Your gut microbiome is as individual as your fingerprint and is something none of us should ignore if we want to lead a healthier and happier life.

“It is made up of trillions of microbes that respond to what we feed them,” says Dr Federica Amati, head nutritionist at Zoe, a science and nutrition company. “Gut health is dependent on what we ingest every day.”

Some of what makes it unique is down to genetics, but only to a limited extent. You can’t change your genes, but by eating foods that are linked to “good” microbes, you can modify your microbiome .

The benefits can often be felt within days, though Amati does offer a caveat: “You have to keep it up. I use the analogy of a garden. If you have a beautiful garden but you never water it and you never weed it, it’s going to suffer

“In the same way, you need to tend to your microbial garden.”

Eat the wrong foods and the microbiome, your gut health, will start to slide. Here are the worst offenders to watch out for. The six worst foods for gut health

Nutritionist, health coach and clinical lead of the Goodwood wellbeing and health programmes Stephanie Moore is the author of Why Eating Less & Exercising More Makes You Fat and her forthcoming book Eat Your Brain Happy.

Here, she reveals six foods that we should avoid or eat less of to promote good gut health. Ultra-processed foods

More than half the UK population’s daily calories now come from ultra-processed foods (UPFs) which typically have more than one ingredient that you would rarely find in your kitchen cupboard, or list additives such as preservatives, sweeteners, and artificial colours and flavours.High intake of UPFs can change the gut microbiota and lead to inflammation . The following foods are all bad for gut health: Sausages Chicken nuggets Mass-produced bread Added sugar breakfast cereals Biscuits Added sugar yogurts Instant soups Ice cream Crisps “Avoid anything with a long list of ingredients with complicated, chemical-sounding names including fizzy drinks, Pot Noodles, savoury snacks such as Wotsits and processed […]

The six worst foods for gut health