The food industry continues to grapple with how to define concepts ranging from ultra-processed foods and regenerative agriculture to convenience, and gut health may be the next area moving toward a more standardized framework.
Gut health’s prevalence, yet ambiguity, across health and food may need a standardized definition as researchers attempt to create a common foundation for study, clinical practice and consumer communication. The need for a unified definition comes amid fragmented consumer understanding of the term and its impact on health, according to experts during a panel discussion hosted by the International Food Information Council (IFIC) last week.
“Leading up to this consensus definition, having conversations with colleagues in the hallway at meetings of this term ‘gut health,’ … we are talking about different things,” Maria Marco, professor at UC Davis and president of the International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP), said.
To address the confusion, an ISAPP-led panel of 13 experts, including gastroenterologists, primary care physicians, dietitians, microbiologists, immunologists and nutrition researchers, spent roughly a year developing a consensus definition.
Consumers care about gut health, but definitions vary
Gut health is important to consumers, with nearly two-thirds of respondents in IFIC’s recent survey describing it as a high or extremely high priority. The term itself has gone mainstream over the past two decades, with more academic and scientific publications exploring the relationship between the gut and overall wellbeing – underscoring the topic’s prevalence across the food system.
Yet, there is no clear definition of gut health despite up to 70% of people reporting some type of gut-related symptom, such as bloating, heartburn, diarrhea, abdominal pain and reflux, according to Marco.
“These symptoms are so common, right? Depending on the way the surveys are put together, up to 68%, 70% of a population is going to say they have some of these gut-related symptoms,” she said.
Although many consumers link gut health with digestion, the microbiome and overall wellness, they do not share a single definition of the term. At the same time, half of respondents recognize the role diet plays in supporting gut health, according to IFIC.
Nearly half (48%) of consumers view gut health through the lens of digestive comfort, while 38% associate it with regularity and 33% with nutrient absorption, according to IFIC.
The survey found that half of respondents say poor diet harms gut health, while 37%, 30% and 29% cite stress, lack of exercise and dehydration as impacting gut health, respectively.
Consumers’ association between diet and gut health appears notable – with 31% and 30% of respondents saying that improving their overall diet and increasing fiber intake through food, respectively, will improve their gut health. Fiber supplements and prebiotic and probiotic supplements ranked lower, with roughly 20% of respondents associating these products with gut health support.
Researchers push back on gut-health halo
“Currently, there isn’t strong enough evidence that everyone needs to be taking a probiotic every day just to support health,” Hannah Holscher, professor nutrition at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign said.
Holscher also cautioned against conflating fermented foods with probiotics. Not all fermented foods, such as sourdough bread, contain probiotics, although they may offer other nutritional or health benefits.
Between consumers’ varied understanding of gut health spanning digestion, wellness, bacteria and bowel movements, researchers raised concern that the term has become a catch-all wellness concept like wellness or clean eating.
“There is still a of work we need to be doing to answer the question of a health-associated gut microbiome,” Marco said.
New consensus definition aims to create common framework
The panelists define gut health as “a state of normal gastrointestinal function without active gastrointestinal disease and gut-related symptoms that affect quality of life.”
According to Marco, the definition reflects a starting point for creating consistency across research, clinical practice and consumer communication.
However, she emphasized that a standard definition alone isn’t enough.
“We need better metrics,” Marco said, noting that “we don’t have excellent verified tests for a lot of our domains.”
The lack of validated measures could become increasingly relevant as manufacturers, marketers and regulators navigate claims around gut health. Broad statements like “supports gut health” may ultimately require agreement on what gut health is, how it’s measured and what level of evidence is required to substantiate those claims.
“We really see this as a starting point for the development of a more comprehensive approach to understanding what contributes to gut health and overall health,” Marco said.
