The world’s knowledge about gut health is still pretty young and somewhat unproven. Embarking on a journey to understand how your gut microbiome works (and why on earth you should care) can be long and arduous, but it’s worth it!
What Is Gut Microbiota?
Among the most confusing parts of understanding the gut microbiome is nomenclature! “Gut microbiome,” or microbial biome, refers to the genetic information housed in microbiota (also known as flora). At the end of the day, the gut biome, microbiome, microbiota, flora – or whatever else you want to call it – is essentially talking about the same thing.
We humans have bacteria living in a number of environments within our bodies; gut microbiota is the bacteria that makes its home in our intestines. Our guts actually house upwards of 1000 species of bacteria at any given time. Some of that bacteria is common to everyone, more (around two-thirds) of it is unique to individuals.
What Does Gut Flora or Bacteria Do?
Gut bacteria is generally understood to play an important role in at least the following:
- Digestion
- Vitamin production
- Immune system
Why Should I Care About My Gut Bacteria?
You may have heard of “good bugs” vs. “bad bugs” – it’s becoming more and more apparent that we have some measure of control over the larger slice of unique bacteria in our guts and can actively work to increase good bacteria and decrease the bad. Our environment, the food we eat, and so on, can all affect the unique bacteria in our guts. The more diverse the bacteria, the better!
According to Medical News Today, low-diversity in the gut microbiome can have major health implications, including:
- Obesity
- Cancer
- Mental health issues (APA says 95% of serotonin is produced by gut bacteria)
How Can I Improve My Gut Bacteria?
If food and environment impact our gut microbiome, we must have the ability to influence what bacteria is present. The two major ways to impact your specific gut flora are diet and exercise. A healthy diet full of fermented foods, fruits and vegetables can impact gut health tremendously. Interestingly enough, we’re able to change the makeup of our gut bacteria very rapidly. This can be both good and bad.
Use of antibiotics is a hot button issue when it comes to gut health. Antibiotics have the ability to rapidly change your gut microbiome, arguably for the worse. However, rebuilding a healthy gut can also be a relatively quick process.
Through efforts like the elimination diet, individuals can begin to learn more about their particular needs.
It’s no surprise that exercise can help to prevent obesity, but beyond the calorie-burning, cardiovascular benefits, one study found that regular exercise also increased a bacterium linked to reduced obesity!
Though definitive answers about gut health are hard to come by, working on your specific health is well within range. Getting started is half the battle, bolster yourself with support from friends and family, try the elimination diet, and find a trusted naturopath to help facilitate your journey.