Spring is generally a positive time unless you are someone who associates spring with sneezing, itching and a blocked or runny nose. Knowing that the air is going to be full of pollen soon, is there anything we can do to help our body adjust?

Interestingly, our gut health can play a big role in our immune system balance. Poor gut integrity can mean that food particles, bacteria and other things that should stay within the gut, get through to the bloodstream and trigger our immune defences. This can make us more reactive to foods and airborne allergens. Also, poor gut health can affect the balance of our beneficial gut bacteria, which communicate with our immune system. This makes fixing up our gut a priority for immune system balance.

Here are our 5 tips to help this:

• Reduce foods that commonly cause food sensitivities when you are fixing up your gut. This gives it time to heal and helps your immune system get into balance. Gluten and dairy are often culprits
• Increase bioflavonoids and Vitamin C in your diet, as they help strengthen the gut wall and our immune cell membranes making them less reactive to foods and pollen. Flavonoids like quercetin, rutin and hesperidin can be found alongside Vitamin C in brightly coloured fruit and vegetables
• Use a gut healing formula to support gut repair
• Reduce things like alcohol, coffee, smoking and processed foods that can negatively affect gut health
• Support the balance of beneficial bacteria. Probiotics can be helpful in this area. Also, prebiotics provide nourishment to grow good bacteria. This means increasing fibre in the diet from fresh fruit and vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds.