Your digestive system or gut is up to 30 feet (9 metres) long and extends from your mouth to your anus. Your gut extracts all the nutrients and goodness from the food you eat and absorbs these nutrients into the bloodstream so that they can be transported around the body to provide energy to every single cell. However, your gut also has some other important functions. It turns out that your gut is far more complex and clever than had been thought – it is truly an amazing organ.
Your gut is home to your gut microbiota (GM), which refers to the mix of over 50 trillion (some sources say up to 100 trillion) bacteria and other microorganisms that live in your digestive system, mainly in your colon. Your GM plays a vital role in your gut and overall health and science is advancing in this area by the day.
Your gut is intimately connected to your brain and there’s a complex two-way flow of information between the gut, the gut microbiota and the brain, and it’s called the Gut-Brain axis, or the Gut-Brain-Microbiota axis. This system links emotional and psychological functions of the brain with your gut. With 95% of serotonin, “the happy hormone” being produced in the gut, it is no wonder there is such a profound link between the gut and the brain.
Disorders of the Gut-Brain axis, or so-called functional gut disorders, such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and Functional Dyspepsia are amongst the most common digestive conditions and the main focus of The Gut Experts.
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