Another reason why maintaining optimal gut health is so important to our overall health & well-being
Typically, in a healthy gut, there is a balance between good bacteria (eg. Probiotic strains such as acidophilis) and bad bacteria (eg. H. Pylori). However, in today’s society, many people are lacking in healthy bacteria. Things that can kill off good bacteria or make the gut environment less conducive to their colonization include antibiotics, other medications, birth control pills, stress, sugar, excess carbohydrate intake, alcohol, and chlorinated water – all factors that are very common in our lives today.
A low amount of good bacteria in the gut means that the bad bacteria is left unchecked. This leads to a condition called gut dysbiosis – microbial imbalance.
Symptoms of gut dysbiosis include:
- Gut inflammation, indigestion, bloating, frequent gas, stomach pain
- Irregular bowel movements: constipation or diarrhea, IBS
- Altered synthesis and production of neurotransmitters such as serotonin (the happy hormone: 90% of of serotonin is synthesized in the gut). Can lead to mood disorders
- Systemic inflammation: headaches, joint aches, muscle pain, fatigue, yeast infections, rashes, sleep disturbances, brain fog, etc.
- Compromised immune system: frequent flus/colds, infections
- Auto-immunity
- Impaired detoxification
In essense, an impaired digestive system can cause a person to feel pretty bad in more ways than one—depending on how bad the gut impairment is and how long the condition has been going on for, multiple areas of the body can be affected.
In addition, in a recent study mentioned in this week’s NY times looks at the harmful affects of antibiotics. A study conducted by Dr. Martin Blaser, a professor of microbiology at New York University Langone Medical Center, and published in the August edition of Nature journal, antibiotics were shown to permanently change the gut flora in humans with serious consequences.
Dr. Blaser found that even “bad bacteria” such as H. Pylori, which is often killed off by antibiotics prescribed by a doctor helps to regulate the hunger hormone in the body. So in subjects without H. Pylori, the body’s hunger hormone did not fall to tell the brain that they were no longer hungry after a meal, and therefore, these subjects were more inclined to over-eat.
However, even in mice whose diets remained the same, after being fed antibiotics, increased in body fat (despite no changes in their diet).
People tend to re-acquire gut bacteria after discontinuing antibiotics, and can benefit from taking supplemental probiotics. In this case, quality and quantity really matter.
In some cases, antibiotics are necessary in order to fight off infection. However, minimizing the use of them, according to recent studies, would be wise. Supplementing with a high quality probiotic during the course of antibiotic use is a good idea, making sure to take the probiotic at different times of day as the antibiotic, as the antibiotic can kill off the good bacteria in the supplements.
Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine are a natural and effective way of promoting the immune system to prevent and fight off colds and infections, while leaving your gut flora intact. Acupuncture and herbal medicine can also help to heal the digesetive system which becomes compromised after antibiotic use, poor diet, stress, and use of other medications.
Link to the NY times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/01/health/scientist-examines-possible-link-between-antibiotics-and-obesity.html?_r=1
