Gut Health

Gut health went from a niche research area to a marketing buzzword in about five years, and the claims escalated faster than the microbiome science did. These pieces look at what fibre diversity, fermented foods, and probiotics can actually demonstrate in controlled trials, versus what gets implied.

Stylised network of dots representing diverse gut bacteria, branching from a plant icon
ScienceGut Health

Does Gut Health Affect Mood? What Fibre Diversity Actually Predicts

Gut-brain axis marketing outran the microbiome research years ago. Here's what a 10,000-person citizen-science study actually found about plant diversity.

Observational

Related from elsewhere on the site

Scatter chart showing gut microbial diversity increasing with the number of distinct plant foods eaten per week
ResearchGut Health

What the American Gut Project Actually Found About Plant Diversity

People who reported eating more than 30 different plant species per week had significantly more diverse gut microbiomes than people eating 10 or fewer — regardless of whether they identified as vegan, vegetarian, or omnivore.

Observational