How Microbiome in Your Gut Affects Your Whole Body

Good Bacteria

You have many bacteria in your body. In fact, you have as many as you have cells. Most of these bacteria are good ones. Bacteria in your gut can not only help you digest food, they affect all other parts of your body, and can be great for your physical and mental health.

Gut Microbiome

This is the residence for the bacteria in your digestive tract. Their main work here is to help you break down food particles, turn them into nutrients needed by your body. When there is absence of food they stop growing. You’ll only have what you need.

Fighting the Good Fight

In the gut microbiome, the “good” bacteria do more than just help with digestion. They help keep your “bad” bacteria in check. They multiply so often that the unhealthy kind doesn’t have space to grow. When you have a healthy balance of bacteria in your gut, it’s called equilibrium.

Unhealthy Balance

Studies have found that if you have too much of a certain kind of bad bacteria in your gut microbiome, you’re more likely to have: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) Ulcerative colitis Crohn’s disease. Scientists are looking into new treatments for them that target the bacteria in the gut microbiome.

Gut Bacteria and Your Heart

Certain types of gut bacteria may possibly be part of the link cholesterol has to heart disease. Whenever you take foods such as eggs or red meat, those bacteria make a chemical that your liver turns into something called TMAO (trimethylamine-N-oxide). TMAO may help cholesterol build up in your blood vessels. Researchers are studying a natural substance called DMB that’s in olive and grapeseed oil. They think it might keep your bacteria from making TMAO.

Gut Bacteria and Your Kidneys

When TMAO is too much, it may also lead to chronic kidney disease. Those who the disease don’t get rid of TMAO like they ought to. Of which excess can result in heart disease. Experts assume it’s possible that an excessive amount of TMAO could make you more likely to have chronic kidney disease in the first place.

Gut Bacteria and Your Brain

Your brain transmits messages throughout your body. Science analysts believe your gut may talk back. Research shows that the balance of bacteria in the gut microbiome may affect your emotions and the way your brain processes information from your senses, like sights, sounds, flavors, or textures.
Scientists suspect that changes in that balance may play a role in conditions like autism spectrum disorder, anxiety, and depression, as well as chronic pain.

Gut Bacteria and Obesity

A poor balance within your gut microbiome can cause crossed signals from your brain when it comes to craving food or full. Researchers think there may be a link to the pituitary gland, which makes hormones that help set your appetite. That gland can affect the balance of bacteria in your gut, too. Some studies on treating obesity are exploring this link.

Can You Change Your Gut Bacteria?

You get your own gut microbiome at birth, and the environment around you influences it as you grow up. It can also be affected by the kind of food you eat. That’s why it can be different depending on where you live. This is why you may be able to tilt the balance a bit.

Probiotics

Probiotics are found in some foods, they are “good” bacteria like the ones already in your gut. [ Read Probiotics Foods and Health Benefits ]They can add to the bacteria in your intestinal tract and help keep everything in balance. But they’re not all the same. Each type works in its own way and can have different effects on your body.

How Can Probiotics Help?

They can make your immune system stronger. They may boost gastrointestinal health, too, especially if you have something like irritable bowel syndrome. Some probiotics also may help ease allergy symptoms and help with lactose intolerance. But because our gut microbiomes are unique, if and how they work can be different for everyone. And some experts feel more research is needed.

Sources of Probiotics

You can find them in dairy products like yogurt and aged cheeses. Look on the ingredients list for live cultures of bacteria like bifidobacteria and lactobacilli. They’re also in fermented vegetables, like kimchi and sauerkraut, and pickled vegetables, like onions and gherkins.

Prebiotics

Think of these as a food source for probiotics. They may help your body take in calcium better and boost the growth of helpful bacteria in your gut.
They’re found in fruits and vegetables, like artichokes, asparagus, bananas, garlic, leeks onions soybeans. You can even find them in foods with whole wheat.

Synbiotics

Probiotics can enhance the growth of good bacteria, and prebiotics are good for probiotics. When you combine the two, it’s synbiotic. {The idea|The concept} behind them is to help probiotics live longer. You can make synbiotic combinations with things like bananas and yogurt or stir-fry asparagus with tempeh.

Other Ways to Change Gut Bacteria

There may be other ways to change your gut microbiome and treat things tied to its balance. For example, fecal transplants (exactly what it sounds like) change your gut bacteria to treat things like C. diff and ulcerative colitis. A device called deep transcranial magnetic stimulation (dTMS) uses a coil put on the scalp to stimulate the brain and change gut bacteria. It shows promise for treating obesity. Source : WebMD