Gut health - brand new Q&A with Dr Michael Mosley

I've been taking symprove for somtime now. I feel it has made a big difference but I wonder if this is a placebo affect. I don't want to waste my money.

I have had IBS for years, but now it's become more frequent, I hardly dare leave the house for any length of time, a day out is impossible, I have to plot all the loos! I take Imodium by the handful! Help please.

I used to get urgent diarrhoea but started taking soya milk and that has helped, but I still get terrible wind that goes on all day,for days. My stomach bloats. I'm always tired. My face has got spotty and rashy. My whole body aches. I want to know if probiotics would help. I've suffered for years. Age 52

I have been taking omaprozole daily for many years following a stomach ulcer. I get very vivid dreams at night and wonder if this a side effect. Also been told another side effect could be to make bones more brittle and breakable. Any truth in either of those and are there side effects from daily long term use?

I had a first-time attack of diverticulitis last year, possibly caused by severe stress at the time, but have started making fermented veggies and making whey from organic goat's milk and drinking it three times a day. What's your opinion on whey?

Probiotics can't work as so few bacteria get through to the end of the gut. Fermented foods are better. They are so acid that they get through.
Its all explained in The Diat Myth by Tim Spector.(professor) But the book is readable, and based on his research into twins.
Fact is, eat as many sorts of foods as you can, as you need microbes of different kinds. Vegan is too limited.

I suffer from heartburn and take Omprozole every night. This controls the symptoms very well. About two years ago I had a scan and was told I have a fatty liver. I have been given no advice from my GP about this. Can I do anything to help myself?

Have just bought this book for my Kindle. Looks excellent from sample read.

I saw a fascinating documentary a year or two ago about the bacteria in your stomach and how changing it can have many different effects. I don't remember the detail but I have two questions based on this.

1) it makes total sense that having healthy gut microbes will be beneficial in many ways - but unless you have a specific problem such as ibs how do you know whether or not the microbes we have ourselves are good, bad or could be improved?

2) assuming that what we have and what works for our particular body is different, if you do know the answer to question 1 above, how can you know what to do for the best for your particular microbes/gut flora or whatever it should be called?

I am very interested in the fact that the state of our gut makes it easier or harder for us to lose weight. It makes total sense and alongside other factors may explain why it is so much harder for some than others. I find it very difficult to shift extra pounds and so would love to know how I can tell whether what's going on in my gut is part of the cause and if so what I can do about it

My question follows on from the one about weightloss. I assume that what is good for one gut isn't necessarily good for another so how do we programme our own guts to optimise being able to lose weight?

when I was growing up no one seemed to have allergies and now they are so common. is there a reason for this? and is there anything that can be done? My 7 year old granddaughter has a type 2 (gastro intestinal) allergy that is very acute - at first she was told to take tiny amounts of the substances she was allergic to (wheat and tomatoes) in order for her body to learn to tolerate them but when she continued to be unwell they told her to avoid them altogether and this has been helpful. But is she destined to be like this forever? Might she grow out of them? And would changing the microbes in her gut make any difference? She eats a healthy balanced diet and takes a probiotic every morning

Please could you tell me whether menopause can be affected by gut health and if so what I could do to help improve my symptoms?

I know that taking antibiotics can affect the balance of various things (and cause thrush etc which is why lots of people take live yogurt or probiotics when they take a course)

But setting aside overuse of antibiotics - of course there will be times when they are absolutely necessary. So what do you suggest to avoid them doing damage as well as good? Is it really as simple as the yogurt thing?

Thank you for your wonderful programmes and I am going to buy the book. Medication is a problem particularly AMITRIPTYLINE. I am annoying my lovely doctor by refusing to take it regularly for pain control. He has my sympathy but I have to live with the consequences on my gut. They want me to lose weight as well. Hmmm. Can you suggest a better solution please. Thank you.

'Healthy' eating all seems to be based on lots of fruit, vegetables, fibre and probiotics these days, I suffer from IBS and can only manage 1 small piece of fruit every few days, 2 servings of vegetables, I have to be very careful with all pulses, brown rice and whole grain pasta. Probiotics seem to be dairy based which I also can't eat. If I diverge from this I get a very upset stomach. I'd love to be able to eat more healthily, any suggestions?

I heard about a woman (don't ask me who, where or when!) whose gut was very ill after antibiotics and (not sure but possibly) chemotherapy. She was bedridden and hardly able to function. She had a healthy poo transplant (I think her son was the donor) and her life was transformed. What do you think about poo transplants and are they available here? (My gut is pretty good on 5:2 fasting and plenty of fibre! I was sorry to hear, on your programme about insomnia, that you hate butter beans! Try this? It's so good and we've tweaked it to yield about 1cal/g. www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/gigantes_with_tomatoes_47546 or search Rick Stein Gigantes.)

I hope you will define precisely what you mean by junk food. The expression is used far too much about food that is not junk at all.

My son has I.B.D. He has been told by doctor that we have two 'brains' our normal one and one in our gut. Is this a theory with which you concur? And if so how can we align the two 'body clocks'? Also son cannot eat fibre what can be done about G.P 's who think this is the solution for all I.B.S sufferers?

After surgery several years ago for a hiatus hernia I was diagnosed as having dumping sydrome. There are several trigger foods that I know to avoid but the classic symptons of nausea, racing pulse, heat and extreme weariness find me having to lie down for over an hour waiting for the symptons to subside can catch me unawares of yet another food that is likely to trigger another "no no" I have lost nearly three stone (not as good as it sounds - think incredible increase in wrinkles etc etc.) Main food no noes are bread, sweet stuff, cream. I'm told this is often a complication of this surgery, damage to the Vagus(spelling?) nerve. I take, on a daily basis, Kefir grains in milk and this does seem to reduce the flare ups but not eliminate them. Any other advice would be much appreciated.

With all the research done by Monash University resulting in the Low Fodmap Diet I am concerned that there are some on here with IBS who have not been put on this regime to help them. TheMaggiejane1, for instance, should surely be getting information about what fruit and vegetables she should and shouldn't eat. What is your opinion on the low take-up of this and the lack of dietitian guidance?

I have had indigestion and heartburn in the past for which I took omeprazole daily. Now I only have heartburn occasionally, taking ranitidine as needed.
I like to avoid taking any medication so I only take the ranitidine if my heartburn is really uncomfortable.
My question is: Could I be risking damaging my oesophagus by not taking it?

Does the gut work less efficiently as we get older and, if so, what is the likely impact?

Having had IBS for years I was told Ii was .probably gluten intolerant - however it didn't make much difference and I would have what I termed a "colitis" attack far too often
However I now think it's fermented stuff as grapes really upset me as does beer and red wine (not that that's the end of the world) but I have now cut out bread and omg it has made such a difference - I'm beginning to feel normal
Could this be the answer