Understanding Gut Health – How Functional Medicine Can Make a Difference
If you’ve ever “gone with your gut feeling” to make a decision or felt “butterflies in your stomach” when nervous, you’re getting signals from your second brain. It has over 100 million nerve cells that line your digestive tract.
Unlike conventional medicine, Trivida Functional Medicine Denver digestive help digs deeper, considering genetic and environmental factors and lifestyle habits. Treatments are customized for each patient to get to the root cause instead of simply suppressing symptoms.
Diet
Your gut microbes help digest your food & keep your immune system healthy. But if you eat a diet high in sugar, processed foods & unhealthy fats, these beneficial microbes get disrupted. And when that happens, you are susceptible to a host of problems including acid reflux, leaky gut, autoimmune issues & mood imbalances.
To promote good gut health, eat plenty of fruits & vegetables, whole grains, legumes & healthy fats like olive oil. You should also avoid foods that cause inflammation, such as gluten & dairy.
If you have gut issues, talk to your functional medicine doctor about making dietary changes to improve your digestive health. Your doctor will use a holistic approach to identify the root causes of your symptoms & customize an individualized gut healing program just for you. Then, you can regain control of your gut health & regain optimal health.
Stress
Many people who struggle with GI issues find their symptoms get worse during times of stress. This is because your gut and brain are closely connected. They share the same type of nerves (the enteric nervous system, or ENS) and use many of the same neurotransmitters to communicate. Some researchers even refer to your gut as your second brain.
Research shows that high levels of stress can have a direct impact on your gut bacteria. Some studies suggest that stress can alter bacterial composition and increase the number of pathogenic bacteria by crowding out health-promoting ones.
Depression and stress can also affect your gut microbiome, causing more inflammation and contributing to functional gastrointestinal conditions like irritable bowel syndrome. This may be because they disrupt the normal balance of gut bacteria and cause an imbalance in short-chain fatty acids essential to gut function.
Several natural ways to reduce stress and improve your gut health include mindfulness meditation, exercise, sleep, and eating a healthy diet. Cognitive behavioral therapy is another option that can help you learn coping skills and change your perspective on stressful events.
Environment
It’s no secret that a healthy diet high in fiber is important for your gut microbiome, but you may not know that other lifestyle factors can also have a big impact. Advanced microscopic analysis of the microbial communities in your gut has shown that environment, rather than genetics, is the biggest influence on your microbiome health1.
Disruptions of the circadian rhythm loop, which regulates our bodies’ natural biological clock, can also impact gut microbes. These shifts can lead to GI distress, increased gut permeability, and other health issues.
Other things you can do to help your gut microbes include regularly drinking plenty of water and eating fermented foods. These foods contain plant compounds called polyphenols, which can positively impact your gut microbes. Sleeping and managing stress are also key to keeping your gut microbes happy. This is because chronic stress can disrupt the bacterial populations in your intestines and lead to a leaky gut.
Genetics
Recent studies have shown that your genes can affect the makeup of your gut bacteria and your risk of disease. Specifically, certain variants of the gene LCT influence how well you digest lactose (a sugar found in milk and other dairy products) and appear to increase levels of Bifidobacterium, a bacteria commonly used as probiotics.
In addition, researchers have identified heritable variation in fecal microbiome composition using genome-wide association studies (GWAS). GWAS compares the differences between genotype and phenotype and identifies which bacterial taxa are more prevalent in one genotype versus another.
In addition, the research team is also looking at how dietary polyphenols (found in berries, dark chocolate, and tea) influence the microbiome and whether this links to the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. They are currently seeking 150 participants to participate in the study.