Gut health, your health & collagen

When you hear "gut health," you might automatically think of how well your stomach works to digest food. And while digestion is an important part of gut health, it goes a little further than that and directly affects your overall health.

Your digestive system contains a healthy amount of bacteria, which help regulate your digestion, support your immune system, and ultimately contribute to the overall regulation of your body. When the gut flora in your gut becomes unbalanced, you're likely to experience physical symptoms such as gas, bloating, irritable bowel, heartburn, and even unintended weight gain or loss.

So how do you keep the bacteria in balance to keep your gut health – and therefore overall health – at its peak? First, it's good to understand what makes up your gut microbiome (your gut flora).

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What is the gut microbiome (gut flora)?

There are a couple of ways to think of your gut microbiome (gut flora), which is primarily found in the colon and small intestine, but is also found throughout the body. Some research highlights it as a virtual organ of the body, as it is home to approximately 100 trillion microorganisms (bacteria, fungi, parasites and viruses) that have the power to code for over three million genes that affect our fitness, certain physical characteristics and our health .

Another, more creative way to understand how the gut microbiome works is to compare it to a sports team - Each player has their own role, but everyone plays for the same team. There are trillions of unique players (bacteria and microorganisms) that digest the food you eat, protect against pathogens, and keep metabolic functions in check in the healed body.

When all these players are healthy and working together, we generally don't notice, we're just fine. It's even possible, according to a 2021 study in Nature, that optimal gut flora can help us live well into our 80s and 90s.

But although good bacteria and microorganisms are necessary for many important functions, the gut microbiome also contains potentially harmful microorganisms, and when the ratio between good and potentially harmful bacteria is disturbed by something like disease, diet or medication, this can upset the entire balance in the gut.

In fact. An imbalance in gut flora has been associated with all kinds of chronic diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and colorectal cancer (cancer of the colon and rectum).

Signs of an unhealthy gut

How do you know if your gut is healthy or not? There are a number of common signs that may indicate an imbalance in your gut flora.

Gas, bloating and other stomach problems

Symptoms of food intolerance such as indigestion, bloating and stomach pain can be caused by problems with bacteria in the gut.

Now, it is important to understand that food intolerances are not the same as food allergies. With a food allergy, you experience an immune reaction to something you eat; This can cause shortness of breath, hives, swelling of the mouth or tongue, or itching, and is not only uncomfortable but can be life-threatening. Food intolerances, on the other hand, affect up to 20% of the population and specifically lead to the aforementioned stomach problems, which are unpleasant and can be serious, but are not dangerous in the same way that an allergy would be. Some individuals may even be able to handle small amounts of a food they are intolerant to without too much discomfort.

When you experience side effects like gas and bloating after eating certain foods, this may be an indication that the bacteria in your gut are not breaking down those foods properly.

Unintended weight fluctuations – weight gain and loss

When your gut is balanced, it easily processes your food and eliminates waste on a regular basis. You can eat your usual diet, and your weight will most likely only fluctuate when there is a direct change in eating habits or physical activity.

But there is more to the connection between gut health and weight. Certain gut bacteria actually have an impact on how many calories you can get from your food, and microbial richness has been shown in some studies to be linked to an adult's BMI and metabolism. In other words, the gut microbiome may play a role in weight gain and weight loss. So if you're eating normally but seem to be slowly gaining or losing weight, poor gut health and a lack of diversity in your microbiome could be to blame.

An important warning is that unintended weight loss or weight gain can also be a sign of other serious health conditions, such as cancer, so if you experience any of them you should speak to your doctor as soon as possible.

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Skin problems

You may have noticed that your skin tends to be affected when you eat certain foods, such as those high in refined sugar or saturated fat, and this may be due to the bacteria in your gut. According to one study, these types of foods promote an imbalance of gut bacteria that can contribute to a variety of skin problems, including acne, rosacea, eczema, psoriasis and dandruff.

In fact, the connection between our gut and our skin is more apparent when we look at the microbiome of individuals who do and do not have these types of inflammatory skin conditions. The same study found that individuals living with rosacea, for example, are also likely to experience gastrointestinal problems, and while only a few percent of the general population has psoriasis, that range jumps to double among people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). .

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Mood swings, irritability and difficulty concentrating

Our emotions and our mood are strongly associated with the gastrointestinal tract.

For example, when our brain is in overdrive with anxiety or depression, the nerves that stimulate the brain are constantly firing. The same thing happens in the gastrointestinal tract. It's nerves that stimulate the gut that also start to kick in, so now this cycle has been created. The psychological symptoms worsen the gastrointestinal symptoms, and the gastrointestinal symptoms worsen the psychological symptoms. This may continue until the cycle is broken through medication, lifestyle and/or dietary changes.

Although the exact connection between the gut and the brain is not completely clear, studies show significant evidence for the effect of gut health on our mental state. After all, over half of all people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) also have depression, anxiety, or sleep problems, and it's not uncommon for depression and generalized anxiety disorder to be associated with gastrointestinal problems.

Although research into this connection is ongoing, it is clear that the gastrointestinal tract and the brain communicate.

Fatigue, insomnia and difficulty falling asleep

Do you have difficulty sleeping or do you sleep too much? This is another area where your gut health can affect your life.

The gut produces much of the body's serotonin, which affects mood and sleep. The functions of the gut and its activity interact with our sleep, how we eat and our emotions.

And as we saw with the connection between the gut and mental health, the connection between sleep and gut health is bidirectional. Sleep is important to achieving a healthy gut. Getting a good amount of sleep each night helps maintain a healthy gut microbiome (healthy gut flora). Lack of sleep can lead to digestive problems, and these problems can lead to a vicious cycle.

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Sweet tooth and your intestinal flora

Microbes: They're Just Like Us! Different microbes prefer different types of food. Some love carbohydrates, others grow best on dietary fiber or certain fats, and yeast in particular feed on sugar. Because of this, there is a school of thought that says that the more you indulge in these cravings, the more the microorganisms that affect these cravings grow. This perpetuates the cycle, leading to an imbalance in the gut with the sugar-loving, pro-inflammatory bacteria taking over, which can also lead to other health problems.

How to improve gut health

If you notice one or more of these signs and suspect you have an unhealthy gut, there are steps you can take to help heal it.

There are some easy steps you can take that can be beneficial not only for your gut health, but for your overall health as well. Improving your gut health can be as simple as doing more of what we already know maintains your health: drink more water, get at least seven hours of sleep, eat nutritious foods, exercise regularly and manage your stress levels. However, if symptoms persist or worsen, some people may need tests or screenings to determine whether food allergies or chronic diseases may be the cause.

And remember that the gut-brain connection works both ways, so mental health issues, such as anxiety and depression, can also be a contributing factor to an unhealthy gut.

What to do to improve your gut health?

Increase your fiber intake and water intake. Fiber, including whole grains and leafy greens, can help regulate and improve a person's microbiome (gut flora). Staying hydrated is also highly recommended to maintain healthy levels of good bacteria in the gut.

Don't smoke and don't eat a diet high in meat, sugar, fat and salt. If you are a smoker, research shows that quitting the habit is a smart step to restore balance in your gut. And since a diet high in animal proteins, saturated fat, sugar, and salt has been shown to promote pathogenic bacteria (at the expense of the good bacteria), it definitely doesn't hurt to reduce your intake of foods rich in these ingredients.

Feel free to try the Mediterranean diet. One diet worth considering is the Mediterranean diet. The polyphenol- and antioxidant-rich Mediterranean diet focuses on fruits, vegetables, olive oil, nuts, legumes, and whole grains, and has been shown to not only help with gut health, but also heart health, diabetes, depression, and more, making it potentially worth a try even if your gut seems to be in good shape.

Exercise and train more. Recent studies have shown that low-intensity exercise can increase the amount of good bacteria and increase the overall diversity of bacteria in the gut.

Try collagen for gut health and stomach health. You've probably heard of collagen for improving skin and hair health, but what about collagen for gut health? As it turns out, collagen is an important nutrient for maintaining a strong gut and healing a leaky gut. In fact, consuming adequate amounts of collagen can help improve everything from digestion to acid reflux to abdominal pain.

And finally, a healthy gut may not look the same to you as it does to someone else. You don't have to go to the toilet every day to be "normal". It may be normal to go a few times a day or once every few days as everyone is different. However, it's good to be concerned when things deviate from what you know is normal for you, so if you notice blood in your stool, unintended weight loss, or changes in typical bowel habits, you should be concerned.

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If you're concerned, whether it's about gut health specifically or anything to do with your gastrointestinal health, you should talk to a doctor who's an expert in gastrointestinal health.