According to Cowan, your gut bacteria love polyphenols, which are a group of plant-based chemicals with potent antioxidant abilities. “Dark red fruits, like pomegranates, cherries, dark grapes, wild blueberries, raspberries, blackberries…these all contain molecules called polyphenols, which are essentially antioxidant molecules,” she explains. “So in addition to scavenging free radicals, they also directly feed these bacteria [and] serve as a food source.”
