'I'm a dietitian – try these five things to improve your gut health in 2025'

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A dietitian has revealed five things to improve your gut health in 2025. Suffering from stomach issues can really bring you down and have you tearing your hair out if you feel you’ve exhausted all avenues on how to appease them.

There are various gut trends floating about the internet but many can be fads and hail from unreliable sources. Jo Travers, on the other hand, is is a dietitian based in London and is part of the Love Your Gut initiative.

The Yakult campaign has been promoting awareness of gut health for over 25 years. Off the back of it, Travers has now highlighted five emerging trends that could potentially boost your gut health, as reported by Surrey Live.

Focus on fibre

Consuming more fibre is beneficial as it keeps our gut bacteria alive. Different fibres from various foods support diverse bacteria, and a more diverse gut appears to be healthier.

Despite guidelines recommending a daily intake of 30g of fibre, most UK adults only manage around 15g. Shockingly, nearly 60 per cent of energy consumed in the UK comes from ultra-processed foods. The significance of fibre in our diets is gaining traction, with many cereals now being enhanced with wholegrains to boost health.

Personalised nutrition to target gut health

Travers believes “we’ll eventually shift from generic dietary advice to a more personalised approach, or precision nutrition”. This tailored strategy is expected to be more effective since everyone’s microbiome is distinct, influencing how they react to different foods and their overall health.

DNA and microbiome tests can reveal insights into an individual’s response to various foods and how to enhance gut health. These tests can also identify which bacteria play roles in digestion and cellular processes. For example, certain prebiotic foods such as bananas, garlic, and onions, which contain inulin, nourish bacteria that help reduce inflammation by producing short-chain fatty acids.

Using faecal transplants to treat diseases

Faecal transplants are also being explored as a treatment for diseases. Intestinal microbial transplants, also known as faecal transplants (FT), could be a game-changer in treating conditions like IBS.

This procedure involves transferring faeces from a healthy gut to another individual to treat a range of conditions. A recent trial saw a faecal transplant from a healthy individual to an adult with severe peanut allergy, enabling the recipient to consume a significant number of peanuts.

FT are also being investigated as a way to boost immunotherapeutic cancer treatment and alleviate symptoms in Parkinson’s disease. Clinical trials will determine if FT can improve conditions such as obesity and type 2 diabetes.

Biomarkers in gut bacteria

Biomarkers in gut bacteria can be used to predict, diagnose and potentially treat diseases, not just those in the gut. As every human has a unique microbiome sensitive to their environment, diet, and overall health, changes in the gut microbiome have been observed in diseases such as cardiovascular disease, inflammatory bowel disease, and cancer.

Although still in its infancy, microbial biomarkers have already been identified as predictors of type 1 diabetes risk in infants as young as 12 months.

Postbiotics

Postbiotics differ from probiotics and prebiotics. Postbiotics are significant because the by-products they generate could be more beneficial to our gut health than the bacteria themselves. They play a role in numerous processes related to gut health, such as strengthening it and eliminating harmful bacteria.

Probiotics are currently one of the most discussed topics in nutrition and gut health, so we can expect to see a deeper understanding and application of them – and postbiotics – in the near future.

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