Why Healthy Gut Flora is Important
There were many things my friends and I used to talk about. Fashion, school, sleep overs, church, driver’s license, technology, and most often: what we were going to eat! What we didn’t talk about was how the food we ate impacted our gut flora.
Growing up with a dad fighting Crohn’s Disease, an inflammatory bowel disease involving the digestive tract, you’d think I’d have a clue. But no.
A few years into our natural healthy journey, Jason and I started hearing the term “gut health” more often. We knew in general what it meant; that you wanted a good balance and could usually get it by eating healthy foods. And since we’d been working on taking processed foods, chemicals/synthetics, and other “unnatural” ingredients out of our diet, I thought we were good.
I also wrongly assumed taking digestive enzymes, to help the body break things down, would be enough. But after battling food sensitivities with our oldest, and then again with our middle child (along with constipation), I discovered it wasn’t enough. Little did I know, until their gut lining was healed, and their gut flora restored, we would continue to see the same sensitivities.
So, with that in mind: How important is gut flora anyway, what does it do, and does what we eat really influence it that much? Let’s take a look!
*This blog post contains various health information. Nothing is intended to be, nor should it be construed as, medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Any supplement(s) discussed and/or listed should be reviewed by your health professional before using. If you have a medical concern, please consult with an appropriately-licensed physician. If you think you have a medical emergency, contact your doctor immediately. Full medical disclosure here.
Gut Flora’s Definition
National Cancer Institute says gut flora is: “Bacteria and other organisms that live inside the intestines. They help digest food. Vitamins such as biotin and vitamin K are made by gut flora.”
According to this dictionary intestinal flora are: “The microorganisms normally residing within the lumen of the intestine. Ecology is influenced by age, physiological state and the environment of the host.”
The book titled Medical Microbiology cites: “The intestinal microflora is a complex ecosystem containing over 400 bacterial species.”
What Does Gut Flora Do?
A WebMD article states:
“Bacteria line your intestines and help you digest food. During digestion, they make vitamins that are vital for life, send signals to the immune system, and make small molecules that can help your brain work.”
Medical Microbiology gives this detailed account of metabolic activities:
“Intestinal bacteria are a crucial component of the enterohepatic circulation in which metabolites that are conjugated in the liver and excreted in the bile are deconjugated in the intestine by bacterial enzymes, then absorbed across the mucosa and returned to the liver in the portal circulation. Many drugs and endogenous compounds undergo enterohepatic circulation. Antibiotics that suppress the flora can alter the fecal excretion and hence the blood levels of these compounds. The flora also plays a role in fiber digestion and synthesizes certain vitamins.” and” The intestinal microflora may prevent infection by interfering with pathogens.”
The above information gives us a good base picture. Gut flora seems to be important, there are several kinds of flora, and yes – the host (that’s us) factors into the equation.
Let’s Take A Closer Look!
I have learned a plethora of things regarding gut flora from Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride’s book Gut and Psychology Syndrome (GAPS). She has a Degree in Medicine, postgraduate Degrees in Neurology and Human Nutrition, and has worked her own clinic in Cambridge since 1998. The following information is taken from her book and lectures.
Dr. Campbell-McBride likens the micro-organisms in our body to the roots of a tree. We cannot live without them! She states: “The largest colonies of microbes live in our digestive system. A healthy adult, on average, carries 1.5-2 kg of bacteria in the gut…. a highly organized micro-world with certain species predominating and controlling others.” She breaks our gut micro-flora into three groups: Essential/Beneficial flora, Opportunistic flora, and Transitional flora.
Essential/Beneficial – Just like it sounds, these are the good guys. It’s the largest and most vital group in your body. They:
- provide a physical barrier on our gut lining
- protect against invaders, undigested foods, toxins, parasites
- produce antibiotic-like substances, anti-fungal volatiles, anti-viral substances
- engage the immune system to respond appropriately
- help reduce the pH near the gut lining to 4.0 – 5.0
Opportunistic – These are various microbes (about 500 species known so far), which can be individualized to each person. Examples are bacteroids, peptococci, staphylococci, streptococci, bacilli, clostridia, yeasts. In a healthy person, these microbes are kept in check by the essential flora. If allowed to flourish, they can cause a whole host of various health issues.
Transitional – Another group of various microbes we encounter daily through swallowing food and drinks. Normally they are “non-fermenting gram-negative bacilli from the environment”. But again, if allowed to flourish, these microbes can cause disease.
Why Is It important To Have Healthy Gut Flora?
Our gut flora plays such an important role in so many aspects of our health. I’m astounded at how many things can be affected by it! Here are just a few things gut flora does for us:
- protects us from invaders (bad pathogens)
- determines the health, function, and integrity of the gut itself
- helps with appropriate digestion and absorption of food, vitamins, minerals, etc.
- affects our vitamin, hormone, and neurotransmitter production
- aids in detoxification *huge factor in everyone’s health*
- modulates our immune system
Dr. Campbell-McBride writes: “A healthy gut flora has a good ability to neutralize nitrates, indoles, phenols, skatol, ksenobiotics and a lot of other toxic substances, inactivate histamine and chelate heavy metals and other poisons. The cell walls of beneficial bacteria absorb many carcinogenic substances, making them inactive. They also suppress hyperplastic processes in the gut, which is the basis of all cancer formation.”
Without a healthy gut flora, we open ourselves to a laundry list of possible physical and mental ailments, chronic inflammation, imbalances, diseases, cancers, etc. Gut flora is our gut lining/wall’s first line of defense. The healthiest diet in the world will not matter, if the gut flora is not able to properly breakdown and absorb. Furthermore, she states:
…without well-functioning gut flora the gut wall not only becomes unprotected, but also malnourished.
…it is estimated that gut epithelium derives 60-70% of its energy from bacterial activity.
When our gut flora is damaged, little pockets along the gut lining are formed. As the beneficial bacteria are depleted, the opportunistic and transitional microbes start to overtake the gut’s flora. Those pockets soon turn into holes. As a result, everything and anything can leak through, which means the following can happen:
- undigested foods float around parts of your body they shouldn’t be – immune system starts to attack the body, brain functions get altered
- vitamins and other vital nutrients are not absorbed – immune system becomes depleted, anemia
- pathogens get access to the entire body – cells can mutate, travel increases, physical and mental problems increase
What Damages Gut Flora?
By no means is this an all-inclusive list, but to name a few: antibiotics, steroids, birth control pills, other drugs (pain killers, analgesics, sleeping pills, etc.), stress, poor diet, alcohol, infections, diseases, chronic illnesses, environmental pollution, radiation, EMF’s, toxic chemicals, mercury based dental fillings.
Is There Hope to Fix My Gut Flora?
YES!!! And the best part is it doesn’t involve using anything other than food and probiotics. Food as God intended. What do I mean by that?
Vegetables, fruits, meats, organ meats, eggs, fermented and/or cultured dairy, nut & seeds. Nothing, absolutely nothing, processed, no grains, starches, sugars, or food additives.
Dr. Campbell-McBride’s approach is essentially a nutritional program. One that is best followed for life – which is why we like to refer to it as: a lifestyle change. The purpose of her program is to clean up, heal, and seal the digestive tract and remove the toxicities stored in various places throughout the body.
Once a proper gut flora is established and the gut lining is sealed, most patients Dr. Campbell-McBride treats have had their symptoms/illnesses/diagnoses/allergies reversed or significantly reduced!
For more detailed information about your gut lining, check out my post Gut Lining: Anatomy or Gut Flora: It’s Various Roles!
