Exploring the Microbiome

Recently, I presented a talk and a sauerkraut demonstration at the NSW Health Wellness Expo.  It was such a pleasure to meet up with all the other wonderful community and business groups who offer an amazing array of Health and Wellbeing services to our community.
I'd like to thank those who attended the talk and for your positive feedback.  I thought I would re-cap on the talk for those who attended and for the others of you, who may be interested.
To understand the role that gut health plays in disease prevention and progression, first we need to look at gut flora.
 
What is gut flora? What are its functions? 
And how does it get out of balance?

Research into the human microbiome (gut flora) is one of the most exciting areas of study in human health. This is a relatively new field with most being done in the last 20-30 years, so there is a lot more to be discovered.  So what makes gut flora so important? Let’s run through a few of the functions of our microbiome.
Have you ever wondered what differentiates us from....say a carrot? 
Well not that much genetically speaking.  One of the surprises of the Human Genome Project was the discovery that the human genome contains only 20,000 - 25,000 protein-coding genes, about a fifth the number researchers had expected to find.
Researchers are now looking to the human microbiome, which houses a whopping 90% of our overall genetic material.

In other words, we are 10% human genes and 90% bacteria!  Our microbiome is our second genome!

This burgeoning science is discovering just how much influence our microbiome has over our health and our genetic expression of disease. 
We are beginning to understand that our evolution- what makes us a more “advanced” species over that of a vegetable may be down to our gut flora.
The microbiome is made up of a huge range of bacteria, yeasts and viruses.  Rather than thinking of our gut microbes as either being just bad or good, we need to recognise that they can be either, depending on what species is dominant. 
Research is now beginning to discover that the microbes in our gut communicate with each other.  Gut microbes can sense how many of each microbe is present and send out messages between microbes.  Essentially microbes are constantly conducting a sensus and coordinating a collective response according to the information that is being gathered.  This is known as quorum sensing.
If only the Australian Bureau of Statistics was managed by gut flora our recent online sensus might have gone better- just another way that microbes could be more evolved than humans!!

Through quorum sensing gut bacteria can respond to incoming bacteria and viruses, and communicate with our brain using neurotransmitters via the vagus nerve.

This gives weight to the importance of having the right bacteria in dominance.  When beneficial bacterial species dominate, it leads the response and keeps the opportunistic bacteria in check.  I don’t want to get political here, but you really want the right guys in power, the ones that will look after the terrain (your body). Not the ones that decimate the environment and cause disease. 
Transitional microbes are the ones that don’t take up residence in the body.  They just come in, hang around for a few days then leave.  But they can still have a huge impact on health.  And a good example of this is a yeast called saccromyces boularrdii (SB). SB has been extensively studied for its use in gastrointestinal diseases such as post antibiotic diarrhea, blastocystis infection and other infections like travelers diarrohea, Bali Belly, that sort of thing.  It is also very good for thrush or candida overgrowth and should be used in conjunction with antibiotics to prevent post antibiotic thrush.  SB crowds out the candida, but does not take up residence in the body.

Healthy gut flora creates and extra barrier from the outside world.
 
It protects the gut lining from becoming inflamed when coming into contact with incoming food or pathogens and restricts the adherence of incoming pathogens to the gut wall by forming a blanket lining over the intestine.  This also filters access to the blood stream.  
Healthy gut flora creates short chain fatty acids, like butyrate, that help heal the gut lining and repair intestinal permeability or leaky gut.
Healthy gut flora is important in detoxification, neutralising nitrates, indoles, phenols and other toxic substances that can be ingested or made in the body. 
Gut flora is involved in the breakdown and fermentation of food to make it more easily digested or converted to essential vitamins.  
The following vitamins, synthesized by gut flora: K2, B5, Folic acid, B1, B2, B3, B6, B12 are important in bone health, cardiovascular health, DNA replication, mental wellbeing and energy production.
Lymphoid tissue which makes up part of our immune system is located just inside the gut wall.  Bacteria in the gut communicate with the lymphoid tissue and modulate the production of lymphocytes (the cells that eat up parasites and viruses)
When the gut flora is out of balance, the immune system is compromised, causing allergies, leaky gut and autoimmunity.  This is another complex subject- I have a whole other talk about Gut Health and Immunity!
 
Have you heard of the term "The Gut Brain Axis"? 

The gut–brain axis is the biochemical signaling that takes place between the gastrointestinal tract and the central nervous system and this includes the gut flora.
Interest in this field was sparked by a 2004 study showing that germ-free mice showed an exaggerated stress response when compared to non-GF laboratory mice.
Most of the work that has been done since on the role of gut flora in the gut-brain axis has been conducted in animals, or has categorized the various neurotransmitters that gut flora can produce. Gut flora are responsible for making some of our most important neurotransmitters.   One of the ones you might recognise is serotonin.  Serotonin enhancing antidepressant prescriptions have tripled in the last 20 years, with a study published in 2014 showing that between 2010-11   8.9% of the Australian population were prescribed anti-depressants and this ranked the second most prescribed medication in Australia. Second to blood pressure medications (also strongly linked to stress).

What if Drs could prescribe a probiotic and some diet and lifestyle medication before heading for the antidepressants?

For more information on this topic see leading Australian researcher in this field Professor Felice Jacka of Deakin University.
Although serotonin is well known as a brain neurotransmitter, it is estimated that 90 percent of the body's serotonin is made in the digestive tract. In fact, altered levels of this peripheral serotonin have been linked to diseases such as irritable bowel syndrome, cardiovascular disease, and osteoporosis.
I won’t go into too much detail about the other neurotransmitters,- it’s another talk that I do! But you get the picture, dopamine- parkinsons disease, norepinephrine- blood pressure, heart rate, stress;  GABA- downregulates stress response, down regulates excitatory response (think ADD ADHD).  And so on……

So what can damage our gut flora?
​

• Antibiotics- including chlorine in the drinking water, anti-bacterial’s in food preparation, soaps, toothpastes, preservatives etc.
• Hormonal contraceptive- OCP and implants, copper IUD, HRT
• Steroids- prednisolone, cortisone
• NSAIDs- Paracetamol, ibuprofen, aspirin
• PPI’s and antacids- Nexium, Mylanta, bicarb
• Stress- stress hormones, inflammation
• Poor diet- excess sugar and inflammatory fats
• Infections- Cytomegalovirus, gastro, EBV, blastocystis ect
• Disease
• Bottle feeding
• Birth history- c-section deliveries have more skin bacteria than gut, you get what you inherit from your mother and father
• Old age- naturally decreases with age
• Pollution
• Radiation and chemotherapy
• Toxic chemicals
• Dental cavities or dental work (cavities can be a constant source of bad bacteria and some products used in dental work can be a source of toxins in the body)
• Glyphosate (Round-Up) disrupts the shikimate pathway in bacteria and plants

We want to try and minimise our exposure to the sources of gut flora disruption, but we mustn't think of our gut flora as something that is stagnant.  Gut flora populations can change dramatically in a matter of days, but after something like antibiotics, it might take years to return to normal. 
So that brings us to the question:

How do we look after our gut flora?

Following these simple rules can go a long way to looking after your second Genome.

• Eat a rainbow! Concentrate on plant based eating with a focus on as many vegetables as you can get in
• Incorporate probiotic foods, such as yogurt, sauerkraut, kombucha, kefir etc.
• Avoid gut disrupting substances
• Filter your water
• Use probiotic supplements as advised by your Naturopath

Don't forget to follow me on Facebook, where I post up to date health information.

If you feel you need help, please consider my 12-week gut health program.  I have researched extensively on gut health and have put together a plan that incorporates the most successful diets for managing digestive symptoms and healing & sealing the gut lining.  As well as following and elimination diet my plan includes the GAPS diet (Dr Natasha Campbell McBride), the Low FODMAP diet ( Dr Sue Shepherd) and the Autoimmune Paleo Diet- AIP (Dr. Loren Cordain).

Melanie