Kids Gut Health (& How to Support it)

Gut health. It’s such a health buzz word, isn’t it? It’s with good reason that everyone’s talking about it; because the health of your child’s gut is absolutely foundational to their overall health & wellbeing. Your child’s gut governs and impacts how they digest food, how many nutrients they absorb, how well they eliminate waste, even how well their immune system works & the state of their mood, mental health & skin. So it’s vital that we keep our children’s gut health in top working order!

Why is Kids Gut Health So Important?

When we talk about gut health, we are actually referring to a whole myriad of processes that happen within our digestive tract - which begins in our mouth, and runs right down to our bowels. To have a “healthy gut” we need to utilise a great chewing action, have optimal stomach acid secretions, optimal digestive enzyme secretions, a healthy lining of our intestinal tract, a diverse & optimal microbiome population and adequate transit time of waste (yep, that’s our poo moving down & out!). 

Recently, research has started to focus on the importance of our microbiome population health in disease prevention and management, and whilst we’re still learning a lot, it’s been established that there is a strong link between a healthy, diverse microbiome population & good health. Scientists have identified that there are lots of different species of gut bacteria that promote good health, and many that are thought to contribute to different diseases and issues.  What we do know, is that a child eating a Western Diet has a very different microbiome species make-up compared to a child eating a traditional diet; the disappearing microbiome hypothesis. What has happened? Well, basically we are incredibly over-hygienic in terms of washing & sanitising, we don’t play enough in the dirt anymore, we’re too stressed, we’ve created a situation with the use of antibiotics in our food production chain, and - the big one - we don’t eat enough high fibre foods! 

How do I know if my child’s gut has an issue?

Because our gut has such a far-reaching impact on so many of our body systems, the symptoms of poor gut function are very wide. The first and most obvious sign that something isn’t normal with your child’s gut is to look at their bowel habits: frequent loose stools and/or ongoing constipation are a clear signal that something isn’t right. Other digestive symptoms like ongoing and vague tummy pain, excessive wind & even picky eating, can indicate that your child has an underlying issue in their gut. 

Did you know about 70% of our immune system resides in our gut?

If your child is getting sick all the time, it is likely that they may have some reduced gut function, because of the concentration of gut-based immune cells and response located in our gut. Issues like eczema, hay fever & acne all have gut-driven components to them, as well. Quite often in my clinical practice, I’ll have a child who comes to see me with one of these issues, such as eczema, and when I dig a little deeper, they often have a history of miscellaneous gut symptoms as well. 

One new area of research is currently focusing on the link between mental health and gut health. Many of our neurotransitters (which are our feel good hormones, like serotonin) are produced in our gut, and the gut has a bidirectional link direct to our brain via a channel called our vagus nerve. Increasing evidence has associated gut microbiome dysbiosis and inflammation of the gut with several mental illnesses, including anxiety and depression. 

The Best Foods To Support Gut Health

To support a healthy microbiome, and healthy bowel and stool, we need fibre, fibre, fibre! Fibre provides our microbiome with prebiotics, which is basically the food they eat to thrive, and it also helps support our general bowel health and stool elimination. We find fibre in all of our complex carbohydrate foods; wholegrains, legumes, vegetables, fruits, nuts & seeds. Different types of high fibre food provide us with different types of fibre and prebiotics - so variety in your child’s diet is key! Some of the best prebiotic foods to promote the growth of good bacteria are; leek, onion, garlic, barley, oats, apples & flaxseeds. Including fermented, probiotic foods in your child’s diet everyday is a great idea, too; such as yoghurt, fermented vegetables & kefir.

Unfortunately, the typical Australian child’s diet is lacking in fibre and complex carbohydrates, & they eat far too much refined wheat, simple carbohydrates & sugar - all of which is lacking in both fiber content and fibre diversity. These foods also support pathogenic bacteria, which can lead to an unhealthy balance of microflora & dysbiosis. 

One of the easiest ways to increase fibre in your child’s diet (especially if they’re a picky eater!) is to simply swap out refined grains for wholegrains - instead of wheat pasta, try a brown rice & quinoa pasta, swap wheat crackers for buckwheat and try a wholemeal spelt sourdough over regular bread. And if your child eats potato & rice, try cooking it & cooling it before serving - it increases the amount of healthy resistant starch! There are loads of great recipes online using foods like black beans in brownies and chickpeas in cookies - so there are lots of ways to slowly build up your child’s fibre intake, even for picky eaters.

One surprising way to introduce some extra diversity to your child’s gut microbiome, is to let them play in the dirt!

Including fermeted foods like kefir, yoghurt & sauerkraut to your child’s daily diet is a great way to get those diverse, beneficial bugs in to their gut. Look for ways you can introduce them to your child. (And from personal experience, the earlier the better when it comes to developing a taste for fermented foods!)

Try These Fibre-Rich Pikelets for your Child!

2 bananas (1 just under ripe, 1 just over ripe)

4 eggs

1-2 cups english spinach

3 heaped tablespoons LSA

½ teaspoon cinnamon

Blend all ingredients until smooth, & cook pikelets over low-medium heat (they are a little more delicate than flour-based pikelets).

Serve plain, or with a little butter & a drizzle of honey or maple syrup 

They are high in protein, complex carbohydrates & plenty of prebiotic fibre for your child’s gut! They make a great breakfast, or lunchbox snack, & they’ll keep in the fridge for up to 4 days.

References

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Mohajeri MH, La Fata G, Steinert RE, Weber P. Relationship between the gut microbiome and brain function. Nutr Rev. 2018 Jul;76(7):481-496. doi: 10.1093/nutrit/nuy009

Amara AA, Shibl A. Role of Probiotics in health improvement, infection control and disease treatment and management. Saudi Pharm J. 2015;23(2):107-114. doi:10.1016/j.jsps.2013.07.001

Acuña I, Cerdó T, Ruiz A, Torres-Espínola FJ, López-Moreno A, Aguilera M, et al. infant gut microbiota associated with fine motor skills. Nutrients. 2021 Apr; 13(5):1673. doi:10.3390/nu13051673

Sarkar A, Lehto SM, Harty S, Dinan TG, Cryan JF, Burnet PWJ. Psychobiotics and the Manipulation of Bacteria-Gut-Brain Signals. Trends Neurosci. 2016;39(11):763-781. doi:10.1016/j.tins.2016.09.002