How gut health could be key to treating, predicting diseases

While some diets promote restriction, boosting your gut health is actually about inclusion and diversity. This is what experts say you should be adding to your diet.

Dietitian Nicole Dynan creating her rendition of a Buddha bowl previously had gut problems and now specialises in educating about it. Jane Dempster/The Daily Telegraph.

When Nicole Dynan went looking for answers to her gut issues, most of what she found promoted food restriction but none of it helped.

While working in a corporate role in the pharmaceutical industry, Ms Dynan regularly experienced bloating and discomfort.

“It does affect everything … you’re always thinking about your gut,” she said.

She said she struggled to find credible information, and instead found diets online that encouraged her to ditch gluten, dairy or go on a “detox”.

Ms Dynan ultimately made a career switch and trained as a dietitian, and now has a focus on gut health.

It was only when she incorporated what she learnt while studying — a diverse diet to nourish her microbiome — that her gut symptoms alleviated.

In her Sydney practice she often sees women who have needlessly cut gluten from their diet, despite not having an allergy.

“There’s so much misinformation out there, everyone thinks you have to cut carbs,” she said.

She urged people to incorporate more variety in their diet — 30 different plants per week and a variety of colourful food.

Ms Dynan has developed a plan especially for women who are perimenopausal and menopausal.

She said nourishing the gut — particularly a group of bacteria known as the estrobolome, which helps process oestrogen — could help the body recycle oestrogen more effectively.

“This can support more stable oestrogen levels during the perimenopausal transition, and may ease symptoms for some women,” she said.

She said gut health during these life phases was under-reported and an area of opportunity for research.

The future of gut research

People can pay to have their microbiome tested.

But Nick Talley, director of the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Transforming Gut Health at the University of Newcastle, said he believed the information provided by commercial companies did not direct people very effectively, partly because science was still emerging.

Professor Nick Talley. Picture: Supplied

But Professor Talley believes in years to come, more effective microbiome mapping should become available — and AI could assist with this.

He said researchers were focusing on culturing the microbiome.

“I think with luck … you will be able to predict disease that you may not currently have,” Prof Talley said.

This meant people may be able to alter their diet to prevent illnesses which would be “very exciting”.

Prof Talley’s centre is particularly interested in neurodegenerative diseases and the gut.

“We know from recent research that people with even benign diseases like irritable bowel syndrome, some of those people have an increased risk of developing, for example, Parkinson’s disease down the track,” Prof Talley said.

“It’s a very small number, but the point is for those particular individuals, that’s rather important.

“We know one of the first symptoms of Parkinson’s disease is constipation and that may be decades before you get the disease itself.

“Presumably in some of these people, the disease begins in the gut.

“Perhaps manipulating the microbiome may either help prevent progression or even prevent disease … we’re very interested in this.

“We’re doing some work in with prebiotics, things that change the microbiome in a positive way, looking at whether these might be able to help this, and we’re planning a clinical trial on that.”

Australian Megan Rossi, a gut health scientist and research fellow at King’s College London, said it was fascinating that our understanding of the gut microbiome was changing the way we think about and create food.

Dr Megan Rossi. Picture: Supplied by The Gut Health Doctor

“For example, we’re reassessing the safety of a lot of additives and emulsifiers, and early research shows that some of those found in products on our shelves today might not be great for our overall gut health,” she said.

“Our team at King’s College London is conducting one of the largest-ever studies in this area to investigate the effect of emulsifiers on individuals with Crohn’s disease.

“Like all good research, the study needs to be peer reviewed before final findings can be published, but we can see that emulsifiers do seem to be having a negative effect.”

Nutritionist and dietitian Jemma O’Hanlon shares promising gut health foods

Edible insects are a food of the future that have the potential to support gut health, being rich in fibre (from their exoskeletons made from chitin). They’re also rich in protein, healthy mono-unsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, vitamins and minerals. Try them tossed through a stir fry or ground and baked into bars.

Mushrooms when exposed to the sunlight make vitamin D and also contain ergothioneine and beta-glucans which support gut health and immunity. Mushrooms will become an important food of the future with the rise of plant based eating (even though technically they’re not a plant, they’re a fungi). Mushrooms can be added to soups, stews and stir fries. They are also delicious in an omelette.

Seaweed is rich in prebiotics, fibre and bioactive compounds that promote gut health. Enjoy a seaweed salad the next time you pick up some sushi.

Source: Jemma O’Hanlon

Editorial note: This article is for general interest and informational purposes only. It does not constitute medical advice

Originally published as How gut health could be key to treating, predicting diseases