The food that we consume is broken down in the gut so that it can eventually be delivered as nutrients throughout our bodies. This process requires a multitude of gut functions that are only possible with a healthy digestive system. A healthy gut contains a multitude of healthy bacteria and immune cells that fight infectious agents like bacteria, viruses and fungi. A healthy gut also communicates with the brain through nerves and hormones, which helps maintain general health and well-being preventing certain gastrointestinal symptoms. This is why the gut microbiome is becoming an increased importance amongst scientific researchers in the past few decades. The term that microbiome essentially refers to the microorganisms that are residing in the gastrointestinal tract. As humans, we have approximately one hundred trillion microbiota within our microbiome. Over the years, discoveries have been made that link pick up microbiome to various chronic diseases and potentially cancer. Having a wide variety of the beneficial bacteria in your gut can optimize your immune system function, improve mood disorders and even perhaps help curb obesity.
The weight of the microbiome is approximately 5lbs, which is 2lbs more than the human brain. Our microbiome genome affects our individual genome. Although you do not have control over the genetics you inherit, you may alter your microbiome and transform your health trajectory.
During the initial days of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was thought to be primarily a respiratory disease. As time went on, observations were made that many patients actually had diarrhea as an earlier symptom. This often led to a delayed diagnosis of COVID-19. It was also noted that as the severity of COVID-19 increased, the gastrointestinal symptoms also worsened.
A recent study suggested that your gut health can affect how your body responds to COVID-19 infection. The researchers identified a pattern when it came to the gut microbiota in COVID-19 infected patients: they had more inflammatory microbes and less anti-inflammatory ones. Also, the more severe the COVID-19 infection, the more pronounced difference between the inflammatory and anti inflammatory microbes. The changes in these gut microbiota were also linked to some blood markers and changes in inflammatory protein messengers (cytokines). They also followed these patients for 30 days after recovery from COVID-19 and identified that these gut microbiota changes persisted until then in many of the COVID-19 patients. This was an association study and further research is needed to identify the true impact of gut health on COVID-19 infection.
So in general, how can we improve our gut health?
- Eating a variety of plant based foods by consuming a variety of fruits, vegetables, legumes and seeds
- Consuming adequate fibre: fibre helps the good microbiota in our gut thrive. Current guidelines suggest 25g/day in women and 38g/day in men.
- Exercise: A small study has shown that women who exercised 3 hours per week had an increase in “good gut microbiota” when compared to sedentary women
- Limit ultra-processed foods
- Stress management: A small study did show that even 2 hours of stress can negatively impact your microbiome
- Consume fermented foods: they’ve been shown to benefit the microbiome
Follow Dr. Sapna Makhija on social media for more gut health advice at: @MakhijaMD
