We all know about gut flora and their impact on digestive transit these days! All new words explained by the probiotic manufacturers.

Research shows that gut flora, those millions of tiny bacteria in the gut, are essential for maintaining the health of our intestines.

When the microbes are in the wrong balance or insufficient numbers, then we can get all sorts of problems - slowness, inflammation etc.

What can cause this? Change in diet (one of the reasons for constipation on holiday), food poisoning, taking antibiotics, for example, can change the balance of your gut.

So what to do? Probiotics can help as long as you take them regularly so that they build up a colony. They come in the tiny bottles or as capsules from health food shops. Eating a wide range of food helps. Most of us don't eat enough fruit and veg. If you like spicy foods, you may find adding more veg tIntroduce new foods slowly to let your insides develop the "skills" in the form of microbes to digest them. Drink plenty. At least one litre of non-alcoholic fluid a day so that you have plenty of water to slosh around in your gut. Alcohol is a diuretic so you pee it out. If your pee is dark, you need more fluid.