Authour: Vihaan Verma
Dehradun: In the recent years trust your gut has taken a whole new meaning. The gut is not only used for digesting, but science has shown gut as a home for thousands of bacteria and microorganisms which are called the “Gut Microbiome” in short. These gut microbiomes not only affect digestion but also affect almost every aspect of a person’s health ranging from digestion to immunity and even melatonin, which are often underestimated.
The gut microbiome is an ecosystem of fungi, bacteria, and other microorganisms that live within the digestive tract, the digestive tract consists of the mouth, food pipe, stomach, small intestine, large intestine and the whole path which food travels until it gets expelled out of the body as waste after digestion. These tiny microorganisms which are invisible can significantly impact digestion, metabolism, immune function and even proper brain function and mental health. Each person’s microbiome is unique which is dependent on genetics, diet, external factors, and lifestyle. All these factors can improve gut health or worsen gut health, so a person might keep these in check to improve their gut health as well as improve their health. But in case of bad gut microbiome or in the case of dysbiosis these can cause harm to the body itself which might not be seen in the short run but in the long run there would surely be a downfall in a person’s health.
Dysbiosis means a loss or deficit of beneficial bacteria in the gut or overgrowth of pathogenic bacteria or loss of overall bacterial diversity. Now let’s discuss what factors can affect gut bacteria, some of them are
- Diet – The variety of microorganisms in your gut microbiome requires a variety of plant fibers to thrive. Different organisms prefer different whole foods. In turn, they produce short-chain fatty acids and other byproducts that nourish your gut and lower the pH inside, which favors the more beneficial microbes.On the other hand, a diet high in sugar and saturated fats tends to favor the less helpful types of microorganisms. Processed foods not only lack fiber and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) but also tend to come with many additives and preservatives, which can be harmful to your microbiome. On analysis this was proven that ultra-processed foods did not travel through your whole intestine, these foods ended in the ending parts of small intestine and starting parts of the large intestine, as we all know every microorganism needs food even bacteria needs food to sustain and thrive but due to these ultra-processed foods the bacteria present in the ending parts of the large intestine didn’t receive food to eat and thus the bacteria in that part didn’t grow, but when analyzed green vegetables travelled through more of the intestines, so the gut bacteria could use this as their source of food.In the case when bacteria of the gut do not get enough food so to sustain, they try to eat the intestine itself in which they are present in, and this is most common with the bacteria near the anus and the ending parts of large intestine.
Chemicals
Chemicals like smoking, and alcohol and pesticides such as antibiotics can wipe out the good bacteria along with the bad ones too!
Motility – regular movement of the bowel. The movement of food wastes can also tell how your gut microbiome is, as if the food is moving too fast the microbiome doesn’t have the time to settle or do their jobs before the waste material is clearing out while on the other hand if the food is passed very quickly then it indicates that the microbiome is overeating and overgrowing
What are the signs which shows that show that your gut health is compromised
Infections- Such as diarrhea. Dysbiosis weakens the immune system of the gut to fight against the different types of bacteria. Also, colitis and infections can cause damage to the gut lining which is very harmful.
SIBO – Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth – In this condition the microbiomes in the small intestine overgrow by overeating and overproducing also, in some rare cases the bacteria present in large intestine comes and settles in the small intestine.
Mental health – Scientists say that there is bi – directional relationship between our mental health and our gut health. Some research also shows a direct relationship between dysbiosis and stress. In a 2020 report it was shown that certain gut microbiota increased the risk of depression
The bacteria present in gut also release short chain fatty acids (SCFAs), which are proved to reduce inflammation in the gut which keeps the gut healthy while short chain
Which further improves immunity of the individual. The gut microbiota also aids in immune tolerance by regulating the T cells in the body, the T helper cells help in recognizing potentially harmful pathogens which can then be destroyed by the WBCs in the body, these T helper cells are also produced and regulated by the gut.
Coming to the mental health related with our gut health, this topic is very debatable and is still under extensive research as we know very little about our gut’s role with mental health. The main lead we got in the research of gut health on mental health is that there is a gut-brain axis through which signals are communicated from the gut to the brain.
Talking about the gut brain axis consists of parts which are important for signaling such as vagus nerve and microbial metabolites. The vagus nerve helps in communicating signals to the brain while microbial metabolites are Gut bacteria that produce short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and other compounds that influence neurotransmitter production in the brain.
