When Digestive Symptoms Need a Doctor
Persistent abdominal pain, blood in the stool, unexplained weight loss, difficulty swallowing or a lasting change in bowel habit are sy
3 June 2026Read →
What the gut microbiome actually is, what changes it, and when digestive symptoms need a doctor rather than a supplement.
Persistent abdominal pain, blood in the stool, unexplained weight loss, difficulty swallowing or a lasting change in bowel habit are sy
Diet is the strongest and most consistent lever on gut microbial composition, followed by medication, sleep, activity and alcohol.
Bloating most often comes from gas produced by fermentation, from constipation, or from eating patterns — and occasionally from conditi
The gut and brain communicate through nerves, hormones and immune signalling, and this is an active research area — but most human find
Fermented foods such as yoghurt, kefir, sauerkraut and kimchi contain live cultures alongside nutrients, and often deliver large number
Antibiotics reduce both harmful and beneficial gut bacteria, and recovery of the microbiome typically takes weeks to months afterwards.
Intestinal permeability is a genuine, measurable physiological property; “leaky gut syndrome” as a diagnosis sold online is not a recog
Diversity describes how many different microbial species live in your gut, and higher diversity is generally associated with better hea
Short-chain fatty acids — mainly butyrate, propionate and acetate — are produced when gut bacteria ferment fibre, and they are the mole
The gut microbiome is the community of bacteria, fungi and other organisms living mainly in the colon, where they ferment what your sma