Greens powders.

That's a bye-bye for me.

Because I think mostly, what I think that really irritates me is how expensive they are.

And I think actually, what is it really? Is it much better than a broccoli soup? It's just dehydrated.

And so many of them, they just kind of put a lot of chaff in to kind of bulk it up.

And I think also in the way that it's eaten tends to be, is it a meal replacement? And actually that's then worse for your health, I would say.

And it probably contains just one to two grams quite often of fiber.

Could you do a brief maybe overview of what the gut brain, what that relationship looks like?

So when would you advise anyone starts to worry maybe about bloating?

Yeah.

I think, I think as women, we're so told that any kind of change in our kind of, you know, our stomach looking flat, not looking flat is a problem, and I really, really wanna push back on that 'cause I think when we eat a meal, that food has gotta go somewhere, so quite often that stomach protruding a little bit is just simply that you've got a little bit of extra, you know, that food that's happening.

And then a little bit of bloating can also just be a normal, natural, healthy sign.

Your gut microbes that live in your large intestine, when you eat food, a lot of the time the fiber which is in those foods, so things like beans, whole grains, nuts and seeds, fruits and vegetables are all really great sources of fiber, your gut microbes love it.

It's their favorite food, and they will feed on it, and they all make, yes, molecules for your health, but actually a side effect tends to be also producing gas.

So h- actually having a little bit of gas sometimes in terms of that bloating kind of feeling could actually just be a normal, natural, healthy thing that's happening.

Could you do a brief maybe overview of what the, the gut, brain, what that relationship looks like?

So when would you advise anyone starts to worry maybe about bloating?

Yeah, I think, I think as women we're so told that any kind of change in our kind of, you know, our stomach looking flat and not looking flat is a problem, and I really, really wanna push back on that 'cause I think when we eat a meal, that food has gotta go somewhere.

So quite often that stomach protruding a little bit is just simply that you've got a little bit of extra, you know, that food it's happening.

And then a little bit of bloating can also just be a normal, natural, healthy sign.

Your gut microbes that live in your large intestine, when you eat food, a lot of the time the fiber which is in those foods, so things like beans, whole grains, nuts and seeds, fruits and vegetables are all really great sources of fiber.

Your gut microbes love it.

It's their favorite food, and they will feed on it and then they all make, yes, molecules for your health, but actually a side effect tends to be also producing gas.

Could you do a brief maybe overview of what the, the gut-brain, what that relationship looks like?

Welcome to the stage.

Thank you.

So great to be here.

Thanks, Gemma.

Yes, so I'm going to talk all things gut microbiome.

So yes, all those trillions of microbes that live in your lower intestine.

Now, 20 years ago, we didn't really know that these microbes even really existed.

But the things we really

Is 30 grams a day of fiber a ceiling, a target, or is more more?

That's the...

I think that's the really interesting, pertinent question that I think even us researchers are, are asking.

And actually one thing that we're looking at in terms of the study that we're running at King's College, um, London at the moment is whether, you know, should it be maybe 40 grams.

Um, and there's other been a few other handful of studies that have looked at higher amounts.

Um, but really we, we still don't have, like, that much concrete research at those kind of higher amounts.

A few really interesting studies, particularly in the kind of 1970s.

Are they essential or just a nice to add?

How much is too much sugar? Well, sorry, can I ask another question? Is sugar an important food that we should eat?

I think we've got to think about there's sugar pretty much in every single, you know, most of the foods that we eat naturally anyway.

It's just what is it wrapped up in? So things like kind of whole grain cereals are really great for our health.

It's when it's these kind of free and added sugars that are kind of added into food.

So if we think about that kind of You know, castor sugar, the syrups, the honeys, the sugars and juices, those are the ones that we want to be thinking about limiting.

So generally, the recommendation is that it's less than 10% of our energy intake.

ideally pushing more to below 5%.

Just before you go, what about sugar substitutes? Are they generally safe to have? Are there any downsides here?

Currently, where are you with something like fermented foods? What, what evidence do we have, and are you of the position that for people who are interested in generally being healthy, and a part of that relating to gut health, that fermented foods offer something beyond not having them included?

So, the best study, the strongest study that we have at the moment is one that was done by Stanford University a few years ago.

And effectively, they had a fermented food group, and they had a kind of fiber group, and they compared the two.

The people who were on the fermented food arm were eating, I think, about six to seven servings of fermented food a day.

So, that is quite a lot of fermented food, and I think for most people, it's not very practical.

But again, we've gotta think in terms of research settings.

Quite often, the recommendation is quite high because they want to know that they're gonna see a very specific signal within a short period of time.

Are there any commonly heard claims that you think are particularly prevalent that, that bother you, or at least that you see quite a lot that you think we need to add a bit of nuance to? Are there a few that particularly come to mind?

Mm-hmm

... um, that is part of the next stage in your digestion.

Now, the small intestine is a bit of a misnomer.

It's actually pretty long, and that's where 90% of the nutrients, um, that you eat get absorbed, so things like protein, fats, simple carbohydrates.

That's really getting absorbed into your body for your body to use for energy and nutrition.

What's happening there that's different with fiber is that fiber is resisting being used by your body.

Uh, we don't have the enzymes, our body doesn't have the enzymes to break down fiber, so actually what happens is that fiber then passes through to the lower intestine, which we previously only really thought of as this almost, like, sausage packing factory getting ready for poo to kind of be shipped, you know, a bit further down and out into the toilet.

Like the opening act.

Is this the first study of its kind?

Uh, I would say it's unique in the sense that, um, we have a lot of evidence to show that 30 grams of fiber is, which is the kind of national recommendation, um, is really important for our health.

But actually, as soon as we go above that amount, there's actually a lot less evidence, because we just do not have the studies of people who are eating that much.

So what our study is looking at is, you're really testing, actually, is 40 grams of fiber maybe, um, gonna give us even kind of bigger benefits.

But also not just thinking about the amount of fiber, but, but also the variety of different types of fibers.

So we're saying, you know, actually perhaps if we eat a certain amount of beans, a certain amount of whole grains, and a certain amount of nuts, on top of having, um, a kind of varied, balanced diet-Is that actually gonna give us this variety of different fiber types that all act in many different ways? They're not just feeding our gut, they're also helping to support, uh, our blood sugar levels, um, our heart health.

You know, there's so many things happening with fiber.

Tell us more about the work you do at the university and your research, everything you've done.