Category: Microbiome

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Good vs Bad Gut Bacteria

There is an ongoing battle going on for survival in your intestines between good vs bad bacteria. And the winning team is directionally proportional to how many plant based foods you eat. Space and nutrients are limited, and only the strongest will survive. Researchers estimate over 100 trillion microbes from anywhere between 500-1000 different species residing within the human intestines, alongside countless numbers of viruses and fungi. The composition and balance of these bacteria are constantly changing, with factors such as age, diet, lifestyle and antibiotic exerting the most influence.

Beneficial Gut Bacteria

The good guys (such as Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus) live symbiotically with us, thriving on plant based prebiotic fibers (the more colorful the better) and resistant starches (the parts of grains, seeds, legumes we are unable to digest) and converting them into inflammation reducing short chain fatty acids and brain boosting neurotransmitters. The metabolites they produce in the way of short chain fatty acids also help to maintain a low acid environment in the colon, which discourages the growth of acid loving pathogenic bacteria. As if those benefits are not enough to make you want to add more fruits and vegetables to your diet, these healthy bacteria also make important contributions to human metabolism and physiology by converting the plant based fibers we are unable to digest and into enzymes and vitamins (such as B & K).

Harmful Gut Bacteria

On the other hand, the bad guys, or more harmful bacteria that can take over, love processed high sugar / fat foods and are scientifically proven to produce pro inflammatory endotoxic byproducts. When they overgrow and crowd out the good guys and cause a condition known as dysbiosis (basically this means the bacteria in the gut is imbalanced) this can trigger a bigger problem – leaky gut syndrome. Leaky gut syndrome happens when the delicate intestinal lining which protects our bodies from the outside world of potential toxins and pathogenic invaders is compromised, and it is with this loss of gut barrier function that endotoxins are allowed to pass from the gut lumen into systemic circulation. GI disorders, obesity, cardiovascular diseases, allergy and central nervous system-related diseases can all manifest under these circumstances.

Armed with this knowledge, we can connect the dots and understand how our bodies, by way of our healthy bacteria, benefit from consuming more plants. Let’s make feedings the good guys, and starving out the bad ones a daily practice. 

For those interested in learning more about how nutrition impacts the gut microbiome, here is a highly recommended presentation given by Dr. Alessio Fasano, chief of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition at Mass General Hospital for Children. In this video he presents evidence on the connection between nutrition, microbiota composition, key intestinal functions, including gut permeability, and immune response leading to chronic inflammatory diseases.

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Our Microbes Matter!

Why Do our Microbes Matter?

It is estimated that the average adult has 39 trillion microbial cells living in it, including within the gut microbiome as well as externally living on our skin. For some relative perspective, 117 billion members of our species have ever been born on Earth. 

Until fairly recently, it was difficult for researchers to fathom the significance of this number and relative importance of these microbial communities that live symbiotically with us. Over the past ten years, over $1.7 billion dollars have been spent on microbiome research, with no sign of investment in this area slowing down. In the past several years alone close to 1000 clinical trials studies have been conducted involving microbiome related research.

What is at the root of all this intense and expensive curiosity?

We must not forget, it was the Ancient Greek physician Hippocrates who said close to 2500 years ago “All Disease Begins in the Gut.” These words grounded in medical wisdom were a prescient prescription for preventative medicine and carry an incredibly profound message, and here is why:

The gut is where we interact with the world

The gut is the first point of contact with not just food, but all sorts of environmental “stuff” we come in contact with on a regular basis … bacteria, viruses, chemicals, etc. It is no coincidence that it is within the gut that 80% of the immune system resides.

When foods are consumed that can trigger inflammatory responses due to intolerances or food allergies, this can cause inflammation to occur in the lining of the GI tract, which is where food is absorbed into the body. Our gut lining, which covers over 4000 square feet of surface area, normally acts as a tight barrier that controls what gets into our bloodstream. However, chronic intestinal inflammation can cause the gut lining to breakdown, causing a condition known as “leaky gut syndrome.”

Eventually this can lead to alterations in the gut microbiome as bacteria can translocate to other parts of the body as well cause undigested food and other toxins to penetrate through the gut wall. As research continues to evolve in this area, we are learning more about the connection between what we eat, how our bodies and microbiome respond, and how it may play a role in the development of chronic diseases. But we don’t have to wait until the specific dots connecting underlying disease pathophysiologies are discovered. Instead we can all benefit from feeding our microbiomes the high fiber, whole foods based colorful and nourishing foods it needs to not just survive, but thrive and protect us from disease and inflammatory distress.