The Importance Of Gut Health And How BC30™ Could Help

This is an advertorial in conjunction with BC30™ through Kitchen PLAY, but all words and opinions are my own.

Looking after my health is important to me, and more so as I start my 50s. I do certain things now to look after myself that I didn't do when I was younger - eat a range of fruit and vegetables, use suncream even on overcast days, and take care of my gut health. Let's have a look at the importance of gut health and how you can support a healthy system. 

Why I look after my gut health

Mel

In my 30s I was having some gut issues. This came after a period of high stress including my father having a heart attack, a change of job and divorce. You know one of those periods in life where you are just about holding it together. We all have them but this was an intensely stressful time in life. Before I knew it I was getting bloating and cramping in my stomach and changes in bowel movements. If I ate something creamy, or with onions or peas I would have a really bad reaction. It made me look at my diet and how to improve my gut health.

I found that certain things helped kept my gut well and avoid the cramping and bloating feeling.  These include daily exercise, drinking plenty of water, avoiding alcohol and avoiding certain foods like garlic, onions, peas and beans. I also found in my personal experience that a daily intake of cultures helped my gut health.  It helped me feel better and helped digest those 'troublesome' foods I mentioned before. Let's have a look at the science behind this further.

Why friendly bacteria is good for you

stomach

Cultures that may also be known as ‘good’ or ‘friendly’ bacteria have been shown in a number of studies to help support and help aid digestion
One of the most unique is BC30, a science-backed culture ingredient used to fortify foods and beverages with the benefits of good bacteria. However because not all friendly bacteria are equal, it's important to look at the science behind the claims. Different friendly bacteria or cultures are good for different things. When you consume foods or beverages containing BC30 cultures, you’re adding more good bacteria to help support healthy digestion and immune health.

What are BC30™ Cultures?

BC30

BC30 is a friendly bacteria (culture) that will help to safely support your digestive health and immune system by regulating the bacterial population. This special culture is an ingredient added to a range of functional foods and beverages from granola and porridge to a combination of seeds and grains that can be added to your food. 

It's a spore-forming culture. What this means is that it has a protective shell allowing it to survive extremes of temperature such as boiling and microwaving and also survive the acid in your stomach. Not all cultures can do this! 

To identify functional foods containing the BC30 cultures lookout for the BC30™ (formerly known as GanedenBC30mark on the pack or 'Bacillus coagulans GBI-30, 6086”. You then know you will be getting a top-quality culture in your food. 

My personal experience of BC30 cultures

grains and BC30

I found products containing BC30 cultures in my local health food shop and a well-known supermarket so it wasn't too difficult to get hold of, which is always good! Look out for the BC30 mark on the product.

Incorporating this culture into my diet was easier than I thought. I think it's important to take it on a regular basis as cultures work better like this so I try to have functional foods containing this product for breakfast most days. By doing this it is easier to make it part of your routine.

BC30 milkshake

I particularly enjoyed making a simple soya milk and banana milkshake with a Flaxseed with Bio Cultures and Vitamin D blend added which contained the BC30 ingredient. All you need for this is one large banana, chop it up and place in a blender with soya milk to cover, and 2 dessertspoons of the flaxseed mix which contains BC30. Then blend for 30 seconds until the flaxseed mix is finely ground. The milkshake contains fibre, protein, potassium, omega 3, vitamin D, and calcium. It's a great milkshake when you don't want anything heavy for breakfast. The flaxseed mix can be added to salads and soups too. The flaxseed mix from is available from Holland and Barratt. 

Another product I enjoyed was granola with the BC30 culture added and some soya milk. The granola was a tasty mix of toasted oats, desiccated coconut, cashews, hazelnuts, and walnuts with a little black treacle and joined by gut-friendly cultures. This vegan mix provides high fibre, protein, and omega 3 so it's a great start to your day with the BC30 ingredient providing digestive support. The granola is available from Sainsbury's.

Over the course of two weeks, I felt that adding the cultures to my diet was beneficial to me. My anecdotal evidence is that I felt that my stomach was less bloated and uncomfortable. Over longer periods it could benefit a healthy digestive system, however, the best way to find out is to try it for yourself.  Let me know if you take cultures in your diet, and if they have helped you. Would you try BC30 functional foods or beverages?

35 comments

  1. Gut health is so important for our well being generally. I need to have a look at this as do struggle.

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  2. I definitely believe what we eat plays a big role in determining how healthy we feel day-to-day. BC30 sounds like it could be a great addition to my diet. I have been drinking Actimel fermented yoghurt drinks with bio-live cultures and I definitely have noticed a noticeable improvement so I'm sure BC30 could work wonders on me too!

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    1. I think live cultures really help digestive problems and research appears to back it up but it's important to have the right live culture too

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  3. I am in my 50's and although I thought I knew a lot about supplements due to my Daughters illness I have not heard of this before

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  4. Gut health is really important, this sounds like an interesting product. I will look deeper into this, thanks so much for sharing. Great post.

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  5. I think gut health isn't talked about much, although I do know it's very important to know about it. I definitely need to start taking more note of my gut health.

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  6. I think this could really benefit me , I am struggling so much with my gut , stress , bloating , it’s all getting way to much

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  7. Gut health is so important! I love incorporating sauerkraut and pickled foods into my diet as they are full of probiotics which are good for the gut :)

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  8. I have to admit that I havn't taken too much notice of gut health, but I do need to learn more about it as my son had terrible psoriasis and that is often linked to leaky gut.

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  9. Gut health is SO important!! More important than people realise!

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  10. I have looked into certain supplements before, I haven't tried this one, but you are so right that gut health is very important.

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  11. This is so interesting, I like how it can be mixed in with a smoothie rather than just taking a tablet.

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    1. Yes, I added the flaxseed and bioculture mix to a banana and soya milk and whizzed it up in the Nutriblend. It is a great fibre addition to in this format

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  12. Gut health matters because it influences our well-being. It impacts so much: immune system, risk for chronic diseases, metabolism and more.

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  13. Digestive bacteria is a really interesting concept, it's not something I feel my family ever knew about growing up, so it's not something I have paid much attention too, but maybe I should.

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  14. I had a problem in my 30s with gut issues and it's been better since then, but I've noticed it's getting worse again now, so this might be worth a try.

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  15. Interesting article. I suffer occasional IBS attacks and take yogurt-drinks such as Actimel to try to maintain my gut health. I hadn't heard of BC30 before but will definitely aim to find out more.

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    1. I have taken live yogurt drinks in the past. Do check out BC30 as it could make a difference to you

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  16. I've just started buying the porridge and granola with BC30 in, it's definitely time to start looking after myself. Thanks for all the info.

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  17. I love the sound of this, I love a good bowl of granola in the morning!

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    1. Me too. It's great knowing it's doing your stomach good as well.

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  18. That sounds so simple and easy to incorporate into my daily lifestyle. Thanks for sharing.

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  19. A new product to me. Such interesting research going on into gut health and how crucial it is to overall health.

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    1. So much great research coming out on gut health.

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