The gut affects your energy levels, immunity and mood, so good digestion is vital for health and wellbeing. Here's what you need to know for optimum digestive health.
"Turning food into energy and the building blocks for cellular repair and growth is a complex business requiring the breakdown of different dietary components into small molecules that can be effectively absorbed. The gut also keeps out harmful substances and boosts our overall immunity. When upset, our digestive system soon lets us know, with symptoms affecting not just our gut but our vitality, sleep and mental wellbeing."
Dr Hilary Jones, GP and Medical Advisor to Healthspan
Gut health
Your digestive system doesn't just convert food into energy. It's the seat of much of your immunity, it manufactures vitamins, it deals with harmful invasive bacteria, it excretes waste products and helps control cholesterol and blood sugar. It also communicates with our brain through a complex network of nerve connections called the gut-brain axis. There's more to the phrase 'gut feeling' than you might imagine.
Gut health support
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Gut health depends on a balance between friendly and unfriendly bacteria in our digestive system. When 'good' bacteria are depleted through illness, antibiotics or poor diet, abdominal cramps, bloating, gas, constipation or diarrhoea can occur. Super20 Pro can 'reseed' the gut with 20 billion live friendly bacteria from five of the best strains to restore a healthy balance.
Gut health advice
Indigestion
Indigestion is a blanket term for any symptoms affecting the gullet, stomach and intestine, but the term usually refers to the stomach area where heartburn and acid reflux cause such trouble. Oesophagitis is inflammation within the food pipe caused by stomach acid splashing upwards, and gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD) is the chronic form, leading to additional symptoms such as persistent dry cough, hoarseness, acid taste in the mouth and bad breath.
Indigestion support
Bloating, gas and flatulence
When certain carbohydrate-based foods pass through our digestive system and reach the large intestine, they are broken down and fermented by trillions of bacteria. This causes gas to be produced, which causes intestinal distension, wind and bloating. A low-FODMAP diet, together with activated charcoal and probiotics, can go a long way to resolving such symptoms.
Bloating, gas and flatulence support
Heartburn and acid reflux
Heartburn and acid reflux are caused by the regurgitation of stomach acid into the sensitive gullet. This results in chest pain, belching, acid taste in the mouth and, when persistent as in gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD), dry cough and bad breath. Increased stomach acid production can be the result of too much spicy and fatty food and alcohol, and a mechanical weakness in the valve between the stomach and oesophagus may be worsened by being overweight, enjoying large meals and muscle-relaxant medications.
Heartburn and acid reflux support
Bowel regularity
A regular bowel habit means different things to different people. Some will go without fail first thing in the morning without trouble. Others may go twice a week or less and have to strain. Both are considered normal, but can be influenced to a large extent by lifestyle changes such as exercise, diet and relaxation. That said, any uncomfortable symptoms such as constipation, diarrhoea, passing blood or any significant persistent change in bowel habit is always abnormal and requires further investigation.