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How Can I Support My Gut?
Our gut plays a crucial role in various processes within our body. Did you know that our gut is not only essential for digestion but also plays a significant role in supporting our immune system, energy balance, and even our mental well-being? The communication between our gut and brain is vital for how we feel, both physically and mentally. Our gut’s function is greatly influenced by our diet, lifestyle, and other factors.
On this page, we share valuable advice on how you can properly support your gut and digestion. We provide practical tips and a handy guide to supplements that can give your gut and digestion an extra boost.
Pyramid of Gut Support
Discover how to keep your gut in balance with our Pyramid of Gut Support. This pyramid not only offers insights but also practical tips to optimally support your gut. We discuss the most important aspects of gut support and show you how to keep your digestion at its best. The following topics are covered:
- The Foundation: Nutrition & Lifestyle
- Basic Support for Your Gut Flora: Prebiotics & Probiotics
- Additional (Specific) Support: Diet, Food Intolerances & Digestive Enzymes
1. The Foundation: Nutrition & Lifestyle
The foundation of gut support is formed by optimal nutrition combined with a healthy lifestyle. When you have this in order, you provide your gut with the right foundation for good digestion.
Healthy and Optimal Nutrition for Your Gut
Fibers are essential for good digestion. They promote intestinal peristalsis, helping to move food through the digestive tract and ensuring optimal bowel movements. Soluble fibers, found in fruits, vegetables, oats, and legumes, attract water and form a gel-like substance that slows digestion and promotes nutrient absorption. Insoluble fibers, present in whole grains and nuts, add bulk to the stool and promote regular bowel movements.
Adequate Fluid Intake is crucial because water helps with digestion by breaking down food and absorbing nutrients. It also helps fibers work effectively and promotes regular bowel movements.
Fats and Sugars: A diet rich in fats and sugars can negatively affect digestion. Limiting these nutrients can help promote regular bowel movements and support your digestion at its core.
Healthy Lifestyle for a Healthy Gut
Physical Activity is not only good for overall health but also for digestion. Physical activity stimulates the muscles of the digestive tract, helping to move food more efficiently. This ensures regular bowel movements and supports your gut. Even simple activities like walking can offer significant benefits for digestion.
Relaxation & Stress: Chronic stress can negatively impact digestion and gut function. The body responds to stress by releasing stress hormones like cortisol, which can slow down digestion. Relaxation techniques such as meditation, yoga, and breathing exercises can help lower stress levels and improve digestion.
Quality Sleep is essential for optimal digestion. During sleep, the body, including the digestive system, recovers and regenerates. Aiming for regular, adequate sleep can contribute to optimal digestion.
2. Basic Support for Your Gut Flora: Prebiotics & Probiotics
Sometimes your gut could use some extra support, especially when healthy nutrition and a healthy lifestyle are not enough. There may also be certain ‘triggers’ that can irritate your gut. Fortunately, there are ways to give your gut the help it needs. Whether it’s finding the right supplements or avoiding irritating triggers, we help you optimally support your gut.
Reducing Triggers
Sometimes our gut can be irritated by certain components in our food and drinks. It’s worth paying attention to this and discovering what your ‘triggers’ are. Substances like caffeine (in coffee and energy drinks), carbon dioxide (in soda and sparkling water), and sweeteners (in gum and light products) can irritate the gut. Spicy food, sugar and fat-rich food, and ultra-processed food can also lead to less optimal digestion.
You can experiment with reducing these triggers. For example, drink one less cup of coffee a day or choose fresh vegetables and fruits instead of processed products. If you notice that you cannot optimally digest certain foods like legumes or dairy, try reducing or replacing them with something easier to digest.
Prebiotics (Fibers)
Did you know that 75% of the population consumes too few fibers?
Health organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) recommend consuming a minimum of 25-30 grams of dietary fiber per day, while in reality, we only ingest about 20 grams on average. A fiber supplement can help you increase your fiber intake. Specifically, choose prebiotic fibers. This type of fiber is not digestible by the human body, meaning it reaches the large intestine unchanged. There, they are fermented and serve as food for beneficial gut bacteria.
Herbs
Various types of herbs are known to support digestion. Think, for example, of herbs such as mint (peppermint), turmeric, fennel, ginger, coriander, or chamomile. You can experiment with these herbs in the kitchen in the form of tea, but they can also be used in supplement form, allowing you to take the herbs in a higher dosage and in a more convenient way.
Probiotics
Probiotics are live microorganisms, also known as good bacteria, that can supplement your gut bacteria in the gut flora. Gut flora (also known as the gut microbiome) is a collective term for all types of bacteria that live in your gut, each with its own task and characteristics. In addition to billions of bacteria, the gut flora also includes yeasts and fungi. Various factors can influence the composition of your gut flora, such as age, lifestyle, genes, illness, diet, and medication. All these factors together ultimately determine what your gut flora looks like. This makes your gut flora as unique as your fingerprint.
There are many different types of probiotic strains, each with its own unique properties. It is important that probiotic products contain a varied number of strains.
3. Additional Support: Diet, Food Intolerances & Digestive Enzymes
In the third step of the Pyramid of Gut Support, we delve deeper into the additional and specific support your gut may need when nutrition, lifestyle, and basic support are not enough. This is the time to look more closely at your diet by identifying foods that are harder to digest and possibly following a specific diet. Additionally, you can consider adding supplements specifically tailored to your needs. With this targeted approach, you can provide your gut with even more specific support.
Intolerance Test – Identifying and Addressing Intolerances
By learning which nutrients irritate your gut, you can take more targeted action and perhaps better avoid certain foods. To get an indication of foods that are more difficult for you to digest, you can use our intolerance test.
Digestive Enzymes
Digestive enzymes play a crucial role in digestion. But what exactly is the role and function of these enzymes? Digestive enzymes are certain substances that have a task in our body, specifically in our digestion. They are proteins that are naturally produced in the body. These proteins have a specific function: they help you break down food.
By using digestive enzymes as a supplement, you can supplement your body’s own enzymes and thereby support the digestion of certain foods. There are different types of digestive enzymes that can help digest, for example, lactose, fructose, complex carbohydrates, or histamine.
Digestive Enzymes & Food
If certain foods cannot be optimally digested, the first and most crucial step is to adjust your diet. You can do this yourself, but it is better to do this under the guidance of a dietitian. A dietitian can help you identify possible food intolerances and adjust your diet accordingly. For example, there is the FODMAP diet, which focuses on avoiding hard-to-digest carbohydrates.
If dietary adjustments are difficult or if you want to make an exception (such as during vacations), digestive enzymes in supplement form can be a good support. Below, we offer a handy overview of foods and the associated digestive enzymes that can provide support. We illustrate this with our food wheel, where foods are represented.
Lactose
Lactose belongs to the FODMAPs; fermentable carbohydrates (sugars). Lactose, also known as ‘milk sugar’, is found in milk and other dairy products such as cream, custard, quark, mascarpone, fresh (cream) cheese, cookies, cake, and many other processed foods that contain dairy.
The digestive enzyme lactase helps with the digestion of lactose. If there is too little of the lactase enzyme, as in lactose intolerance, lactose cannot be broken down, preventing it from being sufficiently absorbed in the small intestine. For foods with lactose, you can supplement with the digestive enzyme lactase by taking a supplement such as Lactase 20.000 tablets.
Fructose
Fructose, also known as ‘fruit sugar’, belongs to the FODMAPs; fermentable carbohydrates (sugars) and is found in fruits, vegetables, honey, and processed foods.
The digestive enzyme xylose Isomerase helps with the digestion of fructose. For foods with (free) fructose, you can supplement with the digestive enzyme xylose Isomerase by taking the supplement Fructase.
Fructans & Galactans (Complex Carbohydrates)
Fructans belong to the FODMAPs; fermentable carbohydrates (sugars). Fructans, also known as complex or hard-to-digest carbohydrates, are found in garlic, onion, leeks, wheat, apricots, grapefruit, and nectarine. Galactans, also known as complex or hard-to-digest carbohydrates, are found in beans, peas, and various types of nuts. Galactans belong to the FODMAPs; fermentable carbohydrates (sugars).
The digestive enzyme alpha-galactosidase helps with the digestion of complex carbohydrates like fructans and galactans and reduces the risk of gas formation.* For foods with complex carbohydrates, you can supplement with the digestive enzyme alpha-galactosidase by taking the supplement Fibractase 1200 (Forte).
*Health claim pending European approval.
Sucrose & Starch
Sucrose, also known as saccharose or table sugar, is found in fruit; apple, banana, mango, pear, orange, watermelon, and in processed products where sugar has been added. Starch is a complex carbohydrate and is found in grain products, potatoes, and pasta. Starch consists of two long chains of linked carbohydrate molecules.
The digestive enzyme invertase helps with the digestion of sucrose, and the digestive enzyme gluco-amylase helps with the digestion of starch. For foods with sucrose and/or starch, you can supplement with the digestive enzymes invertase and gluco-amylase by taking the supplement Starchway.
Combination of Multiple FODMAPs
Quatrase 10.000 (Forte) contains a specially formulated high-dose mix of digestive enzymes and helps with the digestion of multiple hard-to-digest carbohydrates like lactose, fructose, complex carbohydrates (fructans and galactans), and sucrose.
For foods with multiple hard-to-digest carbohydrates, you can supplement with a combination of digestive enzymes by taking the supplement Quatrase 10.000 (Forte).
Polyols
Polyols, also known as sugar alcohols or sweeteners, occur naturally in fruits such as stone fruits and are also often added as a sweetener to foods like xylitol, mannitol, or sorbitol. Polyols belong to the FODMAPs; fermentable carbohydrates (sugars).
There are no specific digestive enzymes available to better break down polyols, also known as sugar alcohols or sweeteners, in the small intestine. Polyols are not or barely absorbed in the small intestine and are directly transported to the large intestine. In the large intestine, gut bacteria are present, and the fermentation process begins.
Histamine
Histamine is a biogenic amine (natural protein) involved in various processes in the body. Histamine plays a role in the gastrointestinal tract, central nervous system, lungs, sleep system, and the immune system. Our body produces histamine itself, but it also naturally occurs in many plant-based and animal products; sauerkraut, dried fruit, yogurt, pork, aged meats like salami, aged cheese, alcohol, especially red wine, and canned food.
The digestive enzyme diamine oxidase (DAO) helps with the digestion of histamine. For foods with histamine, you can supplement with the digestive enzyme diamine oxidase (DAO) by taking a supplement such as DAO plus or DAO mini.
Professional Advice
If you are unable to manage with dietary adjustments and possibly the use of digestive enzymes, there may be more going on. We recommend contacting a healthcare professional such as a dietitian or doctor who can provide expert advice. Our team of specialized dietitians is always ready to offer you in-depth advice and practical tips on using digestive enzymes.
Free advice from our dietitians
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