What The Experts Say
Uplift Food prides itself as being a brand that provides authentic and trusted information.
Founded by a leading gut health focused Accredited Practicing Dietitian in Australia, and based on science, we believe strongly in the benefits of supporting your gut health through prebiotics and healthy lifestyle choices.
But don't just take our word for it, check out what some of the industry leaders and our respected peers have had to say on the importance of nourishing your gut, fuelling yourself with prebiotic fibres, and ultimately, feeling Uplifted!
The Dietitian: Dr Joanna McMillan (PhD, APD/AN), Dr Joanna
"A low fibre, high-sugar, processed diet encourages the wrong type of bacteria and yeast to grow in our gut, and damages the delicate ecosystem in your intestines.
Instead, eat whole minimally processed foods. Fibre types can be roughly grouped into three families – insoluble, soluble and resistant starch. The latter two play particularly important roles as prebiotics – meaning they fuel the growth of good bugs in your gut. It is these that often fall seriously short in our diets, especially resistant starch."
The Professor: Dr Tim Crowe (PhD, Advanced APD), Thinking Nutrition
“Look after your gut bacteria and they’ll look after you – that’s the simple message. It’s all about what you feed those bacteria – and the food they love is fibre, and lots of it.”
"Melding together the fields of prebiotics, probiotics and mental health creates a whole new research field: that of psychobiotics. Sounds pretty scary, right? Put simply, a psychobiotic is a live organism that, when eaten in adequate amounts, produces a health benefit in people suffering from psychiatric illness.
Having the right mix of prebiotics and probiotics in your diet may be one way to support your mental health. This new research presents a strong argument for targeting gut bacteria to address brain-gut mental disorders.
And the best thing about the research is that foods high in prebiotics are already what experts recommend that you eat lots more of for overall health. Improved mental health may be just one more benefit of having the right mix of gut microbes, to add to the list."
The Professor and Director of the Food and Mood Centre - Dr Felice Jacka
“The main pathway by which diet exerts its impact on mental health is via the microbiota,”
"Your microbiota is sensitive to the type of food you consume; Fibre, probiotics (think yoghurt) and prebiotics (certain carbohydrates that fuel good bacteria) will all positively impact on the makeup of the bugs in your gut. Excessive fat and animal food products, on the other hand, can have a negative impact."
“We know that diet is the leading contributor to the composition of the gut microbiota,”
“The gut microbiota affect all the other parameters that are relevant to mental disorder – the stress response, neurotransmitter levels, brain plasticity, the immune system. All of these things are affected by the gut microbiota, probably to a great extent, and influenced by diet.”
The Medical Doctor, Dr Michael Mosley, The Clever Guts Diet
"I have no doubt that looking after your gut and its tiny inhabitants can have a massive long-term impact on your health and happiness.
There is good evidence a healthy microbiome — our personal mix of gut bacteria — improves mood and energy levels and dampens down inflammation throughout the body, too.
Your skin should be clearer, your hormones and moods more balanced and your immunity levels will improve.
It seems improving your biome could also help reduce anxiety and even lessen depression."
Source
The Professor and Head of Pharmacology - Dr Margaret Morris - The School of Medical Sciences, University of New South Wales
“What we do know, is that if you have been eating poorly, drinking excessive levels of alcohol, or taking antibiotics, you'll have a disruption of the balance of good and bad bacteria in your gut,”
“When your bacteria is in balance, your body is healthy and your immune system is strong. If it's lacking, you're more likely to have poor memory recall, disrupted sleep patterns, low mood and other health issues.”
Monash University, School of Gastroenterology
"Some health benefits attributed to prebiotic intake includes modulation of the gut microbiota, improved mineral absorption, possible protection against colon cancer, improved blood glucose and insulin profiles, protection against intestinal infections and alterations in the progress of some inflammatory conditions."
"One way of increasing the number of good bacteria in the gut is by eating prebiotics."
Recommendations regarding the low FODMAP diet and prebiotic fibre consumption:
"If you have received a diagnosis of IBS by your doctor then you may have been placed on the ‘Monash University low FODMAP diet’.
We recommend that the Low FODMAP diet is followed for a period of 2-6 weeks followed by review from your dietitian.
The long-term goal of dietary management is for you to be able to return to a normal diet (that includes high fibre foods) with no (or very few) dietary restriction.
You must seek advice from a health professional before restricting your FODMAP intake.
A low FODMAP diet will reduce the intake of foods high in fibre and natural prebiotics, which in turn may impact of the growth of certain bacteria in the gut.
This is why we advise against following a strict low FODMAP diet unnecessarily."
The Senior Research Fellow - Dr Karen Scott (PhD) - Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland - International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics
"Prebiotics are naturally found in some plants, such as onions, garlic, bananas, chicory root and Jerusalem artichokes, but typically are present at low levels.
To increase your daily dietary intake, include prebiotic supplements or foods with added prebiotics.
Prebiotics are sometimes added to yogurts, cereals, breads, biscuits/cookies, desserts or drinks.
The word ‘prebiotic’ is seldom used on the label. Instead, look in the ingredients list for Galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS), Fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS), Oligofructose (OF), Chicory fibre or Inulin.
Try to get at least 5 grams of prebiotics in your diet every day for improved gut health."
The Researcher on the Gut Mood Connection, Dr Sarah Dash (PhD) - Postdoctoral Research Fellow - Food and Mood Centre, Deakin University.
"The bugs that live and thrive in our microbiome are readily influenced by what we eat, and we know this is important to the health of both our body and brain.
While there are many biological, social and lifestyle factors that influence health and well-being, diet is a great way to support health, as it’s one of the factors that we can control, and we do it multiple times per day!
By feeding our gut bugs prebiotics and probiotics (and avoiding highly processed, high fat/sugar foods), we can support the health of our gut microbiome and promote overall physical and mental health."