BBC Radio 2's Dr Sarah Jarvis speaks about gut health at Goodwood event in Chichester
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00:00 You've been a GP for 34 years and in that time have you seen an increase in the amount of gut issues and stomach issues throughout the years?
00:08 I've been a GP for a very long time and during that time I have constantly been inundated with people who've had gut issues.
00:17 But I don't think there's any question that they've got worse in the last few years.
00:21 And I also personally don't think there's any question that there is a relationship between that and the amount of ultra-processed food we're eating, the sort of diets we're having.
00:31 I don't have any doubt that we need to look to our diets if we're going to improve our general health and not just our gut health.
00:40 Over the years, if you consider that one in five women and a lot of men will have, say, irritable bowel syndrome,
00:46 which is not life-threatening but which can ruin the quality of your life.
00:51 It's not surprising that I've spent a lot of time looking for solutions to help my patients.
00:56 And lifestyle makes a huge difference. We know that reducing stress, we know that sleeping properly, that eating properly, that exercising regularly, that not rushing your food all make a difference.
01:06 But actually, probably one of the biggest changes I've seen among my patients with irritable bowel syndrome and other tummy conditions has been in terms of what they eat,
01:17 in terms of dietary fibre, in terms of probiotic food, in terms of nourishing their guts.
01:23 And that includes taking probiotic supplements which can improve the gut microbiome, those trillions of bacteria and fungi that live naturally in all our guts.