How do we know what are the best probiotics strains?  Most people know that probiotics are a positive addition to your health regime. But do you know which ones do what? Let’s find out a little more about what some strains of probiotics can do for us and which ones are worth taking for certain…

If you’re struggling with gut dysbiosis, inflammation or other chronic conditions, parasites, yeast overgrowth or “bad” bacteria in the gut may be to blame. These three are the underlying cause of many illnesses. You may not even know about some that are present in your body, but others can cause serious health problems. It’s important…

If you’re familiar with probiotics, you will have heard of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacteria and their benefits to the human body. But there is another microorganism, only discovered in the last 20 years, that lives in your gut and has a huge impact on your health – Akkermansia muciniphila. What is it, what good does it…

Helicobacter pylori, known as H. pylori, is a pathogenic bacterium that lives in the gut of more that half the world’s population. It’s been around for at least 200,000 years and for most of us, at microscopic levels it causes no issues. However, 10 – 20 percent of people will develop unwanted symptoms from its…

Mercury toxicity and heavy metal toxicity are more common in Australia than one might think.  There are three common ways we are exposed to mercury – through dental fillings, ingestion of contaminated fish or occupational exposure. The World Health Organisation (WHO) considers mercury as one of the top ten chemicals or groups of chemicals of…

We now know that the health of our gut microbiome is linked to our overall health and more and more research is revealing the extent of its importance for our immune system. In fact, about 70% of the body’s immune system is actually located in the gut, meaning that taking care of the good bacteria…

Both the functioning of the intestinal barrier and the gut microbiome impact the health of your gut, causing gut inflammation and a host of other issues throughout the body. A functional medicine health practitioner can get to the root cause, or causes, of your gut inflammation and help you to take steps to heal. Let’s…

FODMAP, which stands for fermentable oligo-saccharides, di-saccharides, monosaccharides and polyols, are different types of starches and sugars. In addition to balancing a person’s gut bacteria, following a low FODMAP diet is one of the most effective methods to reduce symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBS), small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) and other gastrointestinal disorders. What…

The rate of mental health issues in Australia is increasing. The National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing conducted in 2007 found that an estimated 1 in 5 (20%) Australians aged 16–85 experienced a mental disorder in the previous 12 months (ABS 2008). 1 With such a high proportion of our communities reporting mental health…

The Connection Between Rosacea and SIBO Rosacea patients have a higher prevalence of SIBO than the general Australian population. There is a direct link between Rosacea and SIBO, which will be discussed in this article. Rosacea Rosacea is a common chronic inflammatory disease that mainly affects the central face; typically involving the cheeks, nose, middle part…