As someone who was first diagnosed with IBS 20 years ago, you could call me obsessive when it comes to my gut health.
Over the years, I’ve made countless modifications to my diet in an effort to minimise symptoms, cutting out dairy, meat, fizzy drinks and more. I’ve gotten rid of clothing items that exacerbate bloating pain – goodbye, high-waist trousers and every belt I’ve ever owned. And yes, I regularly analyse the frequency and consistency of my bowel movements in much the same way mothers of newborn babies do.
I’m aware this is TMI and kind of gross. But I’m also tired of the shame and insecurity that comes from daily dealings with IBS, which gut health charity Guts UK estimates affects as many as one in 10 globally.
I’m always experimenting with IBS management strategies, from glugging kefir and kombucha to trialling probiotics. After a sacral fracture a few years ago, which wrought havoc on my bowel control, and the hormonal insanity of being in my early 40s (here’s looking at you, perimenopause), my IBS symptoms have gone from ebbing and flowing to near-constant. My symptoms became so extreme that I underwent a colonoscopy earlier this year to rule out any other issues.
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Typically, nutritionists suggest trying probiotics, but only after patients have tried modifying their lifestyle and diet. A professional might recommend trying a low-FODMAP or elimination diet and looking at sleep and stress management. Probiotics are often suggested as a way to deal with IBS, and NHS guidance encourages people with IBS to try probiotics for a month.
However, “when you're taking a probiotic that's adding live bacteria in, sometimes that makes the small intestine go crazy, and the bacteria start bubbling and create more gas. So it doesn't work for everybody,” explains Anna Mapson, registered nutritional therapist at Goodness Me Nutrition.
The WHO defines probiotics as “live microorganisms that, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host.” Probiotics can offer a range of benefits: changing the pH balance in the gut, increasing the production of beneficial short-chain fatty acids, reinforcing the walls of the gut lining and adding diversity to diets.
Mapson likens introducing probiotics to having new neighbours move onto your road: “Think about it like a community – you've got loads of different people, and adding some new people into your street sometimes shakes things up and makes things better.”
Several strains of probiotics have been well-studied and shown to reduce a variety of IBS symptoms, from bloating to constipation. These include bifidobacterium impetus 35624, lactobacillus plantarum 299v, saccharomyces boulardii and bifidobacterium lactis strain DN-173 010.
Despite all the modifications I’ve made in the hopes of improving my IBS – including no alcohol for over two years – I still expend way too much emotional energy and time on managing my symptoms, so I was intrigued by claims about Gut Wealth capsules from Gutsy Health.
The digestive health supplement brand was launched by Gemma Stuart, whose IBS symptoms plagued her for 15 years before she teamed up with experts to launch the brand in 2022. Gutsy Health’s hero product is the Gut Wealth capsules, but they also sell a liquid supplement, a daily electrolyte and a toilet step (to help ease straining on the loo).
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The daily capsules claim to help ease and eradicate the symptoms of IBS (Jennifer Barton/The Independent) What are Gut Wealth daily capsules?
Gutsy Health supplements are highly hyped. Gut Wealth daily capsules, in particular, make some bold claims, citing 81 per cent of people who tried the capsules experienced an improvement in stool consistency after 12 weeks, and 82 per cent felt their bloating symptoms had improved.
The capsules feature 12 ingredients designed to help digestion, are backed by more than 45 scientific studies and are high-fibre, vegetarian, gluten-free, sugar-free and low-FODMAP friendly. Gutsy Health even offers new customers a 99-day money-back guarantee if they aren’t satisfied after taking the product for 12 weeks.
It’s worth noting here that the British Society of Gastroenterology suggests biotic products be taken up to 12 weeks, but recommends users discontinue the product if there’s no improvement in symptoms.
The first thing that sets Gut Wealth apart from its competitors? It’s not technically a probiotic. The active strains in the capsules – lactobacillus LB (fermentum + delbrueckii) – are a patented postbiotic, which means the strains are no longer alive, but inactivated and gently heat-treated.
Recent studies suggest there is a growing body of interest in the benefits of postbiotics, which can strengthen the gut barrier and reduce inflammation. However, they aren’t subject to food safety requirements the way probiotics are.
“The bacteria are no longer alive, but their cell walls and proteins remain active, so those fragments that are left signal to the gut lining to calm the inflammation and strengthen those bacteria,” explains Nishta Patel, clinical nutritionist at The Gut Expert.
Gut Wealth capsules also contain inulin made from chicory root, a prebiotic fibre which feeds good gut bacteria to help restore consistency. Each capsule boasts 100 per cent of your daily required vitamins B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B9, B12 and vitamin D (we have rounded up the best Vitamin D supplements here).
“It's less about live bacteria colonising your gut, and more about bacterial components signalling to your gut lining, with fibre and vitamins adding that extra support,” says Patel. “So it's a dual action in this particular one, which is why people may notice a difference, because the body's responding to the actual signals from the bacterial components, and not waiting for live bacteria.”
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The gut wealth protocol lasts 12 weeks but I felt an improvement after just two (Jennifer Barton/The Independent) Do Gut Wealth’s supplements work?
I started by taking a capsule a day at breakfast with water or my morning smoothie. Each clear capsule apparently contains 20 billion cells, including the postbiotic, prebiotic and vitamins B and D, which feels like a pretty dramatic thing to have consumed before 8 a.m. But since there’s no taste or smell to the capsules, I found them easy to integrate into my morning routine.
Maybe it was naive of me, but I wasn’t prepared for my symptoms to get worse those first few days. My stomach was bubbling more aggressively than the cauldron in Hocus Pocus, and I had to speed-walk my kids home through the park on a few occasions because I was so stressed that disaster was looming. I felt bloated and had a tummy ache those first few evenings, too.
According to Patel, bloating and tummy rumblings are nothing to be alarmed by as the body adjusts to a new biotic. If symptoms worsen, or continue for a significant period of time – say, a couple of weeks – it’s likely an indication you’re not ingesting the right strain of bacteria for your body.
By the end of that first week, I was feeling better. I felt less bloated (even after eating ice cream, quite the result), the orchestral symphony of stomach gurglings had quietened, and my toilet habits had improved considerably. I was visiting the loo less often, with better consistency and had no panicked stress around toilet trips.
Over the years, I’ve had to devote an enormous amount of emotional energy and time to crisis-managing my IBS discomfort and embarrassment. Researching discreet toilets en route to my destinations, pre-planning every food shop and meal and having multiple showers daily. So it’s noticeable when that angst disappears from my life and I can concentrate on other things.
A week-and-a-half into my Gut Wealth journey, I slipped on a pair of skintight Alo leggings (normally avoided because they come up high on my waist and aggravate a bloated tummy), headed to a yoga adjustments and alignment training course and didn’t feel stressed about having to walk one-hour-plus in either direction because of the Tube strike.
No tummy pain, no bloating, no worries about needing the toilet, no public poos at all. And no extra layer of panicked sweat coating my body – it felt liberating.
Do Gut Wealth’s supplements improve IBS?
I’ve been so impressed by the capsules that I’m continuing to take them daily.
It’s worth noting that the supplements aren’t a “get out of IBS jail free card,” though part of me hoped they might be – sometimes my dreams involve inhaling bags of Cheetos with no consequences. The capsules massively improve symptoms, but I still have to be disciplined about eating well, exercising and getting enough water daily. But no supplement is a magic bullet.
The capsules also won’t work for everyone. They contain a dairy-derived ingredient, so aren’t suitable for vegans or anyone with a dairy intolerance or allergy.
Mapson also tells me that the strains in this product may create more histamine, which could not only exacerbate allergy symptoms but potentially cause additional digestive symptoms, too.
Though for me, they made a significant difference to my symptoms, allowing me to feel more comfortable and giving me near total peace of mind day to day. Where other gut health tools have failed me, I may have found my match.
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