Massachusetts doctor fact checks gut health trends

It's a gut feeling we've all experienced — bloating and indigestion. It's all part of gut health, which used to be a taboo topic, but now it's taking over TikTok.Users flood the social media app suggesting recipes and supplements they say can "heal your gut" and restore your gut microbiome — meaning restore harmony among the trillions of microorganisms living in your digestive system.But what does that really mean, and do those hacks actually work?"There is a lot of misinformation out there and I think there are certain conditions where the gut is angry and is inflamed and those are people that do need to heal it in the traditional sense. But this idea of healing gut may be a little misguided and may be not as simple as that," said Dr. Kyle Staller, the director of the Gastrointestinal Motility Laboratory at Massachusetts General Hospital.We asked Staller about some of those popular de-bloat products, like mushroom coffee."Mushroom coffee is interesting — it's coffee with mushroom supplements added to it, but I'm not sure it’s going to give you the benefit that a lot of people think of. There's just not lot of evidence that it does anything. Mushrooms can be helpful, but many mushrooms can cause digestive symptoms and can change the way you metabolize and breakdowns medications. So just because somethings natural doesn’t mean its harmless," Staller said.Next up, colostrum."Colostrum is interesting. This is early milk that comes in from a cow, and the idea is that it may help with immunity, but again, there’s not a lot of evidence or science behind it, and so you're spending a lot of money on something that you could spend on other things," Staller said.Another popular trend is apple cider vinegar gummies."No evidence whatsoever that they help," Staller said.Another big product push all over social media is digestive enzymes."All of us need enzymes to help break down nutrients in our digestive tract and most of the time our pancreas creates or produces the enzymes that we need. Very rarely do people have pancreatic damage that then causes them to not create enough of these enzymes," Staller said.Staller says it's not a one-size-fits-all formula when it comes to gut health."We know what constitutes a healthy gut probably means a lot of diversity, and for the microbiome, that means lots of types of bacteria doing lots of different things. What we don't know is how that looks for you versus me, and it may be very different," Staller said.But there is one principle he said remains true."Diversity of diets, eating lots of different healthy things, particularly things that are fiber-containing. We know that's going to be beneficial for a variety of GI conditions," Staller said.Staller said to be mindful of symptoms that accompany bloating, like bleeding, abdominal pain, or weight loss, or if the bloating is affecting your quality of life."That's when you should consult with your doctor; otherwise, general bloating is not necessarily a cause for alarm," Staller said. "Boating is part of our natural being. All of us become more bloated over the course of the day and often will reset the following morning and that can be accentuated or amplified during your regular cycle with certain foods. But if you consistently find that certain foods lead to bloating then that food may not be digested well by you." Staller says many of the products online and on social media are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, meaning there is less scrutiny of what's actually in them.There are also specific foods that can impact people with gastrointestinal sensitivities. Click here for a breakdown of foods to avoid and ones to enjoy.