Your Gut Biome, What it is And Why it Matters

Your gut has trillions of micro-organisms floating around in it that actually outnumber the cells in your body. Most of these micro-organisms are bacteria, as well as a few yeasts, parasites and viruses. They number 39 trillion (whereas your body only has 30 trillion cells). There are more of them than you!

Should you be concerned about this? Will they rise up one day and take over your entire body? Well, no, they won’t, but they could cause you trouble if you don’t take care of them appropriately. This article will explain why your gut biome is very important to your overall health and what you can do to improve it. (Much of this information was taken from the book by Dr. Will Bulsiewicz called Fiber Fueled.)

Your gut biome- what does it do?

The bacteria in your gut (numbering upwards of 39 trillion as mentioned above) are mostly good bacteria, and they provide you with many services.  For example, they do all the following things-

Yes, they can actually make vitamins. They don’t make a lot of vitamins (you still need to consume nutritious food to augment the supply) but they have the capability to do that.

Of the 39 trillion micro-organisms in the gut, there are different species of bacteria present. You have 300-1000 species of bacteria. Your parents probably had even more species, and your grandparents had more than that. Researchers are finding out that every generation has fewer and fewer species of good bacteria. They believe this is due to poor diet and many environmental assaults on our health that have been increasing over the past 100 years. (Below is an example of the drop in species).

Great grandparents – 2000 species

Parents — 1500 species

You — 1000 species

Your children — 600-900 species

Your grandchildren — 300 species?

The good bacteria in your gut are called probiotics. Yes, the same probiotics that you see on the label of your favorite yogurt. But most of your gut biome are unique to YOU and no one else.  They are like your fingerprints. Bacteria work in teams to extract nutrients from your food. Different species are specialized to do different things. YOUR gut bacteria are specialized to handle the food that YOU eat. But in general, it’s better to have more than less. The more the merrier!

How do they survive down there?

Well, they need food just like you do. In fact, you are feeding them with every bite of food you eat! If you eat poorly, then they will be compromised or reduced. If you eat many different healthy foods (think plants, and fermented items) then you will increase their numbers and provide nutrients for them.

As I mentioned above, Americans have less species of gut bacteria today than a hundred years ago. The more processed foods we eat, the less healthy we are. We are plagued by many chronic diseases. People in other countries tend to be healthier than Americans even though our country spends more money on our medical system than other countries do. Why? Because they take care of their gut biome better than we do.

Where are the healthy people?

There are several groups of indigenous peoples in the world that have not been touched by modern foods. One of these groups is the Hadza tribe in Tanzania (Africa). They still live as hunter-gatherers. They forage for food, eating mostly honey, tubers, fruit, and meat (in the dry season). The Hadza have a gut biome that is 40% more diverse than most Americans. They consume about 100 grams of fiber every day. (I’m lucky to get 10 grams of fiber a day!) Also, the Hadza consume 600 different plants over a years’ time. They do not suffer from modern diseases.

Why is our gut diversity so much less than the Hadza?

According to Dr Bulsiewicz of Fiber Fueled, Americans do not consume enough plant fiber. The average American eats less than 15 grams of fiber a day. And we eat fewer types of plants. It is estimated that most Americans eat 50 or fewer different types of plants in a year. This is far below what the Hadza eat. We go to the supermarket and buy the “same ole, same ole” every week. Very boring. And it is well known that six of the top ten causes of death are due to poor nutrition.

Why is low gut diversity bad?

Low gut diversity is bad because your gut bacteria do so many things for your body. If some of them are missing or in short supply, they cannot work for you.

Remember this:

Without these functions, you may begin to suffer chronic health problems. It is well known that plant diversity allows for bacterial diversity. Bacterial diversity is what makes you healthier.

What’s with fiber?  The care and feeding of your gut biome- 

As mentioned above, the Hadza tribe eat a lot of diverse plant foods with a lot of fiber content. Fiber is the food your gut bacteria consume. As a matter of fact, that is their main food. As humans, we need lots of different plants in our diet in order to support lots of different bacteria in our gut.

What’s really going on down there? (the chemistry)-

OK, I like learning about the chemistry of our bodies, but before your eyes glaze over, I want to show you what is most important about this. Your gut is like a little chemical manufacturing plant. Your colon makes organic acids, called “short chain fatty acids” (SCFA). Before you go “ugh”, you must know that these are good. The more you can make, the better.  And how do you make more? You consume lots of fiber to feed your gut bugs. Here is the scientific equation-

The short chain fatty acids are named “acetate”, “propionate”, and “butyrate”. All of them are good. All of them are made in your colon. All of them help to heal your gut. Here are some of what they do-

I wish I had more of these SCFA’s a year ago when I came down with salmonella poisoning! Maybe my body would have been able to stop that infection before it started.

Butyrate

Of the three short chain fatty acids, butyrate is very important. It provides energy for the cells in the lining of your colon. It helps to repair leaky-gut. It calms irritable bowel syndrome, and, it corrects dysbiosis. Healthy gut bacteria make butyrate from the fiber in plant foods. But interestingly, butyrate can also be found in butter. High quality butter from cows on pasture has about 3% butyrate. Yay for butter! Go here for a 3 min video on butter and butyrate. (The video shows the man holding “Horizon” brand butter.  A better choice would be Kerry Gold pure Irish butter).

Butyrates and cancer

Since the 1970’s studies (here, here, and here) show that butyrate stops malignant cells from copying themselves. SCFA’s eliminate cells that are on their way to being “cancer”. Numerous studies clearly link high fiber diets to reduced cancers (including colorectal, breast, and esophageal).

Inflammation and auto-immune reactions

You may have heard that your immune system is mostly in your gut. It resides just outside the walls of your intestines. Did you know that SCFA’s “talk” to the immune system across your gut wall? Short chain fatty acids can communicate through the gut wall and modulate your immune system. If your immune system is over-active it will calm it down. If it is underactive, it will spur it on. If there are not enough SCFA’s present, then autoimmune diseases can get a foothold. This makes me wonder if I could have avoided celiac disease 25 years ago.

Heart disease, stroke, diabetes

SCFAs improve blood sugar regulation, protect against glucose intolerance, improve insulin response (link, link).

What To Eat??

You may be wondering what sort of foods you should eat to gain these benefits. We have talked a lot about how fiber is critical for gut health. Should you go out and buy large bottles of Metamucil or psyllium? No, there is a better way. According to Dr Rob Knight who studied the gut biomes of 32 thousand people from 82 countries, all you really must do is…. drum roll please…

EAT 30 OR MORE DIFFERENT PLANTS A WEEK!

Yes, his research indicated that the healthiest people (with the best gut biomes) were eating many different plants a week. And it didn’t matter whether they called themselves vegan, vegetarian, paleo, keto or whatever, as long as they ate many different vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, every week. Many also ate animal foods such as beef, chicken, fish but it was the plant foods that created the improved gut biome. (I am not vilifying any food group here, as humans evolved on an omnivore diet and retain the ability to consume plant and animal foods). Many people in the study also consumed fermented foods as these are a powerhouse of probiotic bacteria.

See the picture below for some ideas on what plants can be included. (If it is an edible plant, it can be included). That said, if you are sensitive to oxalates, lectins, or nightshades, you will have to avoid those. Yes, the diet can and should include grains. Even spices count! But avoid or limit sugars, sodas, and processed foods. As for cooked verses raw, both kinds of food prep should be used. There is value in cooking some vegetables as that breaks down an otherwise hard to digest plant. And eating some plants raw maintains their natural storehouse of enzymes.

If you would like to be a part of Dr Rob Knight’s research project on the gut biome, you can join it here: https://microsetta.ucsd.edu/. This is a crowd-sourced project (and it costs a donation of $200 as of this writing).

If you want more information on this topic, you can go to Dr. Bulsiewicz’s  website: https://theplantfedgut.com/.

Hippocrates was right, “Let Food be They Medicine and Medicine Be Thy Food”.

Always talk to your health professional before starting anything new.  This information is not intended to diagnose, treat or cure any condition and is intended only for entertainment. I welcome your comments.