Brainz Magazine Exclusive Interview
Dr Megan Rossi, founder of The Gut Health Doctor, is one of the most influential international gut health specialists. As a registered dietitian and nutritionist for the last 15 years, she has an award-winning PhD in probiotics, which was recognised for its contribution to science, receiving the Dean’s Award for outstanding research. Megan has also published multiple Sunday Times best-selling books: Eat Yourself Healthy (UK, Aus & Europe), Love Your Gut (US & Canada), Eat More, Live Well (UK, Aus & Europe) and How To Eat More Plants (US & Canada).
As a leading Research Fellow at King’s College London, Megan is currently investigating nutrition-based therapies in gut health, receiving over £3 million in research funding and publishing over 50 scientific papers to date.
Frustrated that her findings weren’t reaching the public and seeing fad and potentially dangerous misinformation on gut health being spread, Megan took to social media to share credible, evidence-based advice and has built an engaged community of 600K.
In 2019, Megan founded The Gut Health Clinic, leading a team of gut-specialist dietitians with virtual and face-to-face clinics in London and Manchester. She has also created the multi-award-winning gut health food brand Bio&Me to bridge the gap between science and the food industry. More recently, in 2025, she founded SMART STRAINS, a family of four clinically proven, condition-specific live bacteria products. Backed by the latest science, SMART STRAINS challenges the current - and outdated - market offering and promises consumers only the right strain, at the right time, in the right way.
Megan writes regularly for popular media publications, including The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, Women’s Health and Stylist. She regularly appears on the UK’s most loved daytime TV show, This Morning, and BBC Radio 4.
Can you share a bit about yourself and your background?
I grew up on a farm just outside Cairns, Australia, where life naturally supported good gut health – playing in the dirt, eating fresh, home-grown produce, and soaking up the outdoors. But my first real memory of the gut wasn’t a positive one. During my nutrition and dietetics degree, my grandma was diagnosed with bowel cancer. I watched her endure chemotherapy and surgery, feeling a deep frustration with the gut for what it had done to her. Sadly, she lost her battle in 2009, during my final year at university. Not long after, I sat in a lecture on the early warning signs of bowel cancer and couldn’t help but wonder, if we spoke more openly about bowel health, could her story have ended differently?
A few years later, those negative emotions around the gut resurfaced when I was working in a hospital as a dietitian and was struck by the number of patients with kidney disease who were complaining of gut issues. I struggled to get my head around how all these patients with various kidney diseases also suffered from such prominent problems - and there were no answers to be found in textbooks or research papers. I was determined to get to the bottom of this, and before I knew it, I found myself signing away my early 20s to answer the question - was there a link between the gut and the kidneys? Fast forward to today, and we now know that there is what we call the gut-kidney axis.
But the journey didn’t stop there. My work with Olympic athletes and high-performing professionals brought a new insight: the undeniable connection between gut health and stress. Those under the most pressure often experienced the worst gut issues, but supporting their gut could transform their wellbeing in ways I never expected. This was the turning point for my relationship with the gut.
For someone new to gut health, what are the top three steps you recommend?
Focus on plant diversity. Think of each plant as a unique fertiliser, feeding the trillions of different types of bacteria in your gut. The more variety, the stronger your army of microbes can support everything from your immune health to your heart and even mental wellbeing. Aim for 30 different plants each week across what I call the Super Six (fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices, nuts and seeds, beans, and whole grains). It sounds intimidating at first, but it’s easier, cheaper and tastier than you might think.
De-stress to digest. Even the best gut-friendly diet can’t do its job if stress interferes with your gut-brain connection. Stress can strangle your digestive system. A simple trick? Try belly breathing before meals. Just a few deep breaths can switch your body into rest-and-digest mode, making absorbing all the goodness from your food easier.
Chew your food well. It might sound too simple to matter, but there’s real science behind it. Chewing thoroughly essentially ‘activates’ enzymes in your saliva, helping your body break down food and absorb nutrients more effectively, nourishing everything from your brain to your immune system. Aim for 20–30 chews per bite, depending on texture or start small by adding just two extra chews per week and building from there.
These changes may sound small, but they can have a big impact on your gut health.
How do you make complex gut health science accessible to everyday people?
I think about what I uncover in my lab at King’s College London and how I would share it with my friends and family. I don’t want to ‘dumb down’ the science; instead, I want to deliver the information in a digestible and actionable way. Science shouldn’t be overwhelming; we should all be empowered by knowledge that supports our gut health.
Can you tell us about how you develop your products and services at The Gut Health Doctor?
Everything we do is about making gut health science practical, accessible, and, most importantly, effective for real lives. I draw from the work happening at King’s College London and groundbreaking studies being carried out globally. The aim is always to bridge the gap between cutting-edge science and evidence-based products that genuinely improve people’s lives.
Take my live bacteria range, SMART STRAINS, for example. These products were designed to reflect what the latest research tells us and are backed by international health bodies – something the current market simply isn’t doing. Having completed my PhD in probiotics, I’ve long been frustrated by the outdated idea that everyone needs a generic daily probiotic for good gut health. SMART STRAINS is challenging this notion, with each product supported by significant scientific evidence and backed by international health bodies (including the World Gastroenterology Association Guidelines on Probiotics) - for your fussy baby, for your vaginal microbiome, for your immune health, and for when you’re on antibiotics - delivering the right strain, at the right time, in the right way.
Then there’s Bio&Me, which was born out of a real gap in the market. As a practising dietitian at The Gut Health Clinic, I struggled to find food products I could confidently recommend to my clinic patients, especially those looking to boost their plant diversity but feeling short on time. Breakfast, in particular, was a key focus. I work closely with our product development team to design every recipe to ensure it not only aligns with the latest science but also tastes delicious too - because you don’t need to compromise on taste to have good gut health.
What’s the link between gut and mental health, and how can we support both?
There’s a two-way communication that happens called the gut: brain axis, and this happens via three communication pathways:
Think house alarm - through the immune system, which produces an inflammatory response that tells the brain to react.
Think Royal Mail postal service - using your circulatory system, and thanks to the food you eat, your microbes produce a chemical that gets into your bloodstream and passes the blood-brain barrier.
Think mobile phone - through the nervous system, activated through the vagus nerve, which sends messages to our brain to communicate.
There’s some incredible research to support the link between the gut and the brain, including the SMILES trial. This landmark study randomised participants with moderate to severe depression to a Mediterranean-style diet packed with plant-based foods, the Super Six, lean proteins, and fermented dairy, providing three times more fibre than most people eat (50g/day). After just 12 weeks, a third of the participants met the criteria for remission of major depression. However, it’s worth noting that all the participants stayed on their antidepressant medication, and you should never change or stop your medication without the advice of your prescribing doctor.
What are some common gut health myths you often debunk?
One of the most common gut health myths I’m keen to tackle is that cutting out foods like grains, pulses, or gluten is beneficial. Unless you have a medical reason, such as coeliac disease or a diagnosed intolerance, this restrictive approach can actually harm your gut health by reducing the diversity of your gut microbiome, which we know is crucial for overall health. Instead, the focus should be on increasing the variety of plant-based foods in your diet – aiming for 30 different types a week (I call them plant points) is a great goal!
Another widespread misconception is that taking a generalised daily probiotic is a one-size-fits-all solution for good gut health. Not all probiotics are created equal, and their effectiveness depends on the strain and the condition/ symptom/ issue you're trying to address. Some are backed by solid science for specific needs, while others don’t have sufficient evidence to support their claims. When it comes to overall gut health, there’s no magic pill – it’s about the bigger picture, including diet, lifestyle, and personalised strategies.
What are your hopes for the future of your business?
That’s simple - to continue to ensure that science-backed products that can make a real difference in people’s lives can reach those who need them.
For more info, go to www.theguthealthdoctor.com | @theguthealthdoctor
