Deep within your GI tract, there lives an active community of microorganisms known as your “gut microbiome.” Despite their small size, they wield enormous power over your mind and body—so caring for them is integral to keeping you functioning at your best.
Poor gut microbiome health can manifest in a whole bunch of different ways, including skin issues, weight gain, sleep disturbances, chronic fatigue, anxiety and depression, difficulty concentrating, and frequent bouts of illness, as SELF has previously reported. In fact, your gut microbiome is so embedded in your overall well-being that it likely plays a role in every kind of dysfunction, big or small, Orlando “Landon” DeLeon, PhD, a research assistant professor at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, tells SELF. In fact, he adds, “you can name a condition, and there’s probably an associated microbiome pathway or pathways”—cirrhosis, chronic kidney disease, Parkinson’s, you name it. What’s more, existing forms of dysfunction can feed off of each other, creating a vicious cycle that only makes the problem worse: “We know for a lot of those conditions that it’s a somewhat self-propagating loop,” Dr. DeLeon says.
The silver lining to all of this? If you think or know your gut microbiome might not be in the best shape, there are some concrete measures you can take to improve its balance. Read on to find out more.
How to treat an unhealthy gut microbiome
Your gut microbiome makeup is largely determined by your diet, Mykhaylo Usyk, PhD, research assistant professor of microbiology and immunology and of pediatrics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, tells SELF, so modifying your eating habits is the first step toward positive change. Here are five easy ways to make that happen.
Eat more fermented foods.
Fermented foods refer to items produced through controlled microbial growth and, as such, can contain beneficial live microbes. When you eat those items, they introduce the bugs directly into your gut, supporting the overall balance (hence the frequently assigned “probiotic” label). Because of this, “things like yogurt or sauerkraut or kimchi or miso” are becoming more popular as people wise up to their substantial health benefits, Tsui says. That said, keep in mind that there are a lot of unknowns surrounding any one fermented product: “We don’t really know how much bacteria [it contains], or what types of bacteria are still present in the food and what the effects are,” Tsui cautions.
Take a (legit) probiotic.
If you’re trying to treat a specific issue—like the ones we called out above—a probiotic supplement could be a better choice than a fermented food, according to Tsui. While the two can overlap, probiotics differ from fermented foods in that they have to offer “a certain amount of a specific [microbial] strain” that has been proven to confer a health benefit, Tsui says. Basically, they have to adhere to more rigorous standards and, in turn, are better studied and can yield a more targeted impact. “Different strains often have different effects,” Tsui says, so you can pick and choose between options depending on the symptom you want to address, and thus the strain that is most likely to help.
Just make sure to choose a probiotic that has some strong scientific backing behind it, since the space is rife with dubious claims. For assistance, Tsui recommends checking out probioticchart.com, a clinical guide that breaks down available probiotic research to help consumers decide if a specific probiotic is right for them (a recommendation Desiree Nielsen, RD, previously made to SELF as well). “It’s a really good resource that I use as a clinician when people are complaining about specific symptoms like IBS or constipation, or if they are [dealing with] post-antibiotic changes to gut health,” Tsui says.
Or prioritize prebiotics.
You can think of prebiotics as a probiotic precursor. Compared to probiotics, which refer to beneficial microorganisms themselves (as we explained above), prebiotics refer to the nutrients that probiotics feed on in the digestive tract and that support their development as a result. Most prebiotics amount to specific types of fiber, including inulin, fructo-oligosaccharides, and galacto-oligosaccharides. “Our bodies can’t digest fiber, so it makes it all the way down to our colon or large intestine, where our gut bacteria live,” Tsui says. There, they serve as fuel—so “when we are eating prebiotic foods” (oats; almonds; bananas; soy products like miso, tofu, tempeh, and soy milk; artichokes; beans; peas; onions; flaxseed; eggplant; cabbage; asparagus; eggplant; honey; and agave, to name a few options), “we’re sort of encouraging certain [beneficial] bacteria to grow.”.
Eat more fiber, period.
Beyond prioritizing prebiotics specifically, “focusing on increasing your fiber intake in general” can go a long way in boosting your gut health, since the carb can also help ease digestion and alleviate constipation, Tsui says. (Hence why fibermaxxing is hardly the worst gut health trend out there!) To do this, choose “more whole grains, fruits, vegetables, beans and legumes, nuts and seeds”—more plant-based foods on the whole.
Maybe even…double down on dairy?
“Interestingly, milk containing lactose supports healthy bacteria,” Dr. Usyk says—especially in people who don’t have the capacity to break down lactose (like those with lactose intolerance), though that may sound counterintuitive. Here’s how it works: Following the same trajectory as fiber, that undigested lactose passes on to the large intestine, serving as a food source for certain beneficial “bugs” and reducing lactose intolerance symptoms like gas and bloating over time. Several studies have found that consuming milk, yogurt, and kefir can increase beneficial Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium bacteria. What’s more, another study found that consuming yogurt decreased pathogenic (harmful) Bacteroides fragilis, though further research is needed. (FYI, both yogurt and kefir are produced through fermentation—another win for fermented foods!)
