Looking after your gut is one of the most powerful ways to boost your health and wellbeing. Studies have linked gut bacteria – collectively known as the microbiome – to increased risk of obesity, changes in mood and mental health and cardiovascular disease.

Feeding our gut microbiota with a diverse diet may improve our health by creating nutrients and essential substances. The problem is that so far, many studies are based on finding correlations, few explain causation. While we wait for future studies there are some easy ways we can boost our gut health. Here are 3 easy ways we can positively impact the health of our gut through our diet.

1. Prebiotics. These are non-digestible food components that may help to feed the growth and activity of beneficial gut bacteria. Prebiotics can be found in: artichokes, leeks, asparagus, onion and garlic.

2. Probiotics. These are live bacteria that help to boost gut bacteria numbers. They are naturally found in some fermented foods including: some yoghurt (labelled as active live cultures), kefir (fermented milk drink), kimchi (fermented cabbage), natto (fermented bean) and commercial products including probiotic drinks and supplements.

3. Diverse your diet. Eat a varied and diverse diet of healthy foods is likely to lead to an equally diverse and healthy microbiome. Try to eat a diet with plenty of fruit, vegetables, wholegrains, legumes and pulses.