Why do I need my microbiome to remain in balance?
Why do I need my microbiome to remain in balance?
So presumably, some of you had a chance to read the article prior to this on how our guts are a haven of bio diversity.
If you did not get a chance to do so, here is the link and in the view of the author, it’s a worthy read. :->)
Or you can find it on one of our preceeding articles on this site itself.
So now that we understand that our guts are an ecological system in their own right, and now that we understand that changes like urban living throw the ecosystem out of kilter, the next question is logically- why do we need to have the internal microbiome remain in balance? What is the big dissonance that can be caused when some microscopic creatures vanish from your gut?
Every detail of the microbial diversity and balance and how it affects your health is not known. But a lot of research dollars are focused on this area for more than a decade now. Many auto immune disorders, autism, AHHD, cancers, Parkinsons, Alzheimer’s, hormonal imbalances and many more diseases have links to gut microbial imbalance. Direct causal relationship is not established but a definite link is an established fact.
Two results of microbial imbalance that I would like to describe today.
- Microbes in your gut produce a lot of enzymes for your body to absorb nutrition from foods and help your body in many other ways. We cannot make many of these enzymes on our own. So when the microbiome in our gut becomes lopsided in diversity or drops in count, we run short of enzymes. Anybody recall the last time you spent a lot of money buying good foods, good ingredients? Imagine all that being wasted because your body cannot absorb nutrition out of the high-grade foods. That’s what happens when the gut microbiome goes out of balance.
- This second one is the big story. Have you ever heard of this condition called Leaky gut? It is a subject that requires detailed explanation, but here is a short version. Essentially, your gut needs to have a balance of good and bad bacteria. They keep each other in check. Overgrowth of either is not beneficial for you. When the body does not receive its good bacteria regularly, the real estate in your intestines is left vacant. And the bad guys spread fast and deep.
This causes the mucosal cells in your intestinal lining to swell and separate. Microscopic gaps occur between the otherwise tight cell junctions. The food particles and bacteria that were supposed to remain inside your gut tube, now suddenly find gaps and leak into the blood stream. Your immune system thinks its under attack and immediately pulls out the big guns to defend you. But really, it was a false alarm. The leak happens again and again. The immune system does not get any rest and it is forced to protect you repeatedly. After some time of misfiring so many times, auto immune disorders set it.
Another scary side of this is the brain is protected by something called the blood brain barrier. However, when the bacteria and food particles in the blood stream breach the barrier, can u wonder that diseases like Autism, ADHD, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s are given an open invitation?
Please do not misunderstand me. You cannot cure any of these diseases by just eating a variety of probiotics and fermented foods. However, as a healthy individual, you can improve your chances -easily falling prey to these diseases is not what any one of us wants.
Leaky gut explained diagrammatically below.
One request to all who choose to read this article- pass it to friends and family to read. It is an important concept to understand as we try and manage our health in an increasingly complex world. Do you know that most of us suffer from leaky gut? The only difference is in severity.
Manage your health better by understanding basic concepts today.
More in future articles. We will aim to next address how you can use probiotics and fresh fermented foods to restore microbial balance in your gut.
Bhavani Suryavanshee
Director – Nature Nudge Wellness Pte ltd
Makers of hand crafted fermented foods in Singapore