The truth about gut health

Worried about the spread of the diarrhea-causing illness cyclosporiasis? A healthier gut might better prepare your body to deal with it. With all the noise of wellness experts and coaches, we decided to go directly to doctors and researchers who have been studying gut health and the human microbiome for decades.

Gut health is everywhere right now. The hashtag #GutTok has over 6 billion views on TikTok, the global digestive health product market is worth over $60 billion, and viral trends that promise to “hack your gut” through miracle products, cleanses, and restrictive diets are all the rage. But what does gut health really mean, and what can science tell us about how to make sure our gut is in good shape?

With so many voices chiming in on gut health, pushing everything from probiotic foods and supplements to wellness shots and coffee enemas, it can be hard to tell what information is based on real research and what might just be a marketing gimmick or social media clickbait. Vox producer Benjamin Stephen spoke to doctors and visited Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles to bust some gut health myths for science-backed advice.

Read more about gut health and gut microbiome research:

Vox editor Katherine Courage’s book, Cultured: How Ancient Foods Can Feed Our Microbiome: https://katherinecourage.com/book/

Cedars-Sinai’s Human Microbiome Research Institute: https://www.cedars-sinai.edu/health-sciences-university/research/departments-institutes/medicine/human-microbiome.html

The MAST program at Cedars-Sinai: https://csmast.com/

Trisha Pasricha’s book, You’ve Been Pooping All Wrong: https://www.trishapasricha.com/youvebeenpoopingallwrong

Vox’s explainer video on probiotics in yogurt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYj09lx15ik

Pew Research’s findings on why people look to influencers for health and wellness information: https://www.pewresearch.org/data-labs/2026/05/07/why-do-americans-get-information-from-health-and-wellness-influencers-and-how-do-they-find-them/

The Myths and Scientific Realities About Gut Microbiota: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12525918/

This video is presented by Colgate. Colgate doesn’t have a say in our editorial decisions, but they make videos like this one possible.

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Written by Vox