4 Surprising Ways Your Gut is Affecting You
People that suffer from chronic digestive
issues will know that having an upset tummy is not fun at all, but the
long-term effects of gut problems may be even worse than you expected.
In the past few years, science learned a lot about our digestive system,
and one of the hottest topics in medicine today is that of the gut
microbiome, meaning all the beneficial microorganisms that live in our
gut and help us so much.
Scientists all around the world now believe that what you eat and what
bacteria you promote in your gut can affect anything from allergies to
heart disease and everything in-between.
a woman holding a picture of the gut in front of her belly
1. An unhealthy gut may promote heart
disease.
It’s no news that heart disease is linked to high cholesterol levels,
but only recently scientists at Harvard Medical School discovered the
connection between an unhealthy gut and high blood cholesterol levels.
It was found that certain kinds of gut bacteria make your blood vessels
absorb more of the unhealthy cholesterol from the gut into your blood.
The excess cholesterol then leads to the formation of plaques in your
blood vessels and causes heart disease. It is unclear, however, which
strains of bacteria affect cholesterol absorption.
What is clear, though, is that foods rich
in fiber and fiber supplements, such as psyllium husks and flaxseeds,
can lower the absorption of the cholesterol into the blood by as much as
25%. That is why it is always a good idea to pair fiber-rich foods with
foods that are high in cholesterol, such as red meat and eggs, or to
supplement fiber if you know that your diet contains a lot of foods high
in cholesterol.
2. Your mental health depends on your gut health.
Your intestines share some real-estate with a lot of nerve tissues that
regulate your digestion and communicate with your spine and brain. These
nerves are often referred to as the gut-brain, but the scientific term
is actually the enteric nervous system.
This gut-brain is suspected to regulate your mood and anxiety levels by
exchanging chemical signals called neurotransmitters with your brain. In
this way, what you eat and how your intestines digest food can
influence your mood.
But it also goes further than that, as
scientists now believe that an unhealthy gut and a poor diet may cause
depression and anxiety disorders. In several studies, there was a marked
improvement of anxiety and depressive symptoms after patients were
administered probiotic supplements.
Even if you don’t suffer from anxiety or depression, you can make use of
the gut and brain connection, as a 2016 review article suggests that
fermented foods (i.e. foods rich in probiotics) can increase a person’s
cognitive abilities and mood.
3. Can intestinal problems be a cause of
obesity?
It is no secret that eating too much will upset your digestive system
and make you gain weight, but there is another way in which a bad diet
can make you overweight.
In a recent review study, the authors sum up that our friend from the
previous section, the gut-brain, can sometimes trick our brains into
thinking they are hungry. The gut-brain communicates with a gland that
is situated in the brain called the pituitary gland that is responsible
for producing hormones regulating your appetite, among other things.
Usually, all is well and your pituitary
gland will produce just enough hormones for you to feel satiated after a
meal. But when something goes awry with your tummy, the pituitary gland
will not do its job properly and you’ll feel hungry all the time, which
can lead to obesity.
To prevent this mismatch from happening and to heal your gut, it is
necessary to consume foods rich with probiotics, which can be found in
fermented foods, such as yogurts, pickles, and kimchi.
4. An unhealthy intestinal tract may cause
allergies.
Did you know that more than 75% of your immune cells live in your
digestive system? So, it comes as no surprise that the foods you eat
will affect your body’s ability to fight off all kinds of germs.
Together with your gut bacteria, immune cells help your body resist
infections in all of your body, and not only in the digestive system.
An example of this can be observed if we consider allergies. It is now
widely believed that a lack of beneficial gut bacteria can make your
immune cells unable to distinguish between good and bad bacteria. When
that happens, your immune system will activate to harmless compounds and
you will experience an allergic reaction.
In fact, several studies suggest that
allergic symptoms can be greatly improved by promoting gut health, such
as this clinical trial, in which seasonal allergy sufferers were given
probiotic supplements for 8 weeks, which significantly reduced their
allergy symptoms.
So, to promote the diversity of beneficial gut bacteria and improve your
gut health you will need to have a diet rich in a variety of different
foods, including but not limited to nuts and seeds, foods rich in fiber,
probiotic-rich foods, and whole grains.
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