The Gut Files

Six surprising facts about the hottest topic in health right now.

- Tara Ali

You ordered a side of sauerkraut with lunch and your fridge is packing probiotics – because by now you know there’s more to a healthy stomach than having a flat belly. The gut is officially a major key to your health. “As well as extracting energy from our food, the gut accounts for most of our immune system and produces more than two dozen hormones that influence everything from our daily appetite to our mood,” says Dr Michael Mosley, author of The Clever Guts Diet. New gut discoveries may be popping up faster than kombucha bars, but here’s some inside (pun totally intended) knowledge that might actually still surprise you. Get ready to digest it.

Hypnotherapy can ease IBS symptoms

An approach often used to manage IBS is a low FODMAP diet. The catch: this doesn’t work for everyone and can be hard to stick to. Now the intriguing news: research from Monash University found the success rate of hypnotherapy is on a par with the diet. Yep, you heard us right. People who were given hypnotherapy (which involved using imagery of swallowing meds to heal the intestines) reported a 72 per cent improvement of their symptoms, while the low FODMAP test group came in at 71 per cent. Worth asking your GP about it.

Poo transplants could treat obesity