Maximizing gut health might sound like the latest wellness trend, but a growing body of research suggests it plays a role in disease.
Dr. Danxia Yu, an associate professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, has spent much of her research career investigating the link between gut health and chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and various cancers.
Her team’s latest study analyzed blood levels of metabolites — small molecules produced by gut bacteria as they break down food — drawing on data from more than 10,000 participants in the US and China.
While the study doesn’t prove causation, it identified several gut bacteria-related compounds linked to coronary heart disease, a condition caused by plaque buildup in the arteries.
Based on her research, Yu shared a few habits that can boost your gut health — and improve your heart health at the same time.
Prioritize plants
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Yu said generally following the US dietary guidelines should help you stay on track with maintaining good gut health.
That means focusing on plant-based foods such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, and legumes. Yu also recommended replacing products that have refined grains with whole grains, which contain more fiber that helps support healthy gut bacteria.
If available at your grocery store, she said, maintaining plant diversity in your diet also benefits gut health. Researchers believe that eating different types of fiber fuels a healthier range of gut microbes, leading to a more resilient microbiome overall.
The main thing to limit is ultra-processed foods (UPFs), which have been linked to increased inflammation and the growth of harmful bacteria. In the study, for example, she said her team found similar levels of the metabolites among Americans of different races, but lower overall levels among participants in China.
Part of the reason could be related to differences in dietary norms, as UPF consumption is among the highest in the US compared to the rest of the world.
“If you go to a grocery store in China, you will see most people fill their shopping carts with fresh ingredients and not many foods in boxes or bottles,” Yu said.
Cook from scratch as often as you can
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One of the best ways to reduce UFP intake is to cook as many of your own meals as you can, incorporating as many whole ingredients as possible.
“That means you are eating minimally processed foods,” Yu said, and likely getting more protein, fiber, and nutrients as a result.
Yu, for example, cooks with her family almost every day. “I’m Chinese, so we usually do stir fry of a few kinds of vegetables and then protein: shrimp, chicken, tofu,” she said.
Even if you can’t fully avoid some processed ingredients, such as store-bought pasta sauce or salad dressing, a meal built around vegetables, whole grains, and nuts is still likely to be healthier than a heavily ultra-processed option.
Don’t forget to move
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Diet isn’t the only lifestyle factor that affects gut health. Yu said exercise is also important.
In a 2022 paper, Yu and her team analyzed the exercise habits of about 2,100 adults in urban China and found that people who regularly engaged in moderate-to-vigorous exercise had different gut microbiomes compared with those who didn’t.
Other studies suggest exercise can shift the gut microbiome in ways that support overall health.
There’s limited research about which types of exercise (such as strength training or cardio) are the best for gut health. For now, Yu said, “Any exercise is better than none.”
