'Based on fact and science': How this €25 loaf of bread is helping people with gut issues

Karen O’Donoghue is on a mission to improve people’s gut health through the bread she bakes at her Westport bakery,

Karen O'Donoghue, founder of The Happy Tummy Co in Westport, at work. Photo: Karen Cox

THE Happy Tummy Co in Westport is named after bread-activist Karen O’Donoghue’s signature loaf. It’s an organic wholegrain chia teff bread that is soaked for two days. She calls this her happy tummy bread and credits it with alleviating her IBS (irritable bowel syndrome).

“I created the bread to get rid of my IBS,” O’Donoghue says. “I could have very long bouts of constipation and go for three weeks at a time with one stool movement, which had a huge impact on my mental and physical health.”