New research suggests our gut microbes have their own circadian rhythms that in turn influence our organ functions. Is this an explanation for how disrupting our daily patterns can cause health problems?
Grapefruit diet? Probably not worth it.
Sophie Jonasson from Sweden
When we can't lose weight, we tend to want to blame something outside our control. Could it be related to the mictobiota – the bacteria and other organisms – that colonise your gut?
What does it mean when it’s too hard or too soft?
Nomad_Soul/Shutterstock
Yo-yoing between eating well during the week and bingeing on junk food over the weekend is likely to be just as bad for your gut health as a consistent diet of junk.
Being too clean isn't what's making us sick. It's the loss of biodiversity in the bacteria and organisms that live in our bodies and work with the immune system.
Allergies are becoming more frequent in the western world.
Al Fed/Flickr
Allergies are reactions caused by the immune system as it responds to environmental substances that are usually harmless. But we don't yet have a cure or the ability to prevent them from developing.
Our personal collection of microbes is vital for gut health - but new research shows that large-scale analysis of our 'microbiomes' can show if a population is fat or lean. The answer is in sewage.
We don’t actually know whether probiotics have a measurable impact on digestive health.
brownpau/Flickr
The terms probiotics and prebiotics are appearing on more items in supermarket aisles all the time. Both words, their placement and the products they adorn, imply they’re good for you, that more of these…
Gut bacteria can manufacture special proteins that are very similar to hunger-regulating hormones.
Lighthunter/Shutterstock
We’ve long known that that the gut is responsible for digesting food and expelling the waste. More recently, we realised the gut has many more important functions and acts a type of mini-brain, affecting…
One of medicine’s greatest innovations in the 20th century was the development of antibiotics. It transformed our ability to combat disease. But medicine in the 21st century is rethinking its relationship…
Allergic reactions to food have dramatically increased over the past 10 to 20 years.
Dan Peled/AAP
Many microscopic bugs and bacteria live on our skin and within our various nooks and crannies. Almost anywhere on (or even within) the human body can be home to these enterprising bugs. Bugs affect us…