Digestive Health

Which Foods and Fibers Are Best for Supporting a Healthy Gut Microbiome?

Past research has confirmed that trillions of microorganisms thrive in our large intestines, comprising what we call the gut microbiome. This collection of bacteria influences our health in a variety of ways, including how likely we are to develop medical conditions such as Crohn’s disease, inflammatory bowel disease and irritable bowel syndrome. Research has found that one of the primary ways that bacteria is introduced into this system is through the foods we eat, leading researchers to study how diet can affect the gut microbiome. Now that we recognize the importance of a healthy gut microbiome, new research focuses on how to develop a more diverse population of gut bacteria.

Which Foods Promote a Healthy Gut Microbiome?

In a recen tstudy led by Laura Bolte, a researcher at the University Medical Center Groningen, researchers looked at how 160 different factors in an individual’s diet affected their gut microbiome. The subjects chosen for the study were separated into four different groups: subjects with Crohn’s disease, subjects with ulcerative colitis, subjects with irritable bowel syndrome and subjects who had not been diagnosed with any digestive disorder.

To conduct their study, the researchers collected stool samples from each subject, while also asking each subject to complete a food frequency survey. They were able to link 61 foods to 123 classifications of bacteria. They also found that 49 foods could be linked to specific microbial groups. This helped the team determine that the Mediterranean diet was the best for promoting a healthier and more diverse gut microbiome.

The Mediterranean diet consists of consuming a greater quantity of plant-based foods, particularly nuts, seeds, vegetables and legumes. While meat portions are minimized, they are still an important part of this type of diet. Meats, such as fish, poultry and lean red meat are permitted in smaller portions. Red wine is also a staple of this diet.

The foods in a Mediterranean diet help reduce the amount of harmful bacteria in the gut, while allowing more helpful microbes to thrive. This is important because a low quantity of short-chain fatty acids has been linked to inflammatory digestive problems such as ulcerative colitis. Eating more plant-based foods helps introduce more short-chain fatty acids into the gut.

What Types of Fiber are Best for Your Gut Microbiome?

Past research has also found that fiber is essential to a healthy gut microbiome, but all fiber may not have the same effects on the gut. While we know that eating a minimum of 22 grams of fiber will help reduce our risks of developing type 2 diabetes, heart disease and other medical conditions, a new study sought to identify which types of fiber interact best with our gut microbiome.

For the study, researchers used mice that were bred to be sterile and lacked their own gut microbiomes. The mice were given 20 strains of a common type of human gut bacteria and were given high-fiber diets for a four-week period. The researchers fed the mice different types of fiber, derived from a variety of sources. Some of the fiber sources included peas, citrus fruits, tomato peels, oranges, apples, cocoa, rice bran and chia seeds.

As the mice were fed a variety of fiber-rich diets, the researchers analyzed how bacterial strains in the gut interacted with each type of fiber. The study revealed that fiber obtained from peas, orange peels and rice bran had the biggest and most beneficial impact on the gut microbiome. They also found that probiotic and prebiotic foods had a strong effect on the gut microbiome. Thus, it appears that high-fiber foods that contain probiotics and prebiotics are ideal in helping to maintain a healthy gut.

How Else Can You Improve the Health of Your Gut Microbiome?

Take a High-Quality Prebiotic/Probiotic Supplement

Each type of food delivers a different selection of bacteria into the gut, so the diversity of your gut microbiome may be limited by the foods you consume. Taking a high-quality daily supplement that provides both probiotics and prebiotics can help your gut microbiome thrive by giving your gut the nutrients and compounds it needs on a daily basis. It can also help you keep your gut healthier and more diverse.

Lower Sugar Intake

An essential part to adopting a healthier diet rich in beneficial bacteria is reducing your sugar intake. Studies have shown that foods and beverages rich in either sugar or artificial sweeteners will cause an imbalance of helpful gut bacteria. This can lead to metabolic disease.

Reduce Stress Levels

Emotional stress has been shown to influence the physical body, especially in terms of disrupting the activities of the microbes in the gut. For this reason, engaging in relaxing activities, such as reading, yoga or meditation, can help keep your gut healthier.

Exercise Every Day

Research has found that athletes have more diverse gut microbiomes than those who live sedentary lifestyles. While athletes likely eat healthier foods and that will partly account for their diverse gut bacteria, it’s also believed that physical exercise helps keep the gut healthy. It controls weight and encourages healthy weight loss, which may be one way that physical activity keeps the gut healthy on a microbial level.

Get Enough Quality Sleep

While you’re asleep, the body is hard at work repairing damage, improving muscular health and performing a variety of other functions. This may also be a time when the gut microbiome is becoming stronger, because research has found that insufficient sleep leads to a compromised gut microbiome. People who don’t get at least seven hours of quality sleep are at a greater risk of developing inflammatory intestinal diseases.

Scientists Probe New Link Between Gut Health and Chronic Disease

Sep 25 by Ewcopywriting

What would happen if you could turn an unhealthy gut microbiome into a healthy one? According to research recently conducted at Scripps Research Institute, doing so may improve cholesterol levels and stave off chronic disease. According to this new research, gut health and disease are linked, suggesting improving gut health can positively impact the risks of developing certain diseases.

Recent Study Links Gut Health and Disease

A recent research project used particles called peptides to identify how introducing certain molecules into the gut microbiome affected cholesterol levels in the body. Using mice that were fed high-fat diets and bred to develop arterial plaque, the team used peptides to alter the health of the gut microbiome and, in turn, improve cholesterol levels.

An unhealthy gut microbiome is one that does not contain a diverse selection of bacteria, so the goal was to encourage more diverse bacterial growth in the gut microbiome. They did this by introducing specific peptides, which would cause different strains of bacteria to thrive in the guts of the test mice. In this way, they were able to transform an unhealthy gut microbiome into a healthy one.

Before and after administering the peptides, the researchers conducted tests to evaluate the health of the mice. This involved taking fecal samples and looking at arterial health, while also examining molecules that indicate higher risks for developing inflammation, inhibited immunity and poor metabolic rates. They found that there was a 50 percent drop in plasma cholesterol in the mice receiving the peptide treatments. At the same time, researchers could not find a significant amount of plaque in the arteries of the same test mice.

While the research was conducted on mice, the researchers hope it will lead the way toward developing better treatments for human patients. Particularly, the research linking gut health and disease shows promise in treating people suffering from atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease, though additional research is needed. Future research may take a deeper focus on how altering the gut microbiome can lower the risks of developing other diseases.

Can Strengthening the Gut Microbiome Stave Off Disease?

Another recent study found that a diverse gut microbiome can affect HDL (good) cholesterol levels, triglycerides and the likelihood of developing obesity. To look at this relationship, researchers examined the fecal samples from 893 subjects, ranging in ages from 18 to 80. The samples helped the scientists determine the richness of bacteria in the gut microbiome and the diversity of the types of bacteria. Those results were compared against the lipid levels and body mass index measurements of the subjects.

Once the comparisons were complete, they found that there were 34 types of bacteria that were positively associated with HDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels. They also find a negative correlation between the presence of those particular bacteria and BMI measurements of the subjects.

The newly discovered link between gut health and disease, which was confirmed in this study, suggests that the gut microbiome plays an important roles in several areas of health. In addition to promoting better arterial and cardiovascular health, maintaining a healthy gut microbiome can help reduce unhealthy dietary cravings and may even affect the BMI of an individual. The researchers hopes future studies will strengthen the evidence that the gut microbiome plays a vital role in human health, so those findings can be used to develop more natural treatments for certain diseases.

Natural Ways to Bolster Your Gut Microbiome

Add Prebiotics and Probiotics to Your Diet

There are two primary ways to ensure you’re introducing sufficient quantities of probiotics and prebiotics into your gut microbiome. Many high-quality dietary supplements on the market incorporate both prebiotics and probiotics to maximize gut health. Additionally, you can eat foods that are excellent sources of prebiotics and probiotics. While there are many food sources of these important substances, a few are listed here to get you started.

Prebiotic Foods

artichokes
cucumbers
asparagus
apples
berries
bananas
honey
dark chocolate
seeds (flax, hemp, pumpkin, chia)

Probiotic Foods

sauerkraut
pickles
kimchi
plain yogurt
other fermented foods

Reduce Your Sugar Intake

Maintaining a healthy gut microbiome has as much to do with what you don’t eat as it does with what you do consume. Consuming foods and drinks rich in refined sugar actually prevent the bacteria in your gut from getting the nourishment they need. As a result, some of the helpful bacteria in your gut will eventually die off, leaving you with a less diverse microbiome.

Intermittent Fasting

Fasting for brief periods can give your gut the time it needs to heal. It can also help strengthen your immune system by restoring the bacterial balance in the gut. As you fast, you should be drinking plenty of water. To add a bit of flavor, you can use lemons or apple cider vinegar. Adding bone broth to your fast can also be helpful, since the gelatin and amino acids in the broth have been shown to help the gut lining heal and grow stronger.

Get Back to Nature

Improving the diversity of your gut microbiome doesn’t just concern your diet. Getting enough exercise can help, especially if you’re doing it outside. Walking barefoot in nature or simply breathing the fresh air can expose you to a broad range of types of bacteria. Additionally, buy your produce from organic farms and give them a slight rinse to ensure you don’t wash away the bacteria. Since each living thing plays host to a different selection of bacteria, spending time among a variety of plants and animals can help you strengthen your gut microbiome.

Resveratrol in Red Wine Protects Gut Health

Sep 10 by Ewcopywriting

Researchers have long known that maintaining a varied and diverse gut microbiome is essential to good health in a variety of ways. However, the issue that we face daily is exactly how to encourage the diversity of the vast array of bacteria that exists in the gut. A recent study provides one possible answer to that problem: New research suggests that red wine protects gut health when consumed in moderation. This discovery just adds to the long list of health benefits that drinking a little red wine from time to time can provide in terms of heart health, diabetes and other health concerns.

Red Wine Protects Gut Health, New Study Finds

The recent observational study, which was initiated at London’s King’s College, examined how gut health was altered by red wine consumption. The gut health of subjects who consumed red wine was compared to the gut health of subjects who consumed other types of alcohol. The subjects consisted of 916 female twins, who were divided into multiple groups. One group were asked to drink red wine, while the other groupings were given beer, hard cider and white wine. Additionally, other factors, such as age, weight and diet were accounted for in order to produce the highest level of accuracy.

The results confirmed that red wine protects gut health by encouraging a more diverse community of bacteria in the gut microbiome. The wider selection of bacteria in the gut helped the red wine drinkers experience a lower risk of developing obesity and helped them reduce their cholesterol levels. These findings were confirmed by comparing the records for subjects in the U.S., Netherlands and the U.K.

The researchers explain that these findings can account for the heart health benefits that red wine provides. By increasing the diversity of bacteria in the gut, overall health is boosted in a number of ways. In addition to helping the heart function more efficiently, a diverse gut microbiome helps keep the gastrointestinal system functioning and boosts the body’s immunity.

Where do these helpful bacteria come from? According to Tim Spector, who participated in the research, polyphenols like resveratrol which are found in the skin of the red grapes deserve the credit. While there is a high concentration of polyphenols in grape skins, certain types of polyphenols, such as phenolic acid and flavonoids, can be found in other foods as well. Eating a diverse selection of fruits and vegetables can give you a bountiful serving of these beneficial compounds. Alternatively, there are dietary supplements that provide polyphenols like resveratrol, which can provide you with a healthy daily dose as well.

If you are going to stick with red wine, the researchers cautioned to drink in moderation. The study found that drinking red wine rarely, just one glass every two weeks, provided the benefits they observed in their subjects. Mr. Spector added that red wine should be the drink of choice whenever a social occasion arises. Since you may be drinking an alcoholic beverage anyway, the researcher concluded that it’s best to choose the drink that can actually benefit your health.

Compounds Found in Red Wine Have Positive Effects on Obesity, Diabetes and Cardiovascular Health

Previous research has found that polyphenols have a positive effect on the risks of developing cardiovascular disease. Specifically, the flavonoids found in certain foods, such as red wine, have a significant impact on heart health. The risks of developing cardiovascular disease are reduced by as much as 47 percent when regularly consuming foods rich in this type of polyphenol. The benefits on heart health were observed when comparing subjects with other study participants who did not regularly consume flavonoid-rich foods.

While more research is needed to determine just how polyphenols benefit the body, scientists suspect these compounds act like antioxidants and produce anti-inflammatory effects in the body. The compounds may help keep lipid and glucose levels in check, according to some research. In this way, polyphenols may help control blood pressure and reduce the likelihood of developing atherosclerosis in some individuals.

In other studies, it was found that polyphenols could positively impact the symptoms of type 2 diabetes. By increasing your intake of polyphenols, you may be able to prevent the onset of these symptoms, or even to control the severity of the symptoms. The symptoms most commonly affected by the intake of polyphenols include:

retinopathy
neuropathy
sexual dysfunction

While maintaining healthy blood sugar levels is still essential, adding more foods rich in polyphenols can also be beneficial. Although red wine is a better source of these beneficial compounds, but polyphenols can also be found in black tea, white tea and green tea. Other sources include bee pollen, hazelnut, chestnut, honey, dark chocolate and olive oil.

There are also many polyphenol-rich fruits and vegetables which can be added to your diet. Essentially, a polyphenol is a compound that gives plants their more colorful pigmentation. For this reason, choosing deeply colored fruits and vegetables will give you a higher concentration of polyphenols. In particular, red or purple foods are the best choices. Select red apples, red grapes or a variety of berries. These foods can make great snacks, or you can add them to your daily meals. Since red wine should be consumed only in moderation, adding a supplement and creating a more diverse diet plan can help you maximize the level of polyphenols you feed your body.

Diversity of Gut Microbiome Influences Prostate Cancer

Aug 07 by Ewcopywriting

The prostate gland is a small organ that’s similar in size and shape to a walnut. It’s linked to the sexual health of men in that it’s responsible for producing seminal fluid, which helps carry sperm to the penis. The prostate gland is a common target for cancer in men, but, because it develops slowly, prostate cancer may not produce observable symptoms right away. There are a number of known risk factors for prostate cancer, as well as natural ways to help protect against this common condition. Now, recent research has discovered that the health of the gut microbiome influences prostate cancer, suggesting a more diverse microbiome can help lower cancer risks.

What is Prostate Cancer?

Prostate cancer is a cancer that occurs in the prostate gland, and is one of the most common types of cancer to affect men. In many cases, the cancer may stay confined to the prostate gland and may not grow large enough to pose health risks. In other cases, it may grow and spread to other parts of the body. For this reason, it’s better to diagnose prostate cancer as early as possible, so it can be treated before it has a chance to spread.

Some of the most common symptoms of prostate cancer include:

decreased need to urinate
less powerful urine stream
semen that’s mixed with blood
soreness or discomfort in the pelvic area
bone pain
trouble achieving or maintaining an erection

Prostate Cancer Risk Factors and Treatment

The underlying cause of prostate cancer is still unknown, but as with other cancers, it begins with the growth of abnormal or mutated cells. As the number of abnormal cells begins to outgrow the number of healthy cells, they gather together to form a tumor. As the tumor grows, it may grow large enough to pierce the tissue of the gland and spread to the rest of the body. Alternatively, some of the mutated cells can break away and travel to other parts of the body, in a process known as metastasis.

While we don’t know what causes prostate cancer to develop, the following risk factors can determine how likely an individual is of contracting the illness:

Age: Older men are at a greater risk.
Ethnicity: Black men face higher risks.
Family History: If there is a history of prostate cancer or breast cancer in your family, your risk is greater.
Obesity: Obese men face a greater risk that prostate cancer will spread or metastasize.

Prostate cancer can be treated in a number of ways. If it has remained confined to the prostate gland, the best option may be simply to remove the gland altogether. Alternatively, radiation therapy may help eradicate the cancer while leaving the gland intact. Hormone therapy is a relatively newer option, which involves depriving the cancer of the testosterone that it needs to thrive and grow. Hormone blockers stop the supply of testosterone and, as a result, the cancer weakens and dies off. The treatments your doctor recommends will depend on the severity and nature of the cancer.

New Study Finds Health of Gut Microbiome Influences Prostate Cancer

In a recent study, researchers hoped to understand how the gut microbiome influences prostate cancer, particularly in the way certain bacteria affect inflammation and infection in the prostate gland. They found that the best way to determine these bacterial influences was to examine the seminal fluid of healthy men, as well as those who had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. Additionally, prostatic fluid samples were taken from each subject. Prostatic fluid is an alkaline-based fluid that makes up part of the seminal fluid. Once the samples were taken, each of the men also submitted to a tissue biopsy. Of the 59 subjects recruited for the study, 32 of the men had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. This left them with 27 men with healthy prostate glands.

When tested, it was found that all of the men possessed high levels of prostate specific antigen (PSA). This is an enzyme secreted by the prostate gland and it’s commonly found to exist in higher levels in men with prostate cancer. However, PSA count alone isn’t enough to diagnose someone with prostate cancer, because PSA levels may be higher for any number of reasons.

After all of the samples were analyzed, the researchers found that the men with prostate cancer exhibited less bacterial diversity than those subjects with healthier prostate glands. The researchers said the findings led them to believe that a more diverse microbiome could help limit the advancement of prostate cancer.

While they admit more research is needed, they say the study does show a link between a diverse gut microbiome and a healthy prostate gland. In particular, they found that the presence of certain types of bacteria (Carnobacterium, Enterobacter, Geobacillus, Lactococcus, and Streptococcus) could affect how prostate cancer developed and grew. In the future, a test for these types of bacteria might be able to identify men who are at a greater risk of developing prostate cancer.

Natural Ways to Promote a Diverse Gut Microbiome

If you’re concerned that your gut microbiome isn’t as diverse as it should be, a few lifestyle changes may help. Below, there are listed a few tips that can help you naturally improve the diversity of your microbiome.

Eat a Diverse, Plant-Based Diet

The foods you eat play a major role in building a diverse gut microbiome, but only if you’re eating healthy, natural foods. You can start by reducing your intake of sugar and trans-fats, but also strive to consume a wide selection of fruits, vegetables, seeds and nuts.

Eat Fermented Products

Foods that are fermented, such as yogurt and sauerkraut, possess a wider range of bacteria. By eating more of these foods, you can introduce a much more diverse range of bacteria into your microbiome.

Take a Dietary Supplement

You may have heard about probiotics and prebiotics, especially if you’re concerned about your physical fitness and digestive health. While probiotics can be found in certain foods, there are also supplements on the market that can help you increase the amounts of probiotics you introduce into your system. Taking a high-quality protiotic/prebiotic supplement can help you build up a diverse microbiome.

Parkinson’s Starts in the Gut, Suggests New Study

Jul 17 by Ewcopywriting

A new study from John Hopkins University School of Medicine suggests that Parkinson’s starts in the gut. These recent findings further support the theory that the gut microbiome strongly influences brain health.

Study Finds That Parkinson’s Starts in the Gut

Research conducted recently at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine sought to confirm the theory that Parkinson’s disease first develops in the gut. The study involved injecting small fibrous samples of alpha-synuclein into the guts of test mice and observing how the protein traveled through the system. Once delivered to the brains in humans, alpha-synuclein causes toxic clusters to form, which initiates the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. The goal was to see if alpha-synuclein would travel to the brain from the gut.

Ted M. Dawson, who co-authored the study, noted that the findings did confirm that the protein traveled to the brain from the gut microbiome. In addition to corroborating the theory that Parkinsons starts in the gut, the research also proved that the disease’s timeline could be tracked. In following the protein’s path, researchers could determine exactly how long it took to travel along the vagus nerve and on to the brain. Since the progression of the protein can be tracked, Mr. Dawson was hopeful that the data could be used to intervene in the development of the disease. Eventually, he hopes a way could be found to stop the protein from reaching the brain, where it causes those toxic clusters to form.

This research follows up a 2003 study that determined that the vagus nerve plays a critical role in carrying alpha-synuclein from the gut microbiome to the brain. It was found that, once the protein found its way to the brain, the clusters it formed inhibited the brain’s normal production of dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter is essential for proper motor control, mood regulation, concentration and other brain functions that are affected by the development of Parkinson’s disease.

Although the previous study implicated the vagus nerve in transporting alpha-synuclein to the brain, the latest study out of Johns Hopkins was the first animal model and helped researchers track the progression of the disease. It was found that alpha-synuclein took approximately one month to travel from the gut microbiome to the brain stem. Within two more months, the protein had spread to various parts of the brain. It affected the substantia nigra pars compacta, which is the portion of the brain that’s susceptible to Parkinson’s disease, and it also spread to the prefrontal cortex, amygdala and hypothalamus. Eventually the alpha-synuclein spread to the striatum, hippocampus and the olfactory bulb. Essentially, there were very few areas of the brain that were not negatively impacted by the presence of alpha-synuclein.

More Ways the Gut Microbiome Affects Brain Health

While this latest research identifies how Parkinson’s disease originates in the gut microbiome, it’s hardly surprising. We already knew that the gut and brain are connected and can affect one another. This is something we have all experienced even more than we may realize. For example, think about when you’re about to eat and you feel your stomach churning. Upon anticipating food, your brain sends a message to your stomach, which causes the release of digestive acids.

This connection works the other way, as well. An upset stomach can send messages to the brain to give you the symptoms of indigestion, but those types of messages can be sent in the opposite direction as well. This is why people often feel sick to their stomach when experiencing anxiety or a depressive episode.

Another way the connection between the gut and brain is made apparent is in how we react to stress. People tend to think of stress as a purely emotional or mental condition, but it does affect the physical body. Increased stress levels influence the way the gastrointestinal tract functions. By increasing the rate of contraction, stress can cause inflammation to worsen in the gut. If you happen to suffer from a gastrointestinal condition, or an infection, this increased inflammation can send stronger pain signals to the brain. In this way, the brain and gut are interconnected and continuously sending messages back and forth.

Signs That Your Gut Microbiome is Unhealthy

Now that we know the important role that the gut microbiome plays in brain functioning and emotional health, it becomes even more important to look after your gut health. While it can be difficult to know when your gut is unhealthy, paying closer attention to common signs of trouble is important. Recognizing these signs sooner will help you take the steps needed to maintain a healthier gut microbiome, thus improving overall health.

Stomach Problems

A healthy and diverse gut microbiome is more efficient at digesting your food and flushing waste out of your system. However, when there’s a problem, you’ll experience frequent stomach aches, diarrhea or constipation, heartburn and more frequent gas.

Sugar Cravings

If you eat an unhealthy diet, your gut microbiome won’t be as diverse and it will lack the healthy bacteria your body relies upon. As a result, your body will produce stronger cravings for sugar, which is known to increase inflammation. Feeding this craving will raise your risks of developing disease, including various types of cancer.

Weight Gain

If you’re gaining weight, or unable to lose weight, this may be a sign of a bacterial imbalance in your gut. Certain helpful microbes in the gut microbiome are essential for weight loss, so if you don’t have those types of bacteria, you won’t be able to reach or maintain a healthy weight.

Sleep Disorders

If you’re not getting enough sleep, the problem may be originating in the gut. This is where serotinin is produced and transmitted to the brain, so it can help regulate mood and your ability to sleep.

Even if you don’t recognize any of these symptoms, skin conditions or food allergies may be other indications that there’s an imbalance of bacteria in your gut. The best way to correct the problem is to adopt a healthier plant-based diet. Additionally, taking a high-quality dietary supplement that provides both probiotics and prebiotics can help you correct an imbalance. As you begin making these changes and other lifestyle improvements, you should notice these symptoms going away by themselves.

Gut Bacteria and Cancer: An Unhealthy Gut Microbiome May Drive the Spread of Breast Cancer

Jun 26 by Ewcopywriting

While your body is comprised of trillions of human cells, it’s also home to trillions of fungi, bacteria and other foreign microbes. A large portion of these reside in the large intestine, and scientists refer to this community as the “gut microbiome.” Until fairly recently, little attention was paid to this realm, but we now recognize that the microbes housed in the large intestine serve a variety of essential functions. In fact, we now consider the gut microbiome to be an extra organ that functions to help us stay healthy. Now, a newly discovered link between gut bacteria and cancer may hold important answers for the prevention and treatment of breast cancer in women.

How Does the Gut Microbiome Affect Overall Health?

The most studied microbes in the large intestine are bacteria, because there are so many different kinds of bacteria in the body. There are actually more bacterial cells than there are human cells in the body. There are over 1,000 different types of bacteria that reside in the human body, and researchers have found that each kind of bacteria performs a unique function. Some of these bacteria are harmful, increasing the likelihood of developing specific medical conditions. Other types of bacteria are good for us, helping to maintain health and boost immunity. A diverse and well-balanced gut microbiome has been found to play a significant role in overall health and wellness.

When we are born, some microbes already inhabit the gut microbiome, enabling us to digest certain foods. The population of microbes in the large intestine starts to grow almost as soon as we’re born. Both our mother’s breast milk and the air we breathe contain bacteria that make their way into the gut microbiome. Once there, they begin to provide us with many healthy benefits. As we develop dietary tastes and pursue new experiences, still more types of microbes are ingested, helping to create a more diverse gut microbiome.

Cultivating a fully diverse gut microbiome will ultimately benefit overall health by:

Assisting in the digestion of fiber. Certain types of bacteria can help the body digest fiber more efficiently. This may help you lower your risks of developing obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and some types of cancer.
Improving immune system functioning. Research has found that the gut microbiome communicates with the body’s immune system. A diverse bacterial population can communicate better with immune cells, strengthening protection against infection and disease.
Maintaining brain health. More recent research has found evidence that healthy brain functioning is supported by the gut microbiome. The microbes in your large intestine communicate with the central nervous system, which sends messages to the brain. In this way, a diverse gut microbiome may help stave off cognitive degeneration.

New Study Links Gut Bacteria and Cancer

Today, the methods for treating breast cancer have improved considerably, offering a better chance for women suffering from the condition. However, metastatic breast cancer is a more complicated concern in that it involves treating cancer that has spread to other parts of the body. Unfortunately, metastatic breast cancer is a growing problem that already affects more than 154,794 women annually. In many cases, breast cancer has already metastasized by the time patients are diagnosed.

Most women develop HR (hormone receptor)-positive breast cancer, which is a type of cancer that’s driven by hormone production. Specifically, progesterone and estrogen are responsible for the growth of this type of cancer. HR-positive breast cancer responds well to treatment and is less likely to spread to other parts of the body.

However, HR-negative breast cancer isn’t so easily treated. It often metastasizes in the early stages, making it more difficult to treat. In addition to increased hormone levels, a high population of immune cells, called macrophages, can also increase the likelihood of advanced breast cancer. When there’s also an increase of collagen, which is a structural protein found in human tissue, the chances of breast cancer spreading to other areas of the body is maximized.

Looking for ways to prevent metastatic breast cancer has led some researchers to uncover a link between gut bacteria and cancer. A study conducted at Charlottesville’s University of Virginia sought to understand how gut bacteria influence the development and spread of breast cancer. In the study, mice with HR-positive mammary cancer were administered powerful antibiotics, which targeted the gut microbiomes of the test mice. Additionally, unbalanced gut microbiomes were transferred into the mice via fecal samples to ensure the processes normally conducted by the gut microbiome were inhibited.

Dr. Melanie Rutkowski reported that as a result of disrupting the gut microbiome’s processes, inflammation spread to the mammaries. The increased inflammation made it possible for cancer cells to be carried by the blood to the lungs, which is where breast cancer often first metastasizes. Dr. Rutkowski believes the research suggests that the health of the gut microbiome can indicate the likelihood of developing metastatic breast cancer.

Although the study used antibiotics to achieve these results, Dr. Rutkowski says the research isn’t meant to imply that antibiotics are harmful to women with breast cancer. She points out that a human dose of antibiotics proportionate to that used in the study would be far greater than anything a doctor would prescribe. What she does hope people will take away from this study is that maintaining a healthy and diverse gut microbiome is essential to good health.

To ensure an optimally healthy gut microbiome, eat a healthy diet, consisting of larger portions of plant-based foods, whole grains and lean meat. Taking a high-quality prebiotic/probiotic supplement can offer additional support for maintaining a healthy gut microbiome. Frequent exercise and quality sleep will also help the gut microbiome thrive and that will help to strengthen general immunity.