The term ‘gut health’ has permeated multiple spheres from research, to consumer, to influencer. The phrase appears in advertisements for food products. It may be difficult to believe, but there is actually no consensus around what it means to have ‘gut health’. Work by IAFNS that is currently underway shows that ‘gut health’ is not described or defined in research that examines commonly used measures of gut function or gut symptoms, and the phrase is not used by health associations, including those focused on gastroenterology, in patient-facing information.
This seems to be contradictory, but it is sometimes difficult to develop parameters around conditions of ‘health’ compared to disease states. This poses a challenge when, in the case of gut health, various stakeholders seek to support specific dietary guidance or develop products that support such a state. To tackle this gap, IAFNS is supporting work to document what measures are used in research and in public-facing professional organization websites to evaluate gut symptoms, gut function, immunity, and gut structural integrity. The work excludes gut microbiome as the science is still developing on how changes to gut microbiome are related to various other gut functions and overall health. Once the measures typically used are understood, an evaluation of the validity and reliability of these measures will provide direction on which measures might be most promising as a target for consensus.
See more about this work here.
See a webinar on this topic here.
Learn more about the Nutrition for Gut Health Committee here.