Understanding your gut with 'Try This'

Summary

Post Reports: Understanding Your Gut with 'Try This'

Released on July 4, 2025 | Host: The Washington Post

In the July 4th episode of Post Reports, Martine Powers and Elahe Izadi delve into the fascinating world of gut health through the "Try This" series. Hosted by Christina Quinn, this particular episode, titled "Understanding Your Gut with 'Try This'", explores the intricacies of the gut microbiome and its profound impact on overall health. The discussion features insights from Dr. Tricia Pasricha, a renowned gastroenterologist and columnist at The Washington Post.

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Introduction to the Gut Microbiome

Christina Quinn sets the stage by introducing the "Try This" series, which aims to educate listeners on common health challenges without requiring significant time commitments.

Christina Quinn [01:49]: "In this course, we're going to loosen our belts and unpack the mysteries of gut health, specifically the gut microbiome."

Dr. Pasricha emphasizes the complexity and potential of the microbiome:

Dr. Tricia Pasricha [03:37]: "I think it's so misunderstood, and yet the data is really thrilling and it gives me a lot of hope for the future."

She highlights the historical understanding of gut bacteria and the emerging research connecting the microbiome to various health conditions:

Dr. Pasricha [03:50]: "People have known about the bacteria that live in our bodies for decades... but understanding their role in disease and how we might manipulate it towards health is still emerging."

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What is the Gut Microbiome?

A fundamental question is addressed: What exactly is the gut microbiome?

Dr. Pasricha [04:15]: "The gut microbiome is estimated to consist of around 100 trillion different microbes that live in our guts... our gut microbiome plays an important role in our health and in disease."

Christina humorously clarifies a common misconception:

Christina Quinn [04:42]: "I think when people think the gut, they just think of, like, their abs. In my case, super, super taut abs."

This leads to a detailed explanation of the gut's structure and function, emphasizing the role of fiber in nurturing gut bacteria:

Dr. Pasricha [04:57]: "Fiber is not digested... but it's a wonderful thing because microbes love it and produce beneficial metabolites like short-chain fatty acids."

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The Trio: Prebiotics, Probiotics, and Postbiotics

Dr. Pasricha breaks down the gut microbiome into three components:

Dr. Pasricha [07:47]: "When we think about the microbiome, it's helpful to think about it maybe in three different parts: prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics."

Prebiotics are introduced as non-digestible fibers essential for feeding gut microbes:

Christina Quinn [08:01]: "Prebiotics, which is non-digestible food. Fiber is a prebiotic, and we should be eating about 25 to 30 grams of fiber a day."

Dr. Pasricha stresses the lack of sufficient fiber in American diets:

Dr. Pasricha [08:14]: "Us Americans, we're not getting enough fiber in our diet. So just accept that whatever way you can increase the amount of fiber in your diet, you'll be better off."

Probiotics, the beneficial bacteria found in fermented foods, are discussed next:

Christina Quinn [08:41]: "Probiotics are the so-called good bacteria that we associate with eating certain foods."

Dr. Pasricha [08:55]: "Fermented foods like kimchi, sauerkraut, and active cultures in yogurt are known to improve the composition of the microbiome."

However, Quinn points out that the ideal probiotics are those naturally produced by the body through a fiber-rich diet:

Christina Quinn [09:17]: "The ideal form of a probiotic is the kind our body makes itself by making certain dietary choices, like eating good sources of fiber."

Postbiotics are the byproducts of microbial activity, offering additional health benefits:

Dr. Pasricha [09:40]: "Postbiotics are the compounds that bacteria produce, such as short-chain fatty acids like butyrate, which help dampen inflammation and reduce disease risk."

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Practical Implications and Takeaways

The conversation underscores the interconnectedness of diet and gut health. High-fiber foods not only nourish microbes but also contribute to the production of beneficial compounds that support various bodily functions.

Christina Quinn [10:15]: "The more fiber you eat... the microbes are just like nom nom nom, nom. I'm so happy."

Dr. Pasricha adds a humorous yet insightful analogy about the digestion process:

Dr. Pasricha [10:24]: "Fiber... takes longer to digest. So some benefits you feel even before it hits the colon, like feeling fuller longer."

The discussion also touches on individual differences in digestion and microbiome activity, emphasizing that each person's gut ecosystem is unique.

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Recap and Looking Ahead

Christina Quinn summarizes the key points of the episode, reinforcing the three pillars of gut health:

Christina Quinn [11:00]: "Humanoid bipeds are hosts to trillions of microbes that live in our gut... prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics... it's all connected, my friend."

She teases the next episode, which will explore how the microbiome influences energy use in the body, and encourages listeners to engage with the community through the upcoming "Try This Newsletter".

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Conclusion

This episode of Post Reports offers a comprehensive introduction to the gut microbiome, elucidating its critical role in health and disease. Through the expertise of Dr. Tricia Pasricha, listeners gain valuable insights into how dietary choices, particularly fiber intake, can foster a thriving and diverse microbial community within the gut. The discussion not only demystifies complex biological processes but also provides practical advice for enhancing gut health naturally.

For those eager to delve deeper, subsequent episodes in the "Try This" series promise to expand on these foundations, exploring the microbiome's influence on energy utilization and offering actionable strategies for maintaining a healthy gut.

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Notable Quotes:

• Dr. Tricia Pasricha [03:37]: "I think it's so misunderstood, and yet the data is really thrilling and it gives me a lot of hope for the future."
• Christina Quinn [08:01]: "Prebiotics, which is non-digestible food. Fiber is a prebiotic, and we should be eating about 25 to 30 grams of fiber a day."
• Dr. Tricia Pasricha [09:40]: "Postbiotics are the compounds that bacteria produce, such as short-chain fatty acids like butyrate, which help dampen inflammation and reduce disease risk."
• Christina Quinn [11:00]: "Humanoid bipeds are hosts to trillions of microbes that live in our gut... prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics... it's all connected, my friend."

Transcript

[Christina Quinn]

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[Ella Hay]

Hey there, it's Ella Hay. I hope you're having a great fourth of July. We have something special for you today. So you might be going to cookouts and eating a lot today. I know I am. So we decided to bring you a show about the gut. You know, that thing that processes all that food that we're eating. This episode comes to us from another Washington Post podcast. It's called Try this. Try this is a series of short audio courses. It's hosted by my colleague Christina Quinn. Christina is hilarious and she also loves helping people learn how to improve their lives. The latest Try this course is all about the gut and the gut microbiome. The whole series is both fascinating and practical. On this first episode of the course, Christina talks to a gastroenterologist. They break down what is the gut microbiome and how does it influence everything from digestion to disease? And after you listen, be sure to follow Try this in your podcast app. All right, here's the show.

[Christina Quinn]

Hey. Welcome to Try this from the Washington Post. Try this is a series of audio courses to help you take on common challenges and learn something new without having to make a big time commitment. I'm Christina Quinn and I'll be learning with you per usual. In this course, we're going to loosen our belts and unpack the mysteries of gut health, specifically the gut microbiome. Because at the end of the day, what you put inside your body affects everything else. If you're new here, welcome. This course will have three classes, AKA three episodes. So in this first episode, we're going to learn what the microbiome is exactly and find out what all those microbes are really up to. In the second episode, we'll find out what happens to your gut microbiome when you start eating certain kinds of food. And in our third and final episode, we're going to give you practical ways to make some changes without causing major upheaval to your life and your wallet. And we'll explain why you don't really need to take that probiotic. Okay, class is in session. Let's try this. When I have questions about anything having to do with digestion. I reach out to my favorite intestinal expert, Dr. Tricia Prasricha.

[Dr. Tricia Pasricha]

I'm an instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. My second title would be I'm a gastroenterologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Do you want me to go get a white coat? I've got, like, I've got all kinds of props. I have a stethoscope, a white coat.

[Christina Quinn]

I can go get it. No, no, no, I believe you. I know you're a real doctor. Dr. Pasricha also has a third title. She's a columnist here at the Washington Post. Her column is called Ask a Doctor. Hey, thanks for meeting with me.

[Dr. Tricia Pasricha]

Yeah, I'm delighted. You. You picked one of my favorite topics. I love everything about the gut, but the microbiome is, like, especially exciting.

[Christina Quinn]

What is it specifically that excites you?

[Dr. Tricia Pasricha]

I think it's so misunderstood, and yet the data is really thrilling and it gives me a lot of hope for the future.

[Christina Quinn]

And there's a lot of emerging research because there's still a lot that we don't know, right?

[Dr. Tricia Pasricha]

There's a lot that we don't know. I mean, people have known about the bacteria that live in our bodies for decades and decades, like dating back to the early 1900s and even late 1800s. But in a way, I think the part of it that's new is really understanding the role it plays in our disease and how we might manipulate it towards health. That part is still newer and still emerging.

[Christina Quinn]

What exactly is the gut microbiome? Where is it? What's going on there?

[Dr. Tricia Pasricha]

The gut microbiome, that is what people have estimated to be around the order of about 100 trillion different microbes that live in our guts. Our guts are not unique in our bodies in that they have their microbiome. Our skin has a microbiome, our mouths have a microbiome. But our gut microbiome seems to really play an important role in our health and in disease. And we're still kind of trying to figure out what those connections are.

[Christina Quinn]

I think when people think the gut, they just think of, like, their abs. In my case, super, super taut abs.

[Dr. Tricia Pasricha]

Same.

[Christina Quinn]

So, so tight. No, but the gut is actually. It's. It's not just that.

[Dr. Tricia Pasricha]

The gut, I think, is an all encompassing term. We're usually talking about the colon, although bacteria live in the small intestine as well. And we're usually not talking about the stomach, though, specifically. Very few bacteria in can survive in the acidic environment of the stomach. The stomach is the beginning of Digestion, you know, and that's where the food starts to become broken down into tiny particles that then pass into the small intestine. And so by the time food has reached the colon, you know, and it has transitioned to what we might call poop, you've really derived all of the nutrients that you want out of it. Because the small intestine's job, which is in between the stomach and the large intestine or the colon, is to really absorb all of the nutrients and all of the good aspects of whatever you've eaten into the bloodstream and. And where it could be processed and used by the rest of your body. So it's really the waste that makes it to your large colon. But if you think about it, you know, waste means, like your body, the rest of your body or other organs don't have a need for it. But what could make it there is fiber. Fiber is not digested. It's not broken down, it's not absorbed by the body. But it's a wonderful thing.

[Christina Quinn]

And it's a wonderful thing that microbes live in our colon. They love fiber. As the old saying goes, one man's waste is another microbe's pleasure feast.

[Dr. Tricia Pasricha]

And then when they take that fiber in, you know, they produce these beneficial metabolites, one of which could be short chain fatty acids or other things.

[Christina Quinn]

Short chain fatty acids are produced when gut bacteria ferment fiber in your colon, giving life to the cells that line the inside. They're part of a bigger picture that Dr. Presricha spells out for us after the break.

[Sally Jenkins]

I'm Sally Jenkins and I'm a sports columnist and feature writer for the Washington Post. My job entails pulling the curtain on really big sports events at what is going on in locker rooms? What's going on in the stadium tunnel. Most importantly, what's going on in the minds of the athletes that I cover. I think that we have an instinct that sports are really important in some primal way. We pay a lot of money for them, we build really big stadiums for them. And I think that athletics really gets us in touch with aspiration and teach something very, very important about accountability, about self determination. And so my job is to really make those links explicit for readers and users. Subscriptions support this work and the people behind it. Find out more@subscribe washingtonpost.com I'm Sally Jenkins and I'm one of the people behind the Post.

[Dr. Tricia Pasricha]

Okay, so when we think about the microbiome, I think it's helpful to think about it maybe in three different Parts, right? So there's these things called prebiotics, then there's maybe probiotics, and then there's these like postbiotics.

[Christina Quinn]

Let's start with prebiotics, which is non digestible food. Fiber is a prebiotic, and we should be eating about 25 to 30 grams of fiber a day. But most of us aren't, all of.

[Dr. Tricia Pasricha]

Us Americans, we're not getting enough fiber in our diet. So just take, accept that whatever way you can increase the amount of fiber in your diet, you'll be better off. But if you really want to take it to the next level, what you want is the diversity in your diet.

[Christina Quinn]

That means different kinds of fiber sources. You would find in veggies, fruits, whole grains and nuts. The microbes in your gut ferment that fiber, which fosters a super happy and diverse universe of bacteria.

[Dr. Tricia Pasricha]

So all of these things contribute to the bacteria themselves. And what kind of the composition, what strains and species these different bacteria are?

[Christina Quinn]

Probiotics are the so called good bacteria that we associate with eating certain foods.

[Dr. Tricia Pasricha]

If we're just talking about ingesting foods that we know contain beneficial bacteria, so that would be like fermented foods, kimchi, sauerkraut, active cultures like in Greek yogurt, nobody's ever going to say that that's a bad idea. And those things are known to improve the kind of overall composition of the microbiome and they're associated with decreased rates of gut symptoms.

[Christina Quinn]

But here's the thing. Dr. Prasricha says the ideal form of a probiotic is the kind our body makes itself. And the way your body does that is by making certain dietary choices. This goes back again to eating good sources of fiber. Okay, so now let's dig into postbiotics. This is a lesser known word, but it's just as important.

[Dr. Tricia Pasricha]

That's the other fancy word for what is it that the bacteria are producing, what comes after that? And one of those things are short chain fatty acids. Short chain fatty acids like butyrate you may have heard of, are these beneficial molecules that have an important role in our bodies. They can kind of help dampen inflammation. They're associated with reduced risk of all kinds of diseases, including cardiovascular diseases. And the kinds of postbiotics that your microbiome produces, they're different person to person, and they ultimately can be traced back often times to what you are feeding that microbiome in the first place.

[Christina Quinn]

So the more fiber you eat, and we're talking veggies, whole grains, and the microbes are just like nom Nom, nom, nom, nom. I'm so happy.

[Dr. Tricia Pasricha]

They love it. It's a buffet for them. And the fiber, you know, just because it's not absorbed doesn't mean it's not benefiting you sort of personally earlier on in the process. Right. Because fiber, it takes longer to digest. So some of the benefits you feel even before it hits the colon is that you might feel fuller, longer. Like you'll feel like you had a more satisfied meal. As opp. Ultra processed foods that have this quick release of sugar, they're very easily broken down by the stomach, and then you're hungry again 15 minutes later.

[Christina Quinn]

Right. Okay. So all the action really happens in the intestines. There's a lot of mileage in there, pun intended.

[Dr. Tricia Pasricha]

There is. It's long, it's windy. The amount of time it takes for your food to become poop, to exit the body is different from me. It's different from the other people who might be watching this. Everyone takes a little bit of a different length of time, but it can be on the order of days. And so it takes a long time to get absorbed first by the small intestine, all the nutrients, but then we have a little bit more control in when we poop. And so if we, for whatever reason, have decided we can't afford to poop for the next five hours, we're in this middle of this podcast. We've got to focus. You could control that, you could hold it in. And that entire time, whatever you've decided to not excrete, your microbiome continues to feed off of its sits there and your microbiome is loving it, and it's eating that fiber or whatever else you've given it to chew on and producing more and more short chain fatty acids.

[Christina Quinn]

It's a really nice visual.

[Dr. Tricia Pasricha]

Yeah. And like, right before lunch, it's perfect.

[Christina Quinn]

That's great. So now that we've established that we are nothing more than mortal hosts to trillions of microbes, we're going to see what we can do to make our tiny overlords thrive in a world that is stacked against us. But first, recap. Time. We humanoid bipeds are hosts to trillions of microbes that live in our gut, AKA our intestines, namely our colon. That's where the party really is. And as Dr. Pastriche explained, it's helpful to think about the gut microbiome in three different prebiotics, which is fiber that feeds the microbes and keeps them happy. Nom, nom, nom. Then there's probiotics, which is beneficial bacteria from certain kinds of food with live cultures like yogurt and kimchi. But if you eat a fiber rich diet, you're creating your own good bacteria by keeping your gut microbes happy. Then there's postbiotics, which is a byproduct of the first two and has compounds that are absorbed through the colon where they can go on to benefit the rest of your organs. It's all connected, my friend. Okay, that's it for episode one. Meet me in episode two where we find out how the microbiome could play a role in the way our bodies are Use energy Nom nom nom. I have two things for you before I sign off. The second one is a new way to keep learning and for me to learn from you first. As always, if you're listening when this is newly released, the next episode will be out next week. In this case specifically on Tuesday, July 1st. But you can hear the remaining two classes right now and ad free with a subscription to the Washington Post. Your Post subscription needs to be connected to Apple Podcasts. The easiest way to do that is to go into Apple Podcasts and look up the Washington Post Channel. All right, now the second thing the things I learn in working on the show really do change how I think and do things day to day. I keep learning as time goes on, and I also hear from family, friends and listeners about what they're trying. So I want to share more with you and I want a better way to share what you find beneficial. In a few weeks, we're launching a Try this Newsletter. This first one will have additional tips for your gut microbes and I want to know what works for you. We could include your advice in the newsletter and a future episode of Try this. Tell me what you do to feed your microbes. Record a voice memo or send me a [e-mail] Please be sure to give me your whole name and how you spell it. The email address again is try [e-mail] thanks for listening and I'll meet you in class too.

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