Does being a mum improve your gut health?

Leanne Mitchell, Accredited Practising Dietitian, Microba Microbiome Coach, mum of two little ones.

There are many great things about being a mother, but did you know that just having children could improve your gut health? Having kids is linked to increased diversity of the bacteria found deep inside your large intestine. In adults, the diversity of your gut bacteria is mainly influenced by what you eat [1,2], but your germy little gems may provide an additional boost to your gut health!

The community of gut bacteria and other microorganisms living in your gut – known as the gut microbiome – are linked to many health and disease states because the substances they produce interact with your body in multiple ways.

At Microba, we look at the bacteria living in your gut and what their ability is to perform certain functions. Your gut bacteria are powerhouses, impacting your immune system, regulating your glucose levels and appetite and influencing health and disease states such as cardiovascular disease and obesity [1,3].

We’ve looked at around 6,000 Australian samples to come up with some insights into how your lifestyle may influence your gut bacteria. We found that single people tend to have less diversity than those in relationships and those with children have higher diversity than either single people or childless couples! This means that your children – and your exposure to their bacteria – seem to actually help your gut microbiome.

A diverse gut microbiome means that you have many different, evenly spread bacterial species. You can help improve your diversity even more through the foods you eat. Our gut bacteria are hungry for prebiotics – food components that can’t be broken down by us and travel to the large intestine to fuel the bacteria living there [4]. When our gut bacteria use prebiotics for fuel, they produce beneficial substances known as short chain fatty acids [5]. These short chain fatty acids which assist in important bodily functions [6], such as regulating our appetite and glucose levels [7,8], supporting our immune system [9] and protecting our gut barrier [10].

Eating a variety of plant-based, unprocessed foods is the key to keeping your gut bugs full on prebiotics!

This Mother’s Day think of your mum, grandma or your own gut when planning meals.

Breakfast – as the weather cools, warm up with some cozy porridge made on oats, polenta or quinoa; boost the prebiotics by adding chia seeds, mixed berries and cinnamon.

Lunch – time for hardy vegetable soups! Try your hand at a chunky minestrone soup and add navy/white beans for an extra prebiotic punch. Chunky not your style? Break out the blender and try pumpkin, roasted cauliflower or creamy broccoli soup.

Dinner – bring on the family roast! Load your roasting tray with a rainbow of vegetables lightly dressed with olive oil and sprinkled in herbs such as rosemary – include potato and pumpkin (with skins), carrot, asparagus and zucchini. Also try swapping in some less common (but very tasty) vegetables like eggplant, capsicum, turnips and parsnips to add prebiotic diversity. Serve your roasted, gut friendly vegetables with your chosen protein – try hearty healthy baked fish or when choosing chicken, beef or pork, just remember keep it lean (remove fat or skin) and watch your portions (palm size serves).

Gut boosting tip: Don’t worry if you go overboard on the vegetables – use leftover roasted vegetables for prebiotic fueled lunches like a Mediterranean wholemeal wrap (eggplant, zucchini, capsicum and feta) or in salads (such as potato salad bursting with resistant starch or a pumpkin, rocket, beetroot and sunflower seed salad).

Snacks – crack out the hummus and dip into this chickpea flavour bomb with raw vegetable sticks like celery, carrot and cucumber (skins on please) or try a delicious smoothie of banana and berries with added chia seed prebiotic power.

Reference List

Singh, R., et al., Influence of diet on the gut microbiome and implications for human health. J. Transl. Med., 2017. 15(1).
Flint, H.J., S.H. Duncan, and P. Louis, The impact of nutrition on intestinal bacterial communities. Current Opinion in Microbiology, 2017. 38: p. 59-65.
Valdes, A.M., et al., Role of the gut microbiota in nutrition and health. BMJ, 2018. 361: p. k2179.
Roberfroid, M., Prebiotics: The Concept Revisited. The Journal of Nutrition, 2007. 137(3): p. 830S-837S.
Slavin, J., Fiber and Prebiotics: Mechanisms and Health Benefits. Nutrients, 2013. 5(4): p. 1417-1435.
Tan, J., et al., The Role of Short-Chain Fatty Acids in Health and Disease. Adv.Immunol., 2014. 121: p. 91-119.
Canfora, E.E., J.W. Jocken, and E.E. Blaak, Short-chain fatty acids in control of body weight and insulin sensitivity. Nat. Rev. Endocrinol., 2015. 11(10): p. 577-591.
Sanna, S., et al., Causal relationships among the gut microbiome, short-chain fatty acids and metabolic diseases.(Report). Nature Genetics, 2019. 51(4): p. 600.
Renan, C.-O., et al., Regulation of immune cell function by short-chain fatty acids. Clinical & Translational Immunology, 2016. 5(4): p. e73.
Rios-Covian, D., et al., Intestinal Short Chain Fatty Acids and their Link with Diet and Human Health. Front. Microbiol., 2016. 7.

Leanne Mitchell

Leanne is an Accredited Practising Dietitian and works as one of the microbiome coaches at Microba. Leanne has a developing interest in the clinical application of the gut-brain axis in gastrointestinal disorders, mental health and neuro-developmental conditions.