Episode 4: Principle 3 - Eat Fibre | The Doctor's Kitchen

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Today’s show features my good friend Gut health researcher Dr Megan Rossi from Kings College London who has a specialist interest in the gut.

We discuss what gut health refers to, the microbes lining our digestive system and what effects these have on general health.

In essence the perfect person to give us the lowdown on gut health and what we need to be doing.

We talk about:

What’s the deal with gut health, is it a real thing and should you be bothered
An introduction to the microbiome – the population of microbes that live in and around our bodies, largely concentrated in our large intestines
A whistle stop tour through the research that lead to the microbiome
What types of microbes are there?
The difference in microbe populations and associations with diseases
What are the the future applications of microbiome focused treatments in emergency, community care and autoimmune disease
Testing our microbiome
How fibre, rather than protein, is actually much more lacking in diets
How to spot fibre on the supermarket shelves and where to get sources
Key ways of enhancing your diet including additional fibre rich foods, approach to medication and lifestyle factors

Summary

We round up with actionable tips on how you can improve your own health by looking after your gut using food and lifestyle tips.

Guest: Dr Megan Rossi

Megan is a Registered Dietitian with a PhD in gut health from the Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University of Queensland, Australia. Megan’s PhD was recognised for its contribution to science receiving the Dean’s Award for excellence.

Megan leads research at King’s College London investigating nutrition-based therapies in gut health, including pre and probiotics, dietary fibres, the low FODMAP diet and food additives. Megan was the recipient of the 2017 British Medical Journal prize and also the British Nutrition Foundation award for her research.

Megan also leads a gut health clinic on Harley street, works with food industry and is currently writing an evidence-based guide to your gut health, to be published by Penguin Life in 2019.