Survey participants have gut health misconceptions

CINCINNATI A recent GfK Roper "Gut Check" survey, sponsored by the Align brand, revealed that approximately 1-in-4 survey participants experience occasional digestive upsets, and of those, 1-in-5 have been told that these disruptive upsets are caused by their attitude or emotions, Procter & Gamble announced Wednesday.

"I see the frustration occasional digestive upsets cause my patients," stated Roshini Rajapaksa, a gastroenterologist at NYU Langone Medical Center. "The first step to building a stronger inside is to better understand how your digestive system works and what you can do to keep it healthy,” she said. "To help improve both their health and lifestyle, I teach my patients that it comes down to simple science — it is important to have the right balance of good and bad bacteria in the gut. When we replenish the good bacteria with probiotics it helps maintain a healthy digestive system."

Although probiotics, or good bacteria that provide a health benefit, have been in use for more than 100 years, the survey also found that people still have misconceptions about their gut health:

• 43% of those surveyed believed that most types of bacteria are not helpful for the GI tract;


• More than 40% believed that all probiotics essentially have the same benefits and are not strain specific; and


• A large majority (77%) thought that probiotics found in supplements are not as natural as those found in foods.

The "Gut Check" survey findings also showed that digestive upsets can interrupt daily life. Of those who experienced occasional digestive upsets, more than half felt their upsets impacted their self confidence. Eight-in-10 tried to go about their day normally, but most still made adjustments to their activities. Nearly half missed an event or trip or avoided a social situation because of an occasional digestive upset, and more than one-third of survey respondents changed their diet to deal with their digestive upsets.