A LIFE TIME of digestive problems and a family history of bowel cancer led one woman to discover just how powerful the gut can be.

MARY NAYLOR reports.

MORE and more scientific evidence is emerging about the gut and how important it is to our overall health.

Julia Riewald has seen first hand how important it is and her own investigation led her to fix her digestive problems and go on to help others change their lifestyles for the better.

Mrs Riewald, 46, a mother of three from Lostock, said: “We are made of cells and 10 per cent contain human DNA but 90 per cent is not human. It’s an ecosystem of microbes. This is the microbiome.”

The gut microbiome has been on the scientific radar for about 15 years and studies have linked it with obesity, diabetes, liver disease, cancer and even neurodegenerative diseases.

Mrs Riewald said she had seen studies linking it to ADHD and depression.

She lost her mother Ulrike Riewald, and her grandmother Ursula Bedford to bowel cancer when they were both in their 60s. Her great-grandmother as well succumbed to a digestive condition.

This poor gut health ran in her maternal family and Mrs Riewald was no exception. Throughout her childhood she struggled with poor digestive health, constipation and irregularity. She said: “I used to pass out because of bowel cramps.”

She tried to eat herself well believing in the power of food to help the body heal itself, but nothing she tried really helped.

When her mother was diagnosed with cancer, Mrs Riewald began looking into supplements to help her mother get nutrients she needed.

She said: “I have always loved food and believed in the power of it for the body but when my mother had chemotherapy she couldn’t eat because her mouth was so sore.”

In 2015 her mother-in-law was also diagnosed with cancer and again Mrs Riewald started to look at supplements.

“That’s how I came across Synergy ­— it’s concentrated food.”

Previously she had been a supplement sceptic but began taking Synergy products and almost immediately noticed a difference.

“I experienced changes to myself that I couldn’t believe. I had my twins [three years old] and my eldest [six]. I was building a beauty business and I thought it was normal that I fell asleep reading my children’s bedtime story. I would fall asleep every night.

“But one night my son said ‘Mummy, I’m so proud of you, you haven’t fallen asleep’.

“It was the first time and I’d tried everything before [the supplements].”

Not only did Mrs Riewald find herself able to finish a bedtime story her gut seemed to sort itself out overnight.

She said: “My digestive system completely changed. I have no problems any more.

Most people will be aware their gut digests their food and so provides the body with energy but “three-quarters of the immune system and the hormonal is in the bowel too”, said Mrs Riewald, “90 per cent of serotonin we produce in the gut”.

Seeing the change the supplements from Synergy made to her own health Mrs Riewald joined their worldwide team as an elite health coach.

Now she sells their products and offers talks on gut health and the microbiome with tips to help anyone improve their general health, starting at the gut.

Mrs Riewald was enthusiastic about live yoghurt and fermented foods like kefir, sauerkraut and kombucha tea, to introduce live bacteria into our digestive system. Though she warned shoppers to watch out for added sugars in many of these when bought from supermarkets.

She also suggested everyone should eat more fibre, starting with not peeling potatoes and apples, eating skins wherever possible.

Mrs Riewald and her Synergy colleagues offer gut health talks all over the country and she says anyone is welcome to attend to find out more about what makes us tick.

She says she sees doctors and GPs as well as personal trainers and health enthusiasts but the talk is not aimed at one group or another.

At a recent talk to a business group Mrs Riewald used the analogy of a business to explain how the gut powers the body.

She asked them if they expected their businesses to run smoothly if they were letting strangers into their buildings or not giving staff the right equipment to do their jobs.

She said in the same way the gut needs the right ingredients to work at its best.

The next free Microbiome Gut Health talk is at the Bolton Whites Hotel on March 28 at 7.30pm. Tickets from eventbrite.com