Love Your Gut ahead of Gut Week (11th-17th August)

To mark this year's Gut Week (11th-17th August), digestive health campaign Love Your Gut reveals that behaviours, knowledge gap and lifestyle could be affecting the nation's health. The following report has been offered to The Recipe Resource to share.

Whilst covering issues beyond the remit of The Resource Resource it contains useful and insightful information!

The research was commissioned by Love Your Gut ahead of Gut Week (11th-17th August). For more information check out www.loveyourgut.com

The research has found some shocking facts including:

• Millions of Brits are unaware that drinking, smoking and inactivity would increase the  risk of bowel cancer  

• More than one third (36%) of Brits couldn't locate their stomach on a diagram of the digestive system  

• Over half (62%) of Brits in a relationship would wait at least six months before talking about poo or pooing at their partner's house.

#LoveYourGut reveals a "toilet trauma" across the UK

To mark Gut Week (11 - 17 August), digestive health campaign Love Your Gut reveals that behaviours, knowledge gap and lifestyle could be affecting the nation's health

• Over half (62%) of Brits in a relationship would wait at least six months before talking about poo or pooing at  their partner's house 

• 91% of Brits have at least one concern about having a bowel movement in a public space

• More than one third (36%) of Brits couldn't locate their stomach on a diagram of the digestive system

• Millions of Brits are unaware that drinking, smoking and inactivity could increase the risk of bowel cancer

• Over 40 million Brits worry about causing a smell when going to the toilet in a public place

• Women are the worst culprits for social toilet activity, with almost one in four (23%) visiting social media sites whilst on the toilet.

Love Your Gut, a campaign that emphasises the importance of maintaining good gut health, has released the results of a UK survey which reveals a social taboo around toilet habits and a huge gap in knowledge when it comes to digestive health.
The Love Your Gut campaign is co-ordinated by Yakult UK Limited in association with leading digestive health charities the IBS Network and Core.

Behaviours
Research from Love Your Gut unveils a 'toilet trauma' across the UK, with 91% of people surveyed admitting to at least one concern about having a bowel movement in a public space. The most popular fear is causing a smell: based on our survey over 40 million1 Brits worry about this. Women are the most embarrassed, with almost three quarters (73%) citing this as a cause for concern, compared to just over half (54%) of the men surveyed.

The survey also found that around three quarters of Brits would not always be happy to use the toilet whilst shopping (74%), at the pub (74%) or at a friend's house (73%) and over half (62%) of Brits in a relationship would wait at least six months before talking about poo or pooing at their partner's house.

Dr Nick Read, physician, psychotherapist and Medical Adviser to the IBS Network says: "We should never ignore the urge to go to the toilet; regular bowel movements are completely normal and are important to maintaining good gut health."

Knowledge
As well as maintaining a healthy gut, Love Your Gut aims to raise awareness of possible symptoms of disease. Results show that almost a third (32%) of Brits wouldn't recognise obvious signs such as change in bowel habits that might indicate bowel cancer. In fact, two thirds (66%) of those surveyed admitted to regularly flushing the toilet without looking at their stools.

Dr Tom Smith, Chief Executive at Core says "Bowel movements are an essential part of everyone's health and we should all keep an eye on the frequency of bowel movement, colour of stools, shape and consistency. It's important to be consciously aware of changes in our routines, this helps us to identify any abnormal patterns and acknowledge symptoms much more easily."

The research also revealed a worrying lack of knowledge among participants' own bodies. More than one third (36%) of Brits couldn't locate their stomach on a diagram of the digestive system and only 36 per cent were able to pinpoint the small intestine. On a whole, men were the least gut savvy with just over one third (41%) labelling the gut correctly compared to over half (52%) of women.

Lifestyle
A worrying amount of participants were also not aware that their lifestyle choices can increase their chance of developing gut diseases including bowel cancer. Based on the survey, almost two thirds (62%) of people in the UK wouldn't realise alcohol can be a risk factor, while 72 per cent don't realise that smoking can be a factor and over half (59%) don't realise inactivity or being overweight can also be a risk factor.

Toilet Trivia
The survey also revealed some interesting toilet habits across the UK... Men are the most likely to take a phone call on the toilet, although this is not an uncommon practice as one in six (18%) surveyed admitted to this! Women are the worst culprits for social toilet activity with almost one in four (23%) visiting social media sites and nearly one third (30%) sending a text message whilst on the toilet.

More information on getting gut-friendly can be found at www.loveyourgut.com, including expert advice and tips, interactive quizzes and games and the latest gut-friendly recipes.