Welcome to the Newsome Health Menopause podcast. I'm Dr Louise Newsome, a GP and menopause specialist,

and I run the Newsome Health Menopause and wellbeing centre here in Stratford-upon-Avon.

So today, by popular request, I have invited Emma Ellis-Flynn, who is a nutrition list I work closely with.

So I've invited her back into my clinic.

I'm very grateful because she's often here in the clinic seeing some of my patients.

So today we wanted to talk about fermented food. So welcome Emma. Yeah, hey, hi, Louise. There's

been so much about gut health, about how it can link with hormones, about our mental health. There's a

huge amount of information out there. But often I'm getting messages to say that

people are still quite confused. So we thought we would do a meal sort of noddy, very basic guide,

if that's all right, Emma. So before we start talking about fermented foods, what I wanted to do was

just talk about our gut because it's a massive organ, isn't it? Yes. And very important. And when I was at medical

school, I just was really taught, it started with the mouth, ended with the anus. And we know all

about digestion. You know, my children at school know about the main food groups about digestion

and what's important to eat and not. But they don't know anything about gut microbes or gut health or how it connects with

various other organs like our brain and our body.

So can you just explain a bit more about this amazing organ that we have in our body?

Yes, yes, I'm real.

Okay, absolutely.

And you're right, it starts in the mouth and ends in the anus, definitely.

And there's actually beneficial microorganisms throughout, in your Absolutely. And you're right, it starts in the mouth and ends in the anus, definitely.

And there's actually beneficial microorganisms throughout, in your mouth and right the way through and they're different depending on the environment in the gastrointestinal tract.

The main one we hear a lot about is the microorganisms in the large intestine.

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