Your Unique Microbiome
Your Unique Microbiome
“Healing the microbiome is one of the most important medical if not the most important discovery of the century”
Elaine Hsiao, researcher California Institute of Technology, studying gut microbiome brain interactions in autism
Nowadays, the health world is a buzz with research on the importance of our microbiome, especially that of the gut or digestive system. Since it is still in its infancy, it is not always cut and dry what can be used in medical practice. However, many functional medical and holistic practitioners of all kinds already have quite a bit of experience getting major shifts in their patients’ or clients’ health by employing practices that seek to optimize and normalize their gut microbiome.
Let’s take a look behind the scene to see why this might be so powerful.
What is the microbiome?
It is the community of microbial inhabitants that line the one celled gut lining from top to bottom. They stand shoulder to shoulder and protect that prime real estate. They prevent microbes that are coming from the outside from establishing themselves.
You have your own unique microbiome.
Why is this so important?
That one celled thick lining of epithelial cells, is the gateway from the outside world to the bloodstream. If it’s working properly and your digestive system has broken down foods into smaller compounds, then these cells act as gatekeepers, letting these smaller components into the bloodstream.
If this lining starts to break down, then larger particles of undigested foods start to “leak” into the bloodstream. The immune system thinks those food particles are some kind of invader. They raise the alarms and all sorts of immune system players get involved. The chemicals that they release can cause inflammation – the root of chronic disease. This is often how food sensitivities develop.
Once that lining is breached, the gut organisms start to go where they don’t belong and interact with the immune system. If the ordinary gut organisms grow out of control because there aren’t enough of the good guys keeping them in balance, then again, toxins and inflammatory chemicals can be released.
All of these activities can make a leaky gut even more leaky. It’s a viscious cycle.
Where Does Our Microbiome Come From?
Mother Nature has wisely imparted this powerful community of “microbial friends” to us.
Before birth, populations of Lactobacillus bacteria in the mom’s vagina increase. There are also traces of fecal matter which contain microbes. As baby goes through the birth canal, the baby’s nose and mouth take up these vaginal microbes.
These microbes are part of the early colonization process for the baby.
When the baby is put to mom’s breast, she picks up the microbes that live on mom’s nipple and the area around it. There is also two kinds of bacteria in Mom’s breast milk. They are different kinds of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium . Not surprisingly, breast milk is the perfect food for these bacteria to flourish.
Baby will get some of mom’s gut microbes in breast milk. Gut microbes are engulfed and transported to mom’s breasts so that they will be in the breast milk! So perhaps mom’s gut microbiome may have an influence on baby’s developing microbiota.
Then, when baby starts on solid food, population of various bacterial species increase or decrease depending on the kinds of foods baby eats.
More fiber, more of the Firmicutes bacterial species. More fat and protein, higher in Bacteroides.
As the child interacts with his environment, his family members and other humans, animals, plants and the soil, his microbiome communities evolve. These include that of the skin, nasal passages, respiratory system, gut and genitourinary tract evolve in response.
The first year of life may be the most critical. The microbiome communities become stable by the time the child reaches the age of 3.
Much of this intelligent design of the co-evolution of human and microbes has been wildly disrupted in our modern societies.
Researchers have found that there are some major lifestyle factors that may affect the development of the microbiome.
These include:
· Caesarean births versus vaginal birth
· Formula versus breastfeeding
· The use of antibiotics in both the mom and the baby, especially in pregnancy and in early childhood during the development of the resident gut microbiome
· Poor diet of mother during pregnancy
· Baby’s diet at weaning
Each one of these factors can change the composition and numbers of microbes that the child develops as their resident community. The overall effect is the creation of a healthy, or an unhealthy, dysbiotic microbiome.
Dr. Mark Hyman said it succinctly in a recent podcast. He said dysbiosis is like a garden where the weeds are out of control and have taken over. We can have bad microbes that are out of control or it may be that our resident “commensal” bacteria, which usually aren’t troublemakers, go rogue when their numbers are too high.
Another scenario is that some key players or “keystone” bacteria have disappeared. Without their leadership in controlling and balancing the microbial community, everything falls apart. Japanese researchers have found that those with ulcerative colitis, an autoimmune digestive disease, are missing a bacteria called Faecali bacterium prausnitzii (cluster IV).
Our Microbiome and Its Benefits
Our microbiota’s genes or “microbiome” could be likened to a huge genetic catalogue that is part of us. It’s sort of a database that we have via our microbial inhabitants. The data provided by the microbial genes provides an immense set of instructions for running all sorts of processes. This includes detoxifying toxins, producing vitamins, converting those “rainbow” foods into substances that we can use, and creating nutrients like short chain fatty acids, the preferred food of our gut lining cells.
Not only that, but the microbiota is responsible for protecting our “skins”. These not only include our actual skin, but the gut lining, our respiratory tract, our genitourinary tract, and nasal passages. They line up along those skins and act as guards against transient microbes that want to invade the skins.
They play a huge role in training the immune system. For example, pathogenic or “bad” microbes help keep the immune system vigilant so it doesn’t fall asleep. The microbiota teaches the immune system how to accept the normal resident bacteria and other microbial populations. The immune system has to be trained how to differentiate between friend and foe.
We can no longer subscribe to the old paradigm that our genes determine our health. It’s really the combination of our genes and our microbial communities that interact with our environment and our lifestyle choices to create negative or positive effects. This is the new science of “epigenetics”.
In other words, genes, either ours or our microbes, can be turned off or on.
This leads to a more proactive approach. We don’t have to be victims. Just because everyone in our family die of heart attacks before 50 doesn’t mean that I will as well.