Microbe Power

We are learning more and more about how important our microbiome is to our health. Research is continually finding how these helpful microbes inside us play a major role in many different avenues of our health.

What is the Microbiome?

Our microbiome consists of trillions of bacteria, fungi, viruses, parasites, and more that live within and on us. They are essentially a part of “us” making up 2-3 pounds of our overall weight! When you hear someone talking about the microbiome, they most often are referring to the gut microbiome where the largest concentration of microbes exist in our large intestine.

Immune Help

The “good” microbes in our gut help protect us. Our intestine is just a thin (one cell width wide) membrane between the outside world and our insides. We want nutrients to be able to pass through but nothing else. By having plenty of good microbes, they take up the prime “parking spots” along the gut lining creating a layer of protection making it more difficult for the “bad” microbes to stick around.

Did you know 70-80% of our immune system is in our gut? This makes sense when you consider needing to make sure everything we ingest is safe and needing to keep the unsafe things from entering our system. Our microbes along our gut lining thus have a close relationship with our immune system constantly communicating to keep everything in line.

Healthy microbes can communicate to the immune system that some foods are not harmful. This can help reduce food sensitivities and lower the immune system’s reaction to certain foods.

Breakdowns

The gut microbiome breaks down complex carbohydrates, starches, and fibers that were not digested earlier in the small intestine. They then use this to produce different short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). The most talked about SCFA is butyrate which provides fuel for the cells lining the colon. Without these healthy cells the colon can become inflamed and infected.

The microbes in our gut also help breakdown and metabolize polyphenols. Polyphenols are compounds commonly found in plant foods that have protective health effects. When you hear “Eat the rainbow”, plants with vibrant color, these are plants with lots of polyphenols.

Building

Our gut microbiome also has the power to synthesize important nutrients for us. Vitamins B1, B2, B12, and K are all made by microbes in our colon. These vitamins are important for our energy metabolism, nervous system, and bone health.

Remember the SCFA butyrate? Butyrate and propionate, another SCFA produced in our gut, are used to produce serotonin. Approximately 90% of our serotonin is produced in the gut.

Other neurotransmitters produced by our gut microbiome include gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), dopamine, acetylcholine, and noradrenaline.

Gut-Brain Axis

As just mentioned, there are many neurotransmitters that are produced by microbes in our gut. Most of these neurotransmitters don’t directly go to the brain but help with function of the enteric nervous system (our “second brain”) which is the communication system throughout the digestive tract. They also help with the communication along the vagus nerve.

The vagus nerve communicates between the gut and the brain with 80-90% of the information traveling “up” from the gut to the brain and only 10-20% traveling “down” from the brain to the gut!

Some of the SCFAs produced by our gut microbiome travel to the brain where they can impact memory and the transfer of signals between neurons.

Given the large role our gut microbiome can play on our overall nervous system, it is not too surprising to see that research is finding correlations between our gut microbiome and conditions such as autism, anxiety, obesity, depression, schizophrenia, Parkinson’s disease, and Alzheimer’s disease.

How to Care for Them

Prebiotics are carbohydrates that preferentially feed microbes that are associated with health benefits. These are carbs with fiber which include pretty much all whole plant foods. Some plants that are particularly fiber-rich include legumes, dandelion greens, berries, garlic, onions, leeks, asparagus, bananas, oats, apples, flax, and seaweed. The more variety of plant foods/fibers we eat, the more variety in healthy microbes we are feeding.

• Eat a variety of fiber-rich plant foods aiming for over 5 servings

Probiotics are living microorganisms know to provide health benefits. We can find probiotics in foods like sauerkraut, kimchi, yogurt, and natto as well as drinks like kombucha and kefir. If you find one of these products that has been pasteurized or is not being refrigerated, the microbes have been killed off. Also watch for hidden added sugar especially in yogurt and kombucha.

• Eat at least one serving of probiotics per day.

Stress, particularly chronic stress, is known to have a negative impact on the microbiome. Remember, the brain can communicate to the gut via the vagus nerve. Distress signals are sent to the gut resulting in a decrease in diversity and abundance of healthy microbes, increased inflammation (affecting immune system), and can result in intestinal permeability, aka. “leaky gut”. Managing our stress is pivotal to keeping our good microbes happy and healthy.

• Get outside, exercise, meditate, do something just for you, don’t read the news and stay off social media.

Getting good sleep is pivotal to maintaining our health including the health of our microbiome. Proper signaling from our circadian rhythm supports our microbiome. Research has shown that disrupted sleep such as from stress or jet lag can alter the microbiome in a short period of time.

• Good sleep hygiene: sunlight first thing in the morning, put screens away 1-2 hours before bed, wind-down routine, go to bed and wake up at consistent times.