Why Understanding the Different Roles of Gut Flora is Important

Back in the day (2011-ish), different roles of gut flora wasn’t an overly popular topic. Healthy living in general was trendy though. In fact, I can still picture myself sitting in front of a fire, with a warm blanket and cup of hot chocolate, reading a health magazine. (Obviously this was before kids!)

The main article was telling readers how to boost their immunity with the cold and flu season coming up. Key points included taking more vitamin C, running your humidifier, getting proper amounts of sleep, reducing stress, and eating healthy foods.

I remember “eating healthy foods” stuck out to me for two reasons. One: Christmas was in a couple weeks, so that’s like a pass to temporarily ignore, right? And Two: Isn’t our body designed to process food anyway? Why is this so important then?

It wasn’t until years later, I would learn how the different roles of gut flora actually help and protect our bodies from many things. Suggestions to live a healthy lifestyle suddenly made more sense. It goes way beyond the scope of just digesting food. Damaged gut flora leads to a damaged body, which can make it very heard to heal. 

So, what exactly are the different roles of gut flora? While the full list is way too long to cover in a blog post; here are the following roles I’ve learned more about.

*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.

The Different Roles of Gut Flora (The Castle)

I’ve recently heard a few speakers refer to our gut lining as a castle. The beneficial bacteria in our gut acts like the wall surrounding a city and its castle; the first line of defense. The walls are solid and hard to penetrate. Behind the beneficial bacteria is the mucosal layer, like a line of soldiers; the second layer of defense. These soldiers have been trained to fight and stand ready with weapons.

Without beneficial bacteria, the walls start to crumble and become susceptible to invaders. The invaders are mostly harmful pathogens, undigested food particles, etc. They now have places to attempt a break in and know they have a greater chance of success. Once the invaders breach the castle walls, they start to attack the soldiers.

The soldiers fight valiantly, but after a while become tired, can’t keep up with the onslaught of invaders, and start to become defeated. Soon, holes in the mucosal layer start to form as well. After the soldiers fail, all that’s left are the civilians inside, who have no training and no proper weapons. 

Once the wall (beneficial bacteria) and the soldiers (mucosal layer) are overtaken, the invaders (harmful pathogens) are free to do whatever they want. The civilians (remaining body) try as hard as they can, but fall very short. This is where the invaders can potentially wreak havoc: burning, destroying, and killing everything in their path. As a result: physical and mental ailments, chronic inflammation, imbalances, diseases, cancers, etc.

With that in mind let’s take a look at how healthy gut flora helps us!

Protecting Beneficial Flora

The castle wall analogy gives a pretty good description of what this looks like. During a recent conference I attended, Dr. Campbell-McBride made the following comment, which has stuck with me for good reason, as we all know someone fighting cancer/disease!

Antibiotics, widely used by many, break down the layers of protection. Not only do they kill off the bad pathogens (cold, infection, etc.,) but they also kill off the healthy ones – the beneficial flora! Therefore, a common side effect is often yeast infections; the beneficial flora keeping the yeasts in check were depleted. One study Dr. Campbell-McBride referenced in a recent lecture can be summarized as this:

A lab study was done with 2 groups of rats. The first group was healthy. The second group was treated with antibiotics. Both groups of rats were given mercury. The amount of mercury absorbed in the healthy rats was approximately 1% and in the treated rats was approximately 90%. 

That provides a pretty compelling reason to build up and protect beneficial gut flora, which also helps maintain the good microbes throughout the body. This protection is vital! 

Keeping Cells Healthy & Inside the Gut Lining

Once the beneficial gut flora have been compromised the following can happen: cells become sick, they can mutate, their travel increases, and cancer and diseases can be born.

Mutating cells makes it very difficult to pinpoint certain illnesses. A person may experience symptoms that would typically indicate one thing, but in reality the symptoms are “cloaking” the real issue. It also makes the supplements/prescriptions/and healthier foods we consume much less effective, since we might not be addressing the real issue.

Increased travel may seem good, but it’s not, as most travel takes place across the gut lining. The cells in the gut lining are meant to stay within the lining. Once the damage is done, the healthiest food won’t matter because it becomes undigested and can leak through the holes in the gut lining.

Maintaining Appropriate Digestion & Absorption

If the body is unable to break down food properly and it starts traveling outside the gut lining, many digestive ailments may start, such as: Irritable Bowel Syndrome, abdominal pain, bloating, flatulence, and stool abnormalities. Dr. Campbell-McBride says, “Scientific and clinical experience shows that without healthy gut flora the digestive system cannot fulfill these functions adequately.”

The body needs to be able to break down the proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, and fibers. There are also certain lactose’s the body won’t be able to break down. In addition, the body won’t be able to transport needed minerals and vitamins to various parts of the body. 

Producing Vitamins, Hormones, & Neurotransmitters

Vitamin/Mineral

In Dr. Campbell-McBride’s clinical studies, the most common deficiencies in a person with “leaky gut” are: magnesium, zinc, selenium, copper, calcium, manganese, sulphur, phosphorous, iron, potassium, sodium, vitamins B1, B2, B3, B6, B12, C, A, D, folic acid, pantothenic acid, omega-3, omega-6 and omega-9 fatty acids, taurine, alpha-ketoglutaric acid, glutathione, and others 

Those vitamins make sure the minerals (such as calcium, magnesium) we consume and produce go to the right place in our body. She’s also found, along with other doctors in her field, that many cases of kidney stones are due to K2 deficiency. Can you imagine having to take supplements for everything you’re missing?!

Hormones:

Healthy microbes in the body create their own hormones. Without healthy gut flora, the body will struggle to maintain proper hormone levels. This may lead to hormonal imbalances, cysts, cancers, and other illnesses.

Neurotransmitters

Two players largely affected by this are serotonin and dopamine.  It’s very important these two maintain balanced levels. Healthy microbes will produce their own. If no healthy gut flora exists, they can become unbalanced, which leads to poor function and a list of possible mental illnesses. 

Detoxing the Bad Stuff

How does the body get rid of all the undigested food particles, bad pathogens, metals, chemicals, pollutants, cancerous growths, etc.? It detoxes! Detoxification mainly happens in the liver and it has departments in every cell of the body. The other organs responsible for detox are: the skin, kidneys, colon, and lungs. 

For the body to detox well the following minerals are needed: zinc, magnesium, selenium, and molybdenum, along with other trace minerals, hundreds of enzymes, several amino acids, and essential fatty acids. 

Without those beneficial flora’s present to regulate our detox system, the body becomes a human landfill. 

Modulating the Immune System

Many institutes and medical organizations say that around 70-80% of the body’s immune system/tissues are in the gut. Some of the various components of the immune system affected are: lymphocytes, immunoglobulins, neutrophils, macrophages, interferons, cytokines, and other immune response regulators.  

Dr. Campbell-McBride states in her Gut and Psychology Syndrome book:

When the immune system is not able to properly respond, the body responds with allergic reactions, inflammation, autoimmunity, chronic viral infections, chronic fatigue, asthma, eczema, yeast infections, autism, ADD, ADHD, etc.

Keeping a healthy level of beneficial gut flora is supremely important to our health! Thankfully, there are ways to fix and boost it, such as dietary changes, fermented foods, detoxing, and probiotics. The Gut and Psychology Syndrome book listed above has a wealth of information and goes into further detail on the roles mentioned. I highly recommend reading it! 

With the new year upon us, our family will be implementing what we’ve learned from the GAPS book. Stay tuned for my next post where I’ll outline the GAPS program and what it’ll look like for us! 

PS – Read this for an overview of gut flora and/or this for a quick gut lining anatomy lesson.