The secrets of your gut

How to Improve Your Gut Health

We normally think of our gut as a place where our poop comes from. Everything we eat somehow gets processed in our gut and whatever is left gets dumped into the toilet. But it turns out that the gut is the centre of a biomedical revolution. And a balanced microbiome is crucial for maintaining health. A dysbiosis, an imbalance in the gut, can contribute to various health problems. Diseases like anxiety and depression, cancer, autism, Parkinson's and food allergies are all related to the gut. 

Our gut affects our whole body. It can even affect certain conditions in the brain. A dysbiosis can also affect the regulation of fat storage and insulin sensitivity, contributing to obesity and type 2 diabetes. Also conditions such as IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome), IBD (Inflammatory Bowel Disease), celiac disease, and non-celiac gluten sensitivity, allergies and asthma are directly linked to gut health.

The second brain

The gut is also called the second brain, and from an evolutionary perspective our brain has never existed without signals coming from the gut. Even our language betrays this connection. When we are disappointed we are ‘gutted’, when we feel brave we make ‘gutsy moves’ or 'it takes guts to do something like that', when we are nervous we have ‘butterflies in our tummy’, and an unhappy person is a ‘misery guts’. When someone tells you ´to trust your gut´, they mean that you should try and get signals from your gut before you make a decision. 

The gut-brain-axis is the two-way-street of communication between the gut and the brain, involving neural, hormonal, and immunological pathways. Alterations in gut microbiota are associated with mental health issues, such as depression, anxiety, and stress-related disorders. The gut also produces neurotransmitters like serotonin, which influence mood and behaviour. Gut problems can cause disruptions in the production of serotonin which can lead to mental issues like depression. 

There are often co-occurrences of gut problems with brain problems. It’s very common in autism, in Parkinson’s disease, but also in stress-related psychiatric illnesses, like anxiety and depression. Which came first is always the question. People with certain depression-like symptoms are often missing bacteria in their gut that produce chemicals which shape brain chemistry. That changes how you feel. And it can lead to the onset of depression. 

When you give a normal mouse microbes from a healthy person and give them the opportunity to explore, they will go to light areas and they will be inquisitive. Whereas if you give them the microbes from a depressed individual, they will huddle into dark areas and they will develop stress, anxiety and depression. The changes were found in the chemicals involved in serotonin, the mood molecule, in their gut and in their brain. When we added bacteria into these animals that are often missing in people who are depressed it diminished that depression response. So they may still have depression, but they won’t feel it as badly. 

The microbiome

We can’t digest without microbes, viruses, bacteria, and yeast. The microbiome is the collection of all microbes, such as bacteria, fungi, viruses, and their genes, that naturally live on our bodies and inside us. Although microbes are so small that you can only see them with a microscope, they contribute in massively to human health and wellness.

Microbiome is all the microscopic life in and on your body. Approximately 70% of our immune system lives in our gut. Bacteria train the immune system to respond to bad organisms that might have a consequence on our health. They help produce chemicals. Microbes can shape our hormones and they can make us feel hungry or full. They communicate with the brain or other organs. They shape our brain early in life and as we get older. 

The microbiome could be the key to health

We shape our microbiome by all the little choices and adventures we have in our life. What we eat, stress, what relationships we have, who we kiss, if we have pets, exercise, etc. That’s why everyone has a unique microbiome. This is exciting, because you can’t change your genes, but you can change your own microbes through simple changes to your diet and your lifestyle. The gut immune system is dynamic and continuously adapts to change in diet, other lifestyle changes, microbiota composition and exposure to new antigens.

Modern influences

Gut problems have become more common due to several big changes to our environment. The Western diet, C-sections, baby formula, sanitation, antibiotics, all lead to decrease of the microbiome diversity. Hundreds of microbial species have gone extinct. A huge amount of the calories we eat are from ultra processed food. The food is ultra refined, it’s been stripped of its original natural nutrients. Then all types of chemicals and large amounts of sugars and are added. It’s confusing to know what to eat, because it’s made to look healthy by adding labels on the package that say low-cal, vegan, or extra vitamins.

Inflammation and Chronic Diseases

We often tend to believe that our human genes determine our health. In fact, we now know that epigenetics play a crucial role. Factors like environmental cues and lifestyle can affect how genes are turned on or off and how cells read the genes. We now know that the microbiome is very central to being obese, being depressed, having allergies, or to how stressed or relaxed you feel.  Gut symbiosis and barrier dysfunction (leaky gut) can lead to systemic inflammation, which is linked to chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and certain cancers.

The importance of a natural start

It all starts when we are born (vaginal birth). After birth, the newborn gut is colonised by a diverse array of microorganisms from the mother’s vagina, the first microbial colonists. This colonisation is critical for the development and maturation of the gut immune system. It helps the baby stay healthy later on in life. Babies delivered via C-section miss out on those first, useful, gut-colonising bacteria. C-section delivery, though usually necessary and lifesaving, represents a major disruption to early life microbial colonisation. 

There is significant evidence that children delivered by C-section are at increased risk for a range of chronic inflammatory and metabolic conditions, with the most evidence for obesity and atopy, but also including systemic connective tissue disorders, inflammatory bowel disease, juvenile arthritis, immune deficiencies, and leukemia. Because of this knowledge, maternal-child microbial seeding interventions are becoming more common. This is a process by which a C-section-delivered baby receives exposure to the maternal microbes which they would have been exposed to if they were born via a vaginal birth. During this process, a sterile gauze is inserted into the mother’s vagina prior to C-section delivery and then wiped over the newborn’s mouth, face, and rest of the body, in an attempt to replicate exposure in a vaginal birth. 

Fecal Microbial Transplant (FMT)

With a fecal Microbial Transplant (FMT) faeces from someone else are put into the body of an infected patient. You take the bacterial community from a healthy person and put it inside the colon, in order to repopulate your gut bacteria inside there. It’s a procedure that has a 90% cure rate. With FMT there is really compelling evidence, but the science is still developing.

Modern medicine is very much about treating the symptoms of a disease, rather than the underlying problems that lead to it. The microbiome is a game changer for medicine, because everyone can be their own pharmacist just by picking the right foods to eat. It’s about building up a relationship with the gut. It’s about just listening to your body to create a smarter body feeling and a healthier body.

There is a probable link  between disruptions to the microbiome and Autism or ADHD. In many cases of autism there are children who have diarrhoea or severe constipation. In other brain diseases like Parkinson’s, we often see an onset of constipation, sometimes even decades before the actual brain disease manifests. When we add missing bacteria into the mice, their symptoms improve. It’s a natural thing. Just naturally rebalancing that ecosystem and that chemistry inside the body. 

How can we maintain a healthy gut?

A natural birth provides a good start and breastfeeding also adds to building a diverse microbiome. Maintaining or recreating a healthy gut involves a combination of dietary choices, a diet rich in fiber, fruits and vegetables and fermented foods support a healthy gut. Regular exercise, adequate sleep and stress management also contribute to gut health.

Sometimes great results are achieved by just a couple of lifestyle modifications and in many cases the use of supplements. By integrating these practices into your daily routine, you can help maintain or restore a healthy gut, which in turn supports overall well-being.

Dietary Choices

Foods rich in fiber, like fruit, vegetables and whole grains promote the growth of beneficial gut bacteria. Fermented Foods, like yoghurt, kefir, kombucha, sauerkraut and kimchi contain probiotics that help maintain a healthy gut microbiota. Prebiotic foods, like garlic, onions, bananas, leeks, asparagus and oats contain prebiotics, which are non-digestible fibers that feed beneficial gut bacteria. Limit Sugar and Processed Foods. High sugar and processed foods can promote the growth of harmful bacteria and contribute to dysbiosis. Eat healthy fats. Incorporate sources of healthy fats such as olive oil, avocados, nuts, and seeds, which can have anti-inflammatory effects. Drink enough water. Adequate water intake is essential for maintaining the mucosal lining of the intestines and supporting the digestive process.

Regular Exercise

Regular exercise, or physical activity  has been shown to positively influence gut microbiota composition and diversity. It also helps in maintaining a healthy weight and reducing inflammation.

Stress Management

Chronic stress can negatively impact gut health and lead to dysbiosis. Engage in stress-reducing activities such as meditation, yoga, breathing exercises, and mindfulness. 

Manage your Circadian Rythm

Make sure you get adequate sleep. Poor sleep can affect gut microbiota and overall health. It’s not only important to sleep long enough, but it’s also important to get sufficient deep sleep. This is when the immune system has time to repair en heal. 

Avoid Smoking and Limit Alcohol

Smoking negatively affects gut health and the composition of gut microbiota. Also excessive alcohol consumption can harm the gut lining and alter microbiota balance. 

Variety

A diverse diet helps promote a diverse microbiota, which is associated with better gut health. Try to include a wide range of different foods in your diet. Aiming for about 100 different food types in a week is a feasible goal, when you include herbs, nuts and seeds.