Until now, the term “gut health” has been widely used but has lacked a clear medical definition. The new statement helps standardize how research on diet, probiotics, and the gut microbiota is conducted.
Gut health is more than the absence of disease
The authors of the consensus define gut health as a state of proper functioning of the gastrointestinal tract without active disease and without symptoms that affect quality of life.
They also emphasize that gut health means more than simply the absence of disease. It includes, among other things:
- proper digestion and absorption of nutrients
- efficient gastrointestinal motility
- appropriate functioning of the intestinal barrier and the immune system
- absence of chronic complaints such as abdominal pain, bloating, or abnormal bowel movements that reduce quality of life
Importantly, even individuals diagnosed with gastrointestinal diseases, such as inflammatory bowel disease or celiac disease, may experience gut health during periods of remission, when the disease is inactive and does not cause significant symptoms.
The importance of the consensus
The consensus also has practical value. It will make it easier for physicians and patients to discuss what real improvement in health means and what it should look like. It will also allow for a more critical assessment of marketing claims regarding products that promise to “support gut health”.
In the context of growing interest in the gut microbiota and the influence of the gut on the functioning of the entire body, the work of the team, including the WUM researcher, sets new, more precise boundaries for the discussion, both in science and in the public sphere.
The full text of the consensus that was published in Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology