if problematic and on the specific advice from a dietitian. Also you can read about fibre here https://gutscharity.org.uk/advice-and-i ... re-intake/ and this information tells you how much to include.

Probiotics are sources of good bacteria but it is generally difficult to advise one particular type as peoples gut bacteria do vary and despite lots of research (which is still being done) they can only generally be recommended for certain situations, such as IBS and preventing antibiotic associated diarrhoea and some others that you can read more about here https://www.bda.uk.com/resource/probiotics.html
You can read more generally about the role of gut bacteria in health and disease here https://gutscharity.org.uk/wp-content/u ... _V1.92.pdf

I hope that helps.

Kind regards

Julie
Julie Thompson
Gastroenterology Specialist Dietitian - BSc (Hons) Dietetics

http://www.talkhealthpartnership.com/on ... ompson.php

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