What can you do to improve your gut health? Eat more fiber Issues with your gut could point to a larger health problem, she added, and people experiencing gastrointestinal symptoms like abdominal pain or chronic diarrhea should consult a doctor. Reezwana Chowdhury, an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins Medicine. The gut is linked to the immune system and heart health, and emerging research is examining the link between gut flora and neurological disorders like Parkinson’s disease, said Dr. Gut health can have long-term health consequences, doctors said. The Bristol Stool Chart, a medical classification of seven groups of poop, can help determine whether or not your stool is healthy. De Latour said you want them to be soft, smooth and sausage shaped. If you’re concerned about your gut, pay attention to the consistency of your stool, Dr. People may also feel sluggish, or “blah.” A global survey published in 2021 of over 73,000 adults from 33 countries found that more than 40 percent of respondents had gastrointestinal disorders, like irritable bowel syndrome or constipation.Ĭhronic, unexplained abdominal pain, constipation and diarrhea are all signs of poor gut health, experts said. Sonnenburg, a surge he attributes to the rise of processed and packaged foods. There’s evidence to suggest that gut-related health conditions, particularly irritable bowel syndrome, have spiked over the past few decades, said Dr. “They want to stamp a nice, pretty name on it, but it’s about pooping.” How do you know if you have poor gut health? Rabia De Latour, a gastroenterologist at NYU Langone Health. “That’s what people are referring to when they say gut health,” said Dr. Authenticity attracts an audience - and it’s hard to get more personal than talking about bowel movements. There’s also an inherent intimacy that comes with talking about the gut, Dr. In a culture that sometimes bristles at mentions of dieting or weight loss, framing these changes around a topic like gut health might be more palatable to an influencer’s audience, she said. The most popular #guttok videos tend to feature before and after pictures - the swell of bloating under a crop top becomes toned abs. “What you see is this trend of self-optimization,” Dr. The online obsession with gut health is just one example of self-transformation content, said Stephanie Alice Baker, a senior lecturer in sociology at the City, University of London who studies online wellness culture. Instead, his research points to long-term lifestyle habits that can benefit the gut - ones that rarely go viral or make their way to social media acclaim. “If somebody is claiming to have something that will immediately turn gut health around, you should be skeptical of that,” said Justin Sonnenburg, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Stanford. And since the Food and Drug Administration largely does not regulate supplements, gastroenterologists are reluctant to recommend the pills, powders and products promoted by influencers. Others, such as aloe vera juice, may cause diarrhea in some people. Some purported gut-health helpers, like coconut oil, have high fat content that can loosen stool and irritate your stomach, said Beth Czerwony, a registered dietitian with the Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Human Nutrition. There’s not enough data to prove whether any of these supposed fixes improve digestive functions, gastrointestinal experts said. They’re crammed with suggestions for cucumber-ginger juices and boiled apples, bone broth in the morning and sludgy sweet potato soups at night. Videos tagged with #guttok have garnered nearly 400 million views. Another, with the username “oliveoilqueen,” advocated drinking extra virgin olive oil every day in a video viewed more than 3.5 million times, claiming that doing so cleared her skin, made her periods less painful and fixed her frequent bloating. In March, influencers pushed shots of aloe vera juice: “My digestive system, like my gut health? Never been better,” one gushed in a video with one million likes while tapping on a purple bottle of the drink. Every few months, like clockwork, hundreds of videos promising tips and tricks to “hack” your gut flood TikTok.
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