Welcome to Gut Check by Beny Yogurt 👋 If you’re new here, you can check out previous editions on our site anytime. 

Gut Health 101

“Gut Health”, the “Microbiome”, and “Probiotics” all get tossed around a lot, but what do they mean? In this edition we’re doing a quick Gut Health 101, covering:

• What is the “gut”? 

• How does your gut get disrupted?

• Why should we care about our gut?

• How can we improve gut health?

A few callouts before we jump in:

1. This is very high level - if there are specific topics you’d like us to deep dive on reply to this email anytime. 

2. While there’s tons of existing research on gut health, there’s still so much more to uncover. As more information comes out, we’ll do our best to keep Gut Check subscribers in the loop. 

What is the “Gut”? 

The gut is your ~30 foot long digestive tract, beginning at the mouth and ending at the 🍑- it’s one of the few organs that interfaces with both the outside and inside of our bodies.  

Our guts are home to ~100 trillion microorganisms (bacteria, fungi, archaea, you name it). There are more bacteria cells than human cells in our body 🤯. These little guys are what make up the “microbiome”, they help us digest food, produce vitamins, regulate our immune system (~70% of which resides in the gut), and influence our mood through hormone production (~90% of serotonin is produced in the gut). 

The gut is also referred to as your “second brain” – hence, “trust your gut”. It’s the only organ in our body that has its own nervous system (the “enteric nervous system"), allowing it to operate totally independently from our brains (the “central nervous system”). These two systems are connected via the gut-brain axis which is responsible for the “butterflies” feeling when your crush makes eyes at you (under the hood, blood flow rushing out and getting redirected away from your gut).

The development of your microbiome begins at birth - babies who are born vaginally have different gut microbiomes than those who are born via c-section, as with those who breastfeed vs. drink baby formula. However, ongoing diet, lifestyle, and other daily exposures dictate the majority of microbiome makeup. 

How does your gut get disrupted?

Processed foods, sedentary lifestyles, chronic stress, food poisoning, and antibiotics have all been shown to significantly disrupt our gut microbiomes.

A disrupted gut can mean anything from overgrowth of harmful bacteria, a deficiency in beneficial bacteria, or “leaky gut” - where your intestinal lining essentially has holes in it allowing unwanted toxins, undigested foods, and pathogens to “leak” into our bloodstream, and even travel up to our brains 🤮. 

Pesticides that are used in non-organic foods (like glyphosate) can break down the intestinal lining, contributing to leaky gut. Antibiotics are extremely good at wiping out harmful bacteria in our guts, but they also kill all the good bacteria in the process. Even artificial sweeteners found in diet sodas can harm the good bacteria in our guts. 

Why should we care about our gut?

But why does any of this matter in the first place? Aside from the frequent discomfort of feeling bloated, having brain fog, and being constipated (or the opposite 🥴), gut issues can also lead to a host of alarming diseases. 

There's a growing recognition of the strong connection between microbiome imbalances and the inability to lose weight, as well as the development of non-communicable diseases like diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer. There's also a direct correlation between leaky gut and depression, with some patients experiencing reduced anxiety after taking probiotics.

How can we improve gut health?

Whenever I’m asked, “what supplements should I take?” my first response is always “Exercise. Sleep. Diet”. If any of those pillars are out of whack, it’s best to start there. While there's no magic pill for perfect gut health, supporting your microbiome with fiber-rich plant-based foods like fruits, vegetables, legumes, and fermented foods such as Beny, kimchi, and sauerkraut is a great start. This is exactly why we created Beny—so you can easily access gut-friendly options that fit into your lifestyle. 

Like I said, we just scratched the surface here - expect much more on gut health in future editions, and give us a shout if there are areas you’d like us to deep dive on!

Top of Mind 

1️⃣ Day 1: In exactly 1 week we will officially be full time on Beny. LFG. 

🤝 Co-man: We had an awesome first co-manufacturer visit in Pennsylvania and got the chance to meet the founder of an existing yogurt brand. Turns out their team had already heard about Beny though socials! Learn more about the details of our visit in part 1 and part 2 of choosing a co-man. 

📸 Socials: We love seeing how you all eat Beny. Shout out to Tali for documenting her entire journey trying Beny for the first time! 

@talipenina

yes I will travel 1 hour to try a new yogurt brand & it’s so cool what @Couchwoman & @Elan Halpern are cooking up🍦👩‍🍳 #yogurt #nyc #yogurtbowl

🍽️ Dinner Parties: We’re doing our first dinner party of 2025 this saturday in partnership with Bazaar Supper Club. It sold out in <10 mins…expect more in the future!

🥛 A2 Milk?: A2 milk has been the craze recently. Check out this video where Kiki breaks down the buzz on A2.

Happy new year y’all!

Elan and Kiki