Our digestion, the health of our intestines and our bowel movements: they are all part of daily life, but they are not topics of dinner conversation. And certainly not if not everything is going as it should. Yet our intestinal system and everything that passes it has an immense impact on our body and mind. That is why Karine Claassen takes the viewer through the fascinating twists and turns of our intestines. She does this together with Michaël Sels, head dietician at the University Hospital Antwerp (UZA) and with doctor Magali Surmont, gastrointestinal specialist at the University Hospital Brussels (UZ Brussels). Jeroen Raes is featured in the second episode that you can watch it in Dutch on VRT MAX.

There are millions of bacteria in our intestines. And that's good, because they help with the digestion of your food. Everyone has their own little ecosystem of gut bacteria, with different types and amounts. Is there such a thing as the ideal gut flora? That's what Jeroen Raes, a microbiologist at KU Leuven, is searching for. Every day he receives stool samples to examine. There is certainly one ingredient that does not belong in the perfect gut flora, and that is: antibiotics!

Listen to this podcast from the "Universiteit van Vlaanderen" (in Dutch).