Speaker
Dr. Will Bulsiewicz
Appearances over time
1 episodes
Episodes
1
Podcasts
Quotes & moments
The majority of your stool by weight is not leftover food but living microbes from your gut microbiome.
Dr. Bulsiewicz identifies constipation as the single most common cause of gas and bloating, even in people who poop daily.
People who believe they are gluten intolerant are likely reacting to fructans, a carbohydrate in wheat, barley, and rye — not gluten itself.
In a Gastroenterology journal study, self-reported gluten-sensitive people had fewer symptoms from a high-gluten bar than from a placebo bar.
Gut microbes possess around 60,000 enzymes that humans don't have, enabling them to break down dietary fiber into short-chain fatty acids.
Taking antibiotics doubles your risk of developing an inflammatory bowel disease in the following year by decimating gut diversity.
A course of antibiotics disrupts the gut barrier by approximately 50%, wiping out beneficial bacteria and activating the immune system.
Between 1970 and 2010 in the United States, cases of ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease increased by up to 55%.
Glyphosate (Roundup), used to dry wheat crops in the US, disrupts the gut microbiome by depleting beneficial bacteria while leaving inflammatory strains intact.
By age three, the human microbiome reaches adult size, and the immune system learns from it during this critical window — shaping lifelong immune health.
Fermenting wheat dough to make sourdough significantly reduces its fructan content, which explains why some people tolerate sourdough but not regular bread.
Inflammatory bowel disease is rare in Africa and other developing regions but rises sharply as countries industrialize, pointing to environmental and dietary causes.
Around 80% of Angelenos avoid gluten, but most don't need to — and going unnecessarily gluten-free can cause its own problems if you don't know the right dietary adaptations to make.
Morning gas isn't random — it's trapped with stagnant stool. Once your bowel movement happens, the gas clears. This is because 60% of your stool is living microbes, which ferment anything they contact when stool stops moving.
A study in Gastroenterology — the top journal in the field — sent self-reported gluten-sensitive people home with three breakfast bars. The gluten bar caused fewer symptoms than the placebo. The fructan bar triggered them. What millions call gluten intolerance is actually a fructan intolerance.
Inflammatory bowel disease is widely described as autoimmune, but Dr. Bulsiewicz disagrees. The immune system isn't attacking the intestines — it's attacking the microbiome inside them. The intestines are just caught in the crossfire.
Millions of people are constipated without realising it because they equate frequency with health. Constipation is about incomplete emptying — you can poop three times a day and still only be doing 20–25% poops.
Your stool is not primarily food waste. 60% of its weight is microbial — living bacteria from your gut. Feed those microbes with prebiotic fiber and they multiply, producing a bigger, healthier bowel movement.
Gas and bloating have three main drivers: poor intestinal motility (constipation or diarrhea), a damaged microbiome that can't break down fiber, and specific dietary triggers like lactose and fructans. Most people only focus on the third.
US wheat is routinely sprayed with glyphosate (Roundup) as a drying agent — a practice banned in organic farming and uncommon in Europe. Glyphosate decimates beneficial gut bacteria while leaving inflammatory strains intact, which may explain why some people who react to American wheat are fine with Italian pasta.
Fermenting wheat dough reduces its fructan content. That's why people who struggle with bread often tolerate sourdough fine — the fermentation process digests the fructans before you eat them. It's not magic; it's chemistry.
Taking a single course of antibiotics doubles your risk of developing inflammatory bowel disease within the next year. Antibiotics are the fastest thing that can decimate gut diversity and disrupt the gut barrier — by 50% — while simultaneously activating the immune system.
From 1970 to 2010, ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease cases in the US rose by up to 55%. Inflammatory bowel disease is almost absent in Africa and developing nations but spikes as countries industrialize — pointing to environmental, not purely genetic, causes.
Analysis
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- Health & Fitness 100%
