As with most health-related issues, the answer is complicated. At the end of the day, alcohol isn’t good for us – so most experts recommend reducing your alcohol consumption as much as possible. But that doesn’t mean you need to be completely dry to have good gut health.

To start off with, it’s important to understand what alcohol does to our gut. As we’ve explored before here on Strong Women, alcohol can irritate the gut’s lining and increase its motility, leading to the dodgy stomach many of us are familiar with post-night out. And in the long term, it can also disrupt the gut microbiome, leading to a decrease in the good bacteria that live there.

“As the first organ of contact, the gut, next to the liver, plays a significant part in regulating the metabolism of alcohol in the body,” explains Nele Wessels, certified advanced nutrition coach and founder of the supplements brand Naeo.

“The toxins within alcohol, especially when consumed frequently, can promote the overgrowth of bad gut bacteria that can result in unpleasant bloating, gas, diarrhoea and abdominal cramps, as well as the weakening of the gut immune system.”

Do you need to give up alcohol to have a healthy gut? Here’s what the experts say