Diet, Gut and Brain Group
Research overview
The Diet Gut and Brain group, led by Assoc Prof Heidi Staudacher, is advancing our understanding of how diet influences the gut and the brain. Our goal is to transform the management of common gut and mental health conditions, such as irritable bowel syndrome and depression, through diet. Our team has discovered that a low FODMAP diet, whilst improving symptoms in several gut disorders, shifts the gut microbiome in irritable bowel syndrome and probiotic co-administration can mitigate these changes. Together with conducting high quality dietary research, we have also published several recommendation papers for the design and implementation of rigorous diet-focused clinical trials. Our work has been funded through the National Health and Medical Research Council and international funding bodies such as the Rome Foundation. We thrive on interdisciplinary collaborations with dietitians, psychologists and scientists locally and globally.
Currently recruiting clinical trials
- OPTIMISM - investigating diet patterns for depression
- Body and Brain – investigating fibre for irritable bowel syndrome
Our people
Group Leader
Publications
See Pubmed for a full list of publications
Interesting links
- Trust your gut: how the microbiome impacts mental health | NHMRC
- Rome Foundation Diet and Nutrition Section
- Heidi on Clare Collins' Nutrition Sciences Bites podcast
- Our work featured on Insight+ (Medical Journal of Australia)
- Boosting your gut health sounds great but this wellness trend is vague and often misunderstood
- Should I test my gut microbes to improve my health?