The gut microbiome
« If we want to be healthy, we need a healthy gut microbiome. »
INSPIRED BY :
Dr Will Bulsiewicz
U.S. medical director
author of :
Fiber fueled
What are microbes ?
They are microorganisms that cover our entire body, from the top of our head to the tip of our toes.
We can’t see them but they’re there. Every single external part of our body is covered with them.
38 trillions microbes are concentrated in our colon, in the large intestine.
It’s mostly bacteria, in addition to fungi, parasites, and viruses.
Microbes were the first life on the planet and all life evolved with them. They are our partners, they are here to help us and make us healthier.
2. How do gut microbes get in our bodies ?
We inherit some but our microbiome is evolving throughout our life.
We start getting in contact with microbes in our mother’s womb.
We really get to meet them when the water breaks and they enter into the uterus.
We are particularly exposed to them as we pass through the birth canal.
When breastfed, we inherit some more.
We’re even more exposed to them once we’re out in the big wide world.
We get to share microbes with people we share spaces and have close physical interaction with.
We can enrich our microbiome through our diet.
3. What do microbes do ?
They affect everything that matters for human health.
They help :
accomplish digestion : they break down our food to provide energy to our body.
train our immune system : during the first 3 years of life, they have a massive impact on whether or not we will develop allergic or autoimmune issues.
They affect :
our metabolism
our brain health
our hormones
4. What is the link between our gut and our metabolism?
Metabolism is dealing with the currency of energy.
It is the engine that drives us.
It consists in :
our blood sugar response
our blood fat response
our cholesterol levels
our visceral adiposity
The microbiome regulates every single one of these things. It plays an essential and critical role in our blood sugar response and our blood fat response after a meal.
The gut microbes produce short chain fatty acids that have the ability to activate certain receptors and cells. By activating these, they allow us to have more sensitivity to insuline, reduce fat storage or enhance fat burning.
5. What is the connection between the gut and the brain?
The brain is our gut’s best friend.
They talk to each other in different ways.
The gut produces neurotransmitters :
95 % of the serotonine (the happy hormone)
50 % of the dopamine (the reward hormone)
There are over 30 neurotransmitters that signal the brain through the vagus nerve.
The gut also produces metabolites :
short chain fatty acids
They have the ability to cross the blood brain barrier and influence our mood and our focus.
Microbes affect our cognition, our memory, and our concentration.
6. What is the relationship between our gut microbiome and our immune system ?
70 % of the immune system is in the gut.
The bone marrow is the place where the immune cells are born.
They then immigrate out and take up residence within the walls of our intestine.
The gut is the most vulnerable part of our body : it is where we get into contact with the outside world, and where we make decisions to reject or to allow and absorb.
The gut barrier is called the epithelial layer : it is made of a single layer of cells that are held together by tight junctions.
On one side of the barrier is 70 % of our immune system.
On the other side are 38 trillion microbes.
7. What health issues is the gut microbiome associated to?
We can associate a lot of health issues to the gut.
Gut problems like :
viral bowel syndrome, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, celiac disease, acid reflux…
There are also other conditions associated with a damaged microbiome :
an increased likelihood of obesity, allergic conditions (food allergies, asthma), and autoimmune conditions (type 1 diabetes)
hyperlipidemia, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, major depression
endometriosis, polycystic ovary syndrome, erectile dysfunction
8. What can damage our gut microbiome?
There are several reasons why we might develop gut-related issues :
being born by a non vaginal delivery
not having been breastfed
the use of antibiotics
our emotional state : many people manifest their stress in their gut
exposure to trauma : a traumatic experience makes us far more likely to develop digestive and gut-related issues
alcohol consumption : even in minimal amounts, alcohol is causing problems for our gut microbes. When blood alcohol goes up, lipopolysaccharide (a bacterial endotoxin) causes inflammation.
a low-fibre diet : the Western ultra-processed diet can induce a loss of some families of microbes. By adding back fibre, we can restore it on some level but not all the way back to the starting point.
an inherited loss of microbial diversity : this can take place as a result of our food choices and compound over a series of generations
9. What happens if our gut microbiome is damaged?
Our gut barrier breaks down.
Things that are inside our intestines can get access to our body.
They can get into our bloodstream and potentially cause a whole body infection.
The immune system is forced to react and inflammation occurs.
Chronic inflammation keeps the immune system perpetually active.
10. How do we fix the gut barrier ?
The microbes help to repair it.
Every 3 or 4 days, they help us completely transform and recreate the gut barrier.
The gut microbes themselves turn over every 20 minutes : they replicate. One microbe that is fed will spawn at least 1000 of new microbes in 24 hours.
Food changes microbes in humans.
All of our choices ultimately impact the gut microbes and transform the physiology within our body.
What we choose to eat will feed specific families of microbes and allow them to thrive.
The way to lift the microbes up is by :
consuming fermented foods (sauerkraut, kimchi, pickles…). They are high in prebiotics (microbes), probiotics (food that feeds them), and postbiotics (chemicals they release that have beneficial effects on our bodies). Fermented foods allow to increase the diversity.
eating 30 different plants per week (fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, legumes, seeds...). As plants are rich in fibre, every single plant choice is fuel for a healthy gut microbiome.
The choices that we make today will have an effect on our microbiome within 24 hours.
The people we surround ourselves with have an impact on our psychology and physiology.
Their positive influence can help alleviate stress and heal the wound of trauma which helps healing the gut.
When the relationship is strong (shared space, connection through physical interaction or sex), they also share more microbes with us.
11. Why are plants beneficial to humans?
The fibre contained in plants comes into contact with microbes which in turn release short chain fatty acids, the most anti-inflammatory molecules.
Short chain fatty acids such as acetate and propionate are postbiotics : they’re the product of consuming fibre or resistant starches.
They build the wall to protect the body and reduce inflammation.
They directly affect our immune system, our metabolism, and get into our bloodstream.
They cross the blood brain barrier and get access to our brain.
Our immune cells have receptors to receive the short chain fatty acids and act upon the information they receive.
Through these signalling molecules, our gut microbiome is talking to our body telling it what it wants our body to do : it has the ability to flip genes off and on, and to turn down our immune system.
When we consume more fibre :
we loose weight, our blood pressure goes down, our cholesterol goes down, our blood sugar control improves
we are less likely to have a heat attack, a heart disease, a stroke or to be diagnosed with diabetes or different types of cancer
12. How to increase fibre consumption?
Fibre is so crucial and important to our health but there is a major fibre deficiency in many countries.
Women should get 25 g/day but only get 15
Men should get 38 g/day but only get 18
Start low and go slow
We are 100 % reliant on our microbes to digest our fibre for us. When we are low on our fibre consumption, increasing it is hard because we don’t have the enzymes to break it down.
Adding a little bit at a time slowly over the course of weeks if not months allows our microbes to keep up and adjust to what we’re doing.
The more our gut has been trained, the more capable of work it is. As we train it by exposing it to different foods, it becomes more capable of consuming those foods over time and we can eat whatever we want.
13. F-goals
Fibre is unique to individual plants.
All plants contain fibre but every single plant has a unique form of fibre and will feed unique families of microbes as a result.
Each family of microbes is there with a purpose. The loss of a species can become problematic.
The diversity of the microbiome is a measure of the health of your microbiome.
This is why variety is key.
F for :
fruit : people who consume more fruit are less likely to get diabetes and more likely to lose weight
fermented foods : they add more diversity
G for :
greens : they have almost no calories but are very nutritious
grains : unrefined whole grains are gut microbiome foods high in fibre and resistant starches
O for :
omega-3 superseeds : chia, flax, hemp, walnuts contain healthy fats
A for :
aromatics : onions, garlic, shallots are great for our heart and protect us from cancer
L for :
legumes : beans, peas, lentils are gut health foods : they are high in fibre, in resistant starches, and polyphenols all of which are prebiotics. They are also longevity foods : people who eat more beans live longer with less disease. Legumes reduce the likelihood of heart disease, cancer, stroke, and diabetes.
S for :
‘shrooms : mushrooms are fungi and contain fibre
seaweed : a unique source of fibre
sprouts : they contain sulfurane, a cancer fighting chemical. They are tremendously high in fibre, protein, and phytochemicals (there are 50 to 100 more cancer fighting chemicals in a pinch of broccoli sprouts than in an entire head of broccoli).
For a healthy gut microbiome, there are things we need to restrict but there are also so many things we can add.
14. Takeaways
Diet, Movement, Sleep, Connection, Mental health
For a healthy microbiome :
eat a wide variety of plants (fibre)
add fermented food to your diet (diversity)
reduce alcohol consumption
get outside, exercise
get a good night’s rest
spend time with friends and family
hug the person you care about
have sex
heal the wound of trauma
handle your stress
15. In short
Dietary and lifestyle changes can prevent, reverse or make it easier to control diseases by working on the real cause.
Drugs cover the symptoms but they do not fix the problem and their benefits are often clear but the cost is unobvious.
Understanding the path forward to a longer life with less diseases and more vitality is the goal. We can make sustainable choices that make us excited and energised and that make our lives more abundant.
By doing this, we’ll reap the rewards which include better mental and physical health. And we’ll get to pass on to our children way more than genes and microbes : a healthy lifestyle that will keep them healthy as well.
by : antιdrastιc element
based on : Dr Will Buelsewicz interview on DOAC
The No.1 Poo and Gut Scientist : If Your Poo looks Like This Go to A Doctor!
photo credιt : www.zoe.com
ιmages credιt : vectorstate
