The Gut-Brain Connection: Microbiome

From cravings to mood and immune health to pain responses the gut brain connection lies at the root of many of our clients’ health concerns. In our practice we emphasize enhancing barrier function, digestion and absorption, neurotransmitter production and more with one of our main emphasis points being rehabilitating the microbiome. This blog will lightly touch on the microbiome aspect of the gut brain connection.

 

The microbiome is the collection of microorganisms that live in and on you.  There are TRILLIONS of them.  These organisms that I affectionately call your “bugs” are mostly comprised of bacteria and also include fungi, viruses and protozoa.  They weigh roughly as much as your brain and outnumber your own cells approximately 10 to 1.  With 99% of the DNA that is on or in you being bacterial and only 1% being mammalian I put a LOT of weight into the health of your microbiome as being a huge predicator of whether your body is susceptible to disease or will experience good health and longevity.

Humans have outsourced so many essential metabolic functions to the microbiome that scientists have had to start to reconsider what it actually means to be human.  Just to name a FEW of the things that the microbiome regulates, we’ve got:

 

• Allergies
• Anxiety
• Autoimmunity: via gut barrier function
• Breakdown of oxalates (got kidney stones?)
• Depression (over 90% of your serotonin is MADE in the gut)
• Diabetes
• Fatigue
• Food choices (some bugs can even change how you crave foods so that you want more of what keeps them alive!)
• GERD / Acid Reflux / Chronic Heartburn
• High Cholesterol
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome
• Learning disabilities
• Metabolism
• Nervous system responses (AKA stress!)
• Obesity
• Pain set point: via inflammatory cytokines
• Schizophrenia

….and this is my short list!

 

Dysbiosis is what we call microbial imbalance or maladaptation of our bugs both inside and on our bodies.  When we are under chronic stress, have a history of antibiotic usage or lack the nutrient intake to feed good bugs our microbiome becomes damaged and bad bugs start taking over the prime real-estate.  We need an abundance of healthy and happy commensal bacteria, the guys that help our bodies get stuff done, to thrive and be able to respond to our environment.

Diversity of the microbiome promotes resilience and flexibility which leads to health.  “A robust and diverse microbiome is important for an appropriate immune response and plays a key role in digestion” (Cho & Blaser, 2012).

Probiotics…prebiotics…and fermented food.

Good quality probiotics, ones that have actual living bugs in them, can alter the microbiome in about 24 hrs but research shows us that it won’t stay that way unless you make a permanent dietary and lifestyle change. How the heck do you do that?  By managing your stress, healing your gut and eating colorful foods and plant-based proteins both of which are full of prebiotics (aka bacterial food).  Refined starches and sugars and foods laden with preservatives (anything highly processed) are really hard on the microbiome.  These food-like substances actually inhibit good commensal bacterial growth while feeding opportunist bugs that don’t do jack squat for us except increase our inflammation and risk of disease.  Lame, I know. A great way to increase your microbial diversity is through fermented foods.  Ferments can be as easy as massaging up some cabbage and salt and letting it chill on your counter for a few days or buying specific brands of fermented foods like Eden brand Miso, Bubbies pickles or Ume Plum vinegar.  Research has shown that a single bite of sauerkraut contains more commensal bacterial organisms in a greater diversity than you can ever get from probiotics.

Picky eater? No problem.  Check out this video of my SUPER picky 5-year-old trying homemade sauerkraut for the first time (it helped that she made it herself…seriously it’s that easy people).  Intolerance to fermented foods?  Hmm…maybe you need to talk to a Nutritionist who can help you identify why your body is reacting that way!

Been there done that…

If you feel like you’ve heard this before and decided to pop a few probiotics and didn’t notice any difference in your health goals, PLEASE don’t give up.  There is SO much going on when we attempt to regulate the microbiome to change our health, but it can be done.  Sometimes, using intentional methods based on research and individualized nutritional counseling, results are evident within weeks! Create lasting results in your health by finding a qualified practitioner who knows how to help you build a comfy home for good bacteria and to make sure you get the right little buggy dudes at the appropriate places and from the best sources.

We can’t change our mammalian genome even if we try hard to make those epigenetic switches turn on or off by using genetic testing and nutrigenomics.  We can’t just Yoga our way out of chronic heartburn or live on a constant diet to try to manage our weight. We CANNOT pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps if our body is not making enough serotonin.  However, we CAN alter our microbial genome that, until now, has been largely ignored and is undoubtedly a major key to helping you reach your health goals.

With each body being unique there is no one “right way” to address these concerns but with an individualized approach and custom recommendations for order of operations, supplements, nutrition and lifestyle interventions we work to help our clients achieve balance in all these areas of concern.