The following is a conversation with Jordan Haworth, a gut health physiologist working at the Functional Gut Clinic who are based in Manchester and London.

In this conversation, we covered probably, possibly the widest range of gut health-related topics in the history of Inside Matters, so this could become a reference episode for all things gut health in the future.

Jordan is a fountain of knowledge relating to basically all things to do with the gastrointestinal tract, prebiotics, probiotics, polyphenols, everything. We covered what to eat for your microbiome, what not to eat for your microbiome, what IBS is, including how to potentially classify it in a way that's not currently widely accepted amongst the broad range of medical community specialists that currently focus on IBS.

We talked about antibiotics, in particular an antibiotic called rifaximin, which counterintuitively may actually be good for gut health in specific situations. We also talked about food sweeteners, emulsifiers, and some of the really exciting research that Jordan and the team at the Functional Gut Clinic are focused on.

I absolutely love this episode. I've learned a heck of a lot. I'm absolutely sure you will as well.

Timestamps:

00:00:00 Intro

00:01:26 IBS: what is it?

00:03:29 Bloating

00:04:30 IBD causes & diagnosis

00:09:38 What is bile?

00:11:54 Different categories of IBS

00:18:18 Coffee a laxative?

00:19:18 What is gut health?

00:21:38 What aren’t normal gut responses?

00:23:23 Most common symptoms

00:28:53 Mr Gut Health’s journey

00:32:51 Stool sampling

00:35:46 Functional Gut Clinic

00:37:18 Definition of probiotic

00:43:46 Probiotics: what to look for

00:48:14 Tummy MOT

00:53:15 Microbiome is an orchestra

00:55:30 More on Tummy MOT

00:57:00 Prebiotics: what are they?

01:01:04 Partially hydrolyzed guar gum

01:03:59 FODMAP diet

01:07:27 Best food for microbiome

01:10:49 How to improve microbiome

01:12:52 ChatGTP for gut health tips

01:15:17 Fermented foods

01:22:08 What’s bad for the microbiome?

01:26:30 Artificial sweeteners

01:30:15 Gluten intolerance

01:34:22 Cutting out dairy for the gut

01:41:33 Testing for SIBO on the NHS

01:49:47 TikTok gut health trends

01:53:20 Things to avoid for a healthy gut

02:00:53 Colonic irrigations