October 11, 2026 | SLS LLC Anti-Inflammatory Nutrition

By Stephanie Larmour Sanders, MS, RDN, CDE, FNLP

Clinical Dietitian, Certified Diabetes Educator, and Functional Nutritionist

mindbodypelvis.com

Introduction: Everyone Is Talking About Gut Health

Gut health has become one of the most popular topics in nutrition and wellness.

Walk through a grocery store, browse social media, or listen to a health podcast, and you will likely hear claims about improving your gut, balancing your microbiome, healing your intestinal lining, or reducing inflammation. But what does gut health actually mean?

Is it simply having regular bowel movements? Is it having enough beneficial bacteria? Does it mean never experiencing bloating, gas, constipation, or diarrhea? The answer is more complicated—and much more interesting.

Your digestive system is not just a tube that processes food. It is a complex network of organs, microorganisms, immune cells, nerves, hormones, and protective barriers working together. And while gut health is important, not every digestive symptom means that something is wrong with your microbiome. As I often remind my readers: Symptoms are clues—not diagnoses.

Understanding gut health begins with knowing what your digestive system does, what can influence its function, and which clues deserve further investigation.

1. What Is Gut Health?

Gut health generally refers to how well the gastrointestinal system performs its many functions.

There is no single universally accepted clinical definition or laboratory test that tells us whether someone has a perfectly healthy gut.Instead, we consider several interconnected functions.

Digestion and absorption

Breaking down food and absorbing the nutrients needed for energy, growth, tissue repair, and normal body functions.

Intestinal barrier function

Helping regulate what passes from the intestinal contents into the body while maintaining protection against potentially harmful substances.

Microbial activity

Supporting a community of microorganisms that interact with food, intestinal cells, and the immune system.

Motility and elimination

Moving food and waste through the digestive tract at an appropriate rate.

Immune and nervous-system communication

Coordinating protective immune responses and communication between the digestive tract and the brain.

A healthy digestive system is not necessarily one that never produces symptoms. Occasional gas, changes in bowel habits, or discomfort can occur even in otherwise healthy people.

The important questions are whether symptoms persist, become more severe, interfere with daily life, or suggest an underlying condition.

2. Meet Your Gut Microbiome

Your gastrointestinal tract contains trillions of microorganisms, including bacteria, archaea, viruses, and fungi. Together, these organisms and their genetic material form what we call the gut microbiome.

Many of these microorganisms participate in useful activities, including:

• Fermenting certain fibers and carbohydrates that human digestive enzymes cannot fully break down.
• Producing metabolites such as short-chain fatty acids.
• Interacting with intestinal immune cells.
• Contributing to normal intestinal barrier function.
• Participating in the metabolism of some dietary compounds and medications.

One particularly interesting group of compounds is the short-chain fatty acids, including acetate, propionate, and butyrate.

Butyrate serves as an important energy source for many cells lining the colon and participates in intestinal signaling and immune regulation. However, there is an important distinction between microbiome research and individual treatment.

Researchers have identified associations between gut microbial patterns and conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease, obesity, and type 2 diabetes. But these associations do not necessarily prove that a particular bacterial pattern caused the disease.

There is no single ideal microbiome composition that applies to every person.

Microbiome diversity can be informative, but a higher diversity score is not always better in every context. Commercial stool microbiome tests also have important limitations and generally cannot diagnose the cause of routine digestive symptoms.

3. What Does Your Gut Have to Do With Inflammation?

Inflammation is a normal part of the immune system’s response to infection, injury, and other threats. Your digestive tract must perform a remarkable balancing act.

It encounters food proteins, microorganisms, and other substances every day. The intestinal immune system must respond appropriately to genuine threats while tolerating many harmless substances.

The intestinal lining, mucus layer, resident microorganisms, and immune cells all contribute to this process.When intestinal barrier or immune function is disrupted, inflammation may become part of the picture. For example, inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis involve inappropriate, persistent inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract.

But it is important not to assume that every case of bloating, constipation, or abdominal discomfort represents intestinal inflammation. Irritable bowel syndrome, food intolerances, medications, changes in motility, and other conditions can cause digestive symptoms without the same inflammatory processes seen in inflammatory bowel disease. Inflammation is one possible clue—not the automatic explanation for every digestive complaint.

4. What About “Leaky Gut”?

You may have heard the expression leaky gut. The medical concept behind this popular phrase is altered intestinal permeability. The intestinal lining contains cells connected by structures called tight junctions. These help regulate the passage of substances across the intestinal barrier. Changes in intestinal permeability can occur in certain diseases and physiological circumstances.

However, the popular term leaky gut syndrome is not a well-established standalone medical diagnosis, and routine symptoms do not prove that a person’s intestinal barrier is damaged.

There is also no universally accepted commercial test that establishes “leaky gut syndrome” in otherwise undiagnosed individuals.

If you experience persistent digestive problems, the priority should be evaluating the symptoms and considering recognized medical conditions rather than automatically purchasing supplements advertised to repair the gut lining.

5. The Gut–Brain Connection: Why Stress Can Affect Digestion

Have you ever noticed that your digestive system reacts when you are nervous, anxious, excited, or under prolonged stress?

This is not imaginary. Your digestive tract contains an extensive nervous system called the enteric nervous system. It communicates with the central nervous system through neural, hormonal, and immune pathways. This communication is commonly described as the gut–brain axis.

Stress can influence digestive motility, visceral sensitivity, appetite, and the experience of gastrointestinal discomfort. At the same time, digestive symptoms can affect mood, sleep, social activities, and quality of life. This two-way relationship helps explain why gut health cannot be reduced to food choices alone.

It also explains why treatments for certain disorders of gut–brain interaction may involve nutrition, behavioral strategies, and medical care rather than a single supplement or elimination diet.

6. Seven Everyday Strategies That May Support Gut Health

1. Include fiber-rich foods

Vegetables, fruits, oats, beans, lentils, nuts, seeds, and whole grains provide different types of dietary fiber. Increase fiber gradually, particularly if you experience bloating, and drink adequate fluids.

2. Aim for plant-food variety

Different plant foods provide different fibers, nutrients, and phytochemicals. Variety may help support a range of microbial activities without requiring an arbitrary number of plants each week.

3. Consider fermented foods if tolerated

Yogurt with live cultures, kefir, and some fermented vegetables can fit into a nutritious eating pattern. Not every fermented food contains proven probiotic strains, and some may aggravate symptoms in sensitive individuals.

4. Maintain adequate hydration

Fluid intake supports normal body function and can be especially important when increasing dietary fiber or managing constipation.

5. Move regularly

Physical activity supports overall metabolic health and may help bowel regularity. Choose movement that is safe and appropriate for your abilities.

6. Give sleep and stress management attention

Consistent sleep opportunities and manageable daily routines support general health and may help with symptoms affected by gut–brain communication.

7. Observe individual tolerance

A food that is nutritious for one person may cause discomfort for another. Notice repeated patterns rather than eliminating entire food groups after a single reaction.

For people with celiac disease, inflammatory bowel disease, gastrointestinal surgery, significant food intolerance, or other digestive conditions, dietary recommendations may need individual adjustment.

7. Do You Need a Probiotic Supplement?

Not necessarily. Probiotics are live microorganisms that provide a health benefit when consumed in adequate amounts.

Research suggests that certain probiotic strains may help with specific conditions, but results depend on the strain, dose, individual, and medical circumstances.

Taking more probiotics—or choosing a product with a higher bacterial count—does not automatically produce better results.

For people with weakened immune systems or serious illnesses, probiotic supplements may carry additional risks. The NIH recommends discussing probiotic supplements with a healthcare professional rather than assuming that everyone needs them.

A food-first approach is often a reasonable place to begin.

8. When Should Digestive Symptoms Be Investigated?

Your symptoms may provide useful information, but some signs require medical attention. Contact your healthcare professional for persistent or worsening abdominal discomfort, ongoing constipation or diarrhea, unexplained weight loss, or recurring changes in bowel habits. Seek prompt medical care for blood in the stool, black tarry stools, severe abdominal pain, or signs of significant dehydration.

Do not assume these symptoms are caused by an unhealthy microbiome.

Scientific References

1. National Institutes of Health, National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. Probiotics: Usefulness and Safety.
2. National Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements. Probiotics: Fact Sheet for Consumers.
3. Porcari S, et al. International consensus statement on microbiome testing in clinical practice. The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology. 2025;10(2):154–167. Read publication.
4. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Your Digestive System & How It Works.