David Stock for New Scientist

Megan Rossi is a research fellow at King’s College London and a dietician and founder of the Gut Health Clinic at Harley Street in London. Her background as a clinical dietician and sports nutritionist in Australia helped her realise the depth of the link between what we eat, the bacteria in our gut and how we feel, subjects she now researches at King’s. Her book Eat Yourself Healthy is published on 19 September. Megan will also be appearing at New Scientist Live in London on 12 October to talk about we can better look after our gut health.

Read more: Gut feeling – How a healthy microbiome helps beat stress and lift mood

It made me laugh when you said in your book that “intimate kisses” can transfer bacteria between partners. Are there consequences?

There are millions of bacteria in our saliva, so we’d like to see if these impact our partners’ health in some way. In observational studies, there’s an increased risk of being obese if you have an obese partner. Of course, this may just be down to your shared eating environment, but there’s a theory that you might also be sharing bacteria that are associated with obesity.

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How did you become The Gut Health Doctor? It’s not the most glamorous specialism.

I’ve always had a huge passion for food. During my dietetic degree, my grandma passed away of bowel cancer. I had a very negative relationship with the gut, for making her go through all that pain. But when I was working as …