Best supplements for gut health: Probiotic products to help with digestion

In the post-party season, we all crave some balance. After the indulgent eating, drinking and celebrating of the festive period, our health can take a bit of a beating and leave you feeling worse for wear. The first step is healthy eating. Good nourishment affects everything from our energy levels, to our metabolism and our appearance – and it all starts in a complex network of organs that make up the gut.

Gut health plays a huge role in our body’s ability to function and is an incredibly important component in our overall health. An unhappy gut can result in a host of digestive issues, but also has a starring role in so many other aspects in the body including our brain and heart health, maintaining a robust immune system, and can impact our skin, hair and nails.

There’s no better time to give your gut a helping hand to reap all the benefits of a healthy and happy tummy. But if you’re still uncertain, we’ve broken down the science into digestible parts (pun intended) to unlock the door to better health, improved skin and boost your immunity.

Otherwise known as the gastrointestinal tract, the gut is the long tube that starts with the mouth and ends at the back door. It includes the stomach and the small and large intestine and is in charge of digesting food and absorbing the nutrients the body needs to function. One of the most important parts of the gut is the microbiome, which plays a huge role in controlling digestion and many other aspects. An imbalance in the microbiome can contribute to things like weight gain, high cholesterol and skin conditions related to inflammation such as eczema.

The first thing to know is that the gut microbiome is made up of trillions of microscopic living things known as microbes. Think of it as its own ecosystem made up of different fungi and bacteria strains co-existing with one another. It’s this teeming garden of life that affects many of the most important processes in the body including digestion and immunity – playing that oh-so important role in your health. They can weigh up to two kilograms in total, making them approximately the same weight as your brain.

Out of all the microbes living inside you, bacteria are the most studied. Fun fact: there are actually more bacteria cells in the human body than human cells (40 trillion bacterial cells over a paltry 30 trillion human cells to be exact). Which basically means we are more bacteria than human. Although this might sound like a horrifying plot twist in a science fiction film, these bacteria strains are mostly very good for us (the friendly bacteria that we want on our side). There are up to 1000 different species of bacteria in the gut microbiome, with each one playing a different and crucial part in the proper functioning of your body.

A higher microbiome diversity is considered good for us. A happy gut = a diverse ecosystem of happy and friendly microbes.

Some of the ways the microbiome affects our body is digesting fibre and producing fatty acids needed for good gut health, preventing weight gain, reducing risk of cancer and preventing heart disease. What you might not know is just how big an effect a balanced microbiome has on your immunity, brain health in affecting our mood, heart health and your physical appearance including healthy skin, hair and nails.

It makes sense that eating vitamin-rich foods can help to strengthen our immunity. But the gut microbiome also controls how well the immune system works. The microbes communicate with our body’s immune cells and control how well your body responds to infection. “70 per cent of the body’s immune system cells are found in the gut”, explains Manifesto’s naturopathic nutritionist Jess Shand. “It’s the microbiome that maintains homeostasis in the body which is why it’s so important we prioritise the health of our gut”.

The gut is also physically connected to the brain through millions of nerve cells, and helps to control messages that are sent to the brain though those nerves. So the health of your microbiome can affect brain health and functioning which can directly affect your mood and energy levels. Some species of bacteria even help to produce chemicals in the brain known as neurotransmitters. The antidepressant neurotransmitter Serotonin is mostly made in the gut.

Other species of bacteria such as the Lactobacilli work to lower cholesterol levels and the risk of heart disease. Taking these as a probiotic can help to offset some of the unfriendly work other bacteria in the gut does that can contribute to heart disease.

“The skin is our largest organ and an area we’re naturally hyper aware of. It’s usually the first place we notice inflammation and if something is out of balance which is essentially a reflection of what’s going on internally” Jess reveals. “This topic is what I refer to as the ‘gut-skin connection’ because good gut health really is the key to optimising skin health”. There’s not a lot of topical skin treatments will do if there’s an imbalance in your gut. Gut TLC will offer much bigger benefits than even your most potent sheet mask.

Now that you’re up to speed on just how important our gut is, the next question is how to make it the happiest it’s ever been. One of the most important things is the food that you eat. Nutrient-rich foods let your happy microbes do their best work by helping the body to do what it needs to do to get that inner and outer glow.

“Increasing dietary fibre and boosting your meals with an abundance of colourful, nutrient-dense whole foods is simple yet powerful enough to make a difference to what your skin looks like externally and will support your entire body’s functioning”, confirms Jess. “You will be providing your internal system with the essential nutrients and gut-feeding fibre (your microbiome’s favourite type of food) to aid your digestive system function, which will help eliminate toxins and waste and help maintain hormone equilibrium to support skin and overall health”.

Aside from a balanced and nutrient rich diet, there’s also a broad spectrum of targeted supplements available on the market you can invest in for optimising gut health. “While food should always come first when it comes to enhancing gut health, supplementation can be the missing piece of the puzzle” Jess adds.

Supplements are also a great way to replenish our gut with the friendly bacteria we need to support the microbiome, which our modern diets often lack. For targeted gut health, they often include potent doses of probiotics and prebiotics. Probiotics are live and active bacterial microbes that are good for the gut, while prebiotics are the fibre that feeds them and helps them to grow.

While we should all be trying to keep our gut happy and healthy, sometimes there may be specific areas we want to tackle. The beauty industry is fast catching up with the power of the microbiome and its effects on our skin and hair and many beauty supplements now include doses of prebiotic fibre to feed your microbiome in their ingredient list of skin-enhancing vitamins.

We’ve curated a selection of great supplements you can include in your daily regimen to support your gut and keep it feeling happy and thriving. From the targeted beauty sachets, to health-boosting powders that include digestive enzymes and prebiotics, there’s so many to choose from. One thing’s for certain, everybody and anybody can benefit from taking a small extra step in keeping and maintaining a happy, balanced gut.