Gut health is a hot topic in Eastern and Western Medicine. The gut has so much more responsibility than just our digestive health! More and more prominent research shows a direct correlation between our immune system and the gut.
New research has shown that 70%-80% of immune cells are in the gut. Trillions of bacteria live in our gut, good and bad, so they are just loaded with bacteria! All the bacteria in our gut are known as the gut microbiome or microbiota.
So, what are the roles of these little bugs?
The role of our microbes is to assist with digestion, make specific vitamins, break down toxins, and train our immune system. I am very interested in gut health and its link to immunity. Many immune/autoimmune conditions can be potentially tied to the gut’s health.
Often, immune conditions throw us off because of their manifestations and symptoms, but more research shows that these symptoms point to gut health and integrity. The gut is at the heart of everything! Some of the top specialists at Harvard University Medical are looking at how our enormous microbiome impacts and potentially improves many current health conditions.
Elizabeth Hohmann of Infectious Diseases at Harvard University says the Gut microbiome is a new frontier of medicine now being looked at as an additional organ system and can have powerful effects on our gastrointestinal health and overall well-being.
Much like everything that makes us unique, we also have a unique microbiome specific to us. Our microbiomes are impacted by age, nutrition/diet, environment, genetics, medications(specifically antibiotics and NSAIDS), alcohol, etc.
What is dysbiosis?
Often, after an illness that requires the use of an antibiotic, the gut becomes dysbiotic. “Dys-bi-what?” Gut dysbiosis is a term used to describe an unbalanced state of bacteria and other pathogens in the gut. While antibiotics will most likely eliminate your illness, symptoms, and the bad bacteria making you sick, it also wipes out your good bacteria.
This means the“good” bugs are gone too, which can throw your microbiome into an unbalanced state. An unbalanced microbiome due to repetitive antibiotic use is now becoming a very large health concern due to antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria called “superbugs.”
Millions of patients are now being diagnosed with infections that are resistant to antibiotics that not long ago would have wiped out their illness fairly easily. Managing antibiotic resistance is very scary. Despite many multi-faceted efforts, some bacteria are still unresponsive.
How to improve gut health
The good news is that there are some things you can do starting today to restore your health. It can be achieved easily through a good quality probiotic, eating more fermented foods, and consuming a whole-food organic diet whenever possible.
Choosing a quality whole-food digestive enzyme supplement, reserving antibiotic and NSAID use only when essential, controlling alcohol and caffeine intake, and avoiding processed foods, sugars, GMOs, pesticides, hormones, and other unnatural food additives and chemicals. Our diet and nutrition significantly affect gut and immune system health.
A Harvard study shows that our diets can alter the population of microbes in the gut and the types of genes expressed by gut bacteria in as little as just one day {1}. Therefore, our diets play a huge role in supporting and balancing our microbiome.
In many ways, our microbiomes can be altered and controlled by us via our health choices. Often, gut dysbiosis and other microbiome alterations (and gut pH alterations) can lead to increased inflammation, gastrointestinal issues, and food sensitivities. This is a great reason to take an inflammation and food sensitivity lab test from allergytest.co.
The results will help you personalize your nutrition based on your individual and personalized needs. Taking steps to improve gut health will always be beneficial! Often, the gut has been left unbalanced for a long time and requires more extensive healing.
In addition to the care of your licensed medical doctor, I highly recommend seeing a trusted functional health practitioner who can guide you through a highly effective whole-food gut health restoration program. Eastern Medicine has stressed the importance of probiotics and fermented foods for a very long time. Western and eastern schools of thought are merging on this subject.
They agree that good bacteria in the gut may be the answer to many health conditions, specifically the strength of the immune system and autoimmune symptoms and conditions. Thus, the gut is essentially one of the main gatekeepers of our body. We should be very selective about what we let in and out of it (we have some control over it!).
If you find intolerance or allergy symptoms affecting your gut, getting yourself an Allergy and Intolerance Test is important to help you avoid these foods that cause issues.
References
- Sue-Ellen Anderson-Haynes (2021). Diet, disease, and the microbiome. (https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/diet-disease-and-the-microbiome-2021042122400#)
- https://www.healthline.com/health/digestive-health/dysbiosis
- https://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/what-is-dysbiosis
- https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/improve-gut-bacteria
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33803407/
