Mayo Clinic Guide to Gut Health: Restore Your Microbiome, Improve Digestion, and Achieve Better Health

A comprehensive guide to understanding your gut, its influence on your health and what you can do to protect it.

The human gut is tasked with all things related to digestion, but your gut does far more than just break down food you eat. Often referred to as the "second brain," it plays a central role in maintaining health throughout the body. In constant communication with your brain, your gut influences your mood, helps regulate your immune system and helps balance your hormones. It also houses the gut microbiome, a vast community of microbes that produce essential nutrients, fight off harmful pathogens and support metabolism.

When the gut is healthy, it acts as a well-coordinated control center. But when it's out of balance, it can contribute to issues far beyond the digestive tract, including inflammatory disorders, Alzheimer's disease, skin conditions and obesity. Lifestyle factors and everyday habits, including an unhealthy diet, too little exercise, stress, certain medications and environmental pollutants, are common culprits to an unhappy gut.

Packed with helpful tips and advice, gastroenterologists at Mayo Clinic dive into everything there is to know about gut health, and why caring for your gut is critical to your overall well-being. You'll find information on:

• The gut microbiome and what it means to your everyday health.
• How your gut interacts with your brain and other body systems.
• Ways to protect your gut and keep it healthy.
• Foods that heal and foods that harm.
• What researchers are learning about environmental dangers and your gut.
• The effect of supplements and medications, including GLP-1 weight-loss drugs, on the gut.
• The role of the gut on metabolism and obesity.
• Digestive cancers and latest efforts to help prevent them.
• How to manage several common digestive disorders, including irritable bowel syndrome, lactose and other food intolerances, celiac disease, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, GERD, peptic ulcers, heartburn, and diarrhea and constipation.