Catalyst: Oct 17 / 24

Catalyst has a 2 part look special “Gut Revolution” which follows two people with debilitating gut issues, including a former Biggest Loser contestant, on their quest for better health.

This will air across 2 weeks.

Who is really in the driver’s seat – your brain or your gut bugs?

Is your mood influencing your gastrointestinal health – or is it the other way around?

Can a simple nutritional intervention succeed where modern medicine has little to offer?

Is the secret to our physical and mental health hidden in our poo?

Gut Revolution, seeks to sort the facts from the faeces in a two-part observational series that follows two people with debilitating gut issues on their quest for better health. Could changing their gut bugs turn their health around in just six weeks?

Stepping up for the challenge is Garry, a former Biggest Loser contestant now desperate to stop his yoyo dieting cycle before diabetes sets in, as well as young mum Melissa, who is battling hourly bouts of irritable bowel syndrome.

Their journey starts and ends with a poo sample revealing the unique bacterial fingerprint that makes up each of their individual gut microbiomes – and charts their transformational gut odyssey over time.

Supporting them on their quest to harness the hidden power of their gut flora is nutrition scientist, Dr Joanna McMillan. She will design a specialised diet for each of them on the advice of her microbiome ‘brains trust’; a cross-disciplinary team comprised of Professor Felice Jacka, a specialist in the emerging area of the mind-gut axis, leading gastroenterologist, Professor Rupert Leong, and gut microbiome microbiologist, Associate Professor Andrew Holmes.

Working together for the first time, Joanna and her specialist brains trust will carefully consider the latest mind, body, and gut science as they pool their experience to try and change their volunteer participants’ lives – and gut bugs – for the better.

In the first episode, screening Tuesday 17 October, 8.30pm on ABC & ABC iview, 26-year-old mother of two Melissa has been battling a painful case of irritable bowel syndrome for the past two years. She’s seen all the doctors and had all the investigations but no one has been able to help her. Can the latest science driving the Gut Revolution provide any answers? We follow Melissa over her transformational six-week journey as our team of experts design an intervention that literally changes her life.

In the second episode, screening Tuesday 24 October, 8.30pm on ABC & ABC iview, Garry has tried it all to lose weight, from The Biggest Loser to meal replacement shakes. And despite temporary victories, the kilos always pile back on. Are Garry’s gut bacteria keeping him fat and can the Gut Revolution help him? Nutrition scientist Dr Joanna McMillan and her team of experts explore new and controversial science that suggests gut bacteria might just be affecting our appetites and moods.

8:30pm Tuesday October 17 & 24 on ABC.