Gut health and your working day

Article by Marie Donnellan, RNutr

Gut health has become a popular topic in recent years, and for good reason too!. It’s an important aspect of our overall health with research investigating the link from immunity, mood, energy levels and to chronic disease risk.

While “gut” refers to the entire digestive system, where the break down food and drink occurs into energy, nutrients and water. All of which keep our body healthy and functioning. Its often used in the context of the large intestine and the microorganisms living there — collectively known as the gut microbiome. This community of bacteria, fungi, viruses, and other microbes are essential for digestion, nutrient absorption, and the production of vital compounds like short-chain fatty acids and certain vitamins.

A healthy gut typically has a diverse and balanced microbiome, a strong intestinal lining, and efficient digestive process. While there are many factors that can influence our gut health, there are some steps we can take ourselves to support our gut health and that of our microbiome.

The human gut microbiota is an ecological entity that includes bacteria, yeast, viruses and parasites, yielding around 100 trillion microorganisms in total (1).

Why our gut health matters?

So why should we be concerned about our gut health? Well, it turns out there are many good reasons we should be, some of which include:

• Digestive Function: A healthy gut helps break down food into short chain fatty acids (SCFA) which are rich sources of energy, and a healthy microbiota contributes to structural development of the gut mucosa (2).
• Immune Support: About 70% of the immune system resides in the gut, where it helps defend against harmful pathogens and stimulates the immune response (3).
• Mental Health: The gut and brain are connected through the gut-brain axis. Early research suggests that the gut bacteria may affect our mental wellbeing, protecting against conditions like anxiety and depression. However, much more research is needed here (4,5).
• Chronic Diseases: Poor gut health has been associated with conditions like obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) (2).

While it’s known that many factors shape our gut microbiome, changes to our diet and lifestyle can support it and in turn then support our wider health.

Workplace specific support

One of the keys of a healthy functioning gut, is the diversity of the bacteria living in it. We also know that our diet, lifestyle and stress can influence this. Our work environment can have a significant influence on what we eat, this can depend on the type of options and facilities available. It’s also an ideal environment to encourage healthy eating. Here are some workplace steps to encourage and facilitate a healthy diet and lifestyle:

• Providing access to a variety of fruit and vegetables for meals and snacks.
• Providing higher fibre breakfast alternatives like oats, weetabix, oatabix etc as choices in menus.
• Providing natural, live and unflavoured yoghurts options in menus.
• Encouraging employees to take time away from their desks/workstations and take their full lunch break.

Healthy Ireland @work has lots of resources available to support healthy eating at work (6). These include the development of standards by the HSE, in collaboration with Safefood, to support those employed and contracted by the health service to offer staff and visitors a choice of healthier food. The Nutrition standards for food and beverage provision outline guidelines which could be applicable to most work environments (7).

Adjustments we can make ourselves

Our diet continues to be the most important determinant in shaping the composition, diversity and richness of out gut microbiome. Eating a varied diet especially with fruit and vegetables has been shown to increase the diversity of the gut microbiome.

• Adding more fibre to our plate, we should be consuming between 25-30g of fibre a day. However, most Irish adults only consume approx. 19g/day. One of the best ways to increase intake is consuming 5-7 portions a day of fruits and vegetables and increasing our intake of wholegrains. Also, by adding sources of plant protein high in fibre e.g. beans, lentils, chickpeas, nuts and seeds will provide fermentable fibres that can feed our gut bacteria.
• Having enough fluid, when we increase fibre, we also need to increase our water intake. This supports our digestive system helping nutrients to be digested and absorbed, as it acts as a lubricant to help food move through the digestive tract, softening stools so they’re easier to pass. Lack of enough water can contribute to constipation.
• Adding prebiotic foods, onions, garlic, leeks, artichoke, chicory root, asparagus, bananas, apples, berries, wheat, oats, beans, lentils and chickpeas are prebiotic fibres which, support the growth of beneficial bacteria in the gut.

Maintaining an overall healthy lifestyle can really help our gut health thrive too. This could include taking steps to manage stress, as chronic stress can negatively impact gut function and microbiome diversity. Staying physically active and prioritising sleep (getting between 7-9 hours of sleep per night) will all benefit our gut health too.

Caring for our gut isn’t just about avoiding indigestion, it’s a cornerstone of our overall heath. By making mindful lifestyle and dietary choices, we can support a thriving gut microbiome and enjoy benefits that reach far beyond our stomach!

References

1. Rinninella, E. et al. (2023) ‘The role of diet in shaping human gut microbiota’, Best Practice & Research Clinical Gastroenterology, 62–63, p. 101828.  doi:10.1016/j.bpg.2023.101828.
2. Jandhyala, S.M. (2015) ‘Role of the normal gut microbiota’, World Journal of Gastroenterology, 21(29), p. 8787.  doi:10.3748/wjg.v21.i29.8787.
3. Hou, K. et al. (2022) ‘Microbiota in health and diseases’, Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy, 7(1). doi:10.1038/s41392-022-00974-4.
4. Winter, G., Hart, R. A., Charlesworth, R. P. & Sharpley, C. F. Gut microbiome and depression: what we know and what we need to know. Rev. Neurosci. 29, 629–643 (2018).
5. Dinan, T.G., Stanton, C. and Cryan, J.F. (2013) ‘Psychobiotics: A novel class of psychotropic’, Biological Psychiatry, 74(10), pp. 720–726. doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2013.05.001.
6. Healthy eating, Healthy Workplace Ireland (2023). Available at: https://healthyworkplace.ie/areas/wellbeing-areas/healthy-eating/
7. Nutrition standards for food and beverage provision. Available at: https://www.hse.ie/eng/about/who/healthwellbeing/our-priority-programmes/heal/healthy-eating-guidelines/nutrition-standards-for-food-and-beverage-provision-for-staff-and-visitors-in-healthcare-settings.pdf