Adrienne Benjamin, registered nutritionist at ProVen Probiotics, explains what affects digestion and how to support gut bacteria
Our gut is central to our health and is impacted every day both by what we eat and drink and how we live our lives. As well as foods, some of the factors that directly affect our digestion include stress, lack of sleep, medications, alcohol, smoking, under or over-exercising and dehydration.
Stress initiates a ‘fight or flight’ reaction that switches off digestion, leading to altered gut function, imbalanced gut bacteria and a reduction in digestive function. As chronic, long-term stress has become endemic in society, lowered gut function and related symptoms are becoming increasingly common. Lack of sleep, increased alcohol intake and excessive smoking can also all result from stress and further impact digestion.
In addition, antibiotics, protein pump inhibitors (PPIs) and over-the-counter heartburn medications target the gut and alter the structure and function of our digestive system, potentially leading to symptoms.
Changes to our gut can then mean that we struggle to digest and potentially react to certain foods (notably wheat and dairy), which further exacerbates our symptoms and may restrict what we eat.
Can diet help with gut symptoms?
Sugar and processed foods can exacerbate symptoms such as gas and bloating as they are fermented by some strains of bacteria in our gut; inadequate hydration can lead to constipation; low fibre intake can result in both constipation and diarrhoea; and artificial sweeteners and other manmade chemicals may not be recognised by the body and can impact digestion Read More….