6. DISCUSIÓN, HALLAZGOS Y CONCLUSIONES DEL ANÁLISIS
6.2. F UENTES
Go Gangnam style Korean food is awesome for your gut, and not of the beer-belly variety. Koreans eat lots of fermented and pickled
“banchan” or side dishes, which make the healthy bacteria in your gut do a happy dance when you eat them.
Bean sprouts Highly nutritious and good for gut bugs, sprouts also improve the digestive process
Kimchi
This fermented cabbage dish is high in lactobacilli – the same healthy bacteria found in yoghurt
D
espite the fact that I’m an integrative cardiologist, I often look first at a patient’s gut to shed light on the underlying cause of heart disease. What could the gut possibly have to do with the heart? It’s all about inflammation. If aliens were to take a human body and analyse it cell by cell, they’d come to the conclusion that we’re mostly a mass of bacteria with just a few human cells mixed in. Each of us has more than 100 trillion bacteria inside of us – 10 times the number of human cells! This mix of bacteria is called our “microbiome”, which begins to develop at birth and is affected by many factors, including whether a birth is vaginal or via C-section and when we first eat solid food as infants. And as adults, our lifestyle choices – what we eat, whether we’re obese, how much we exercise, how much stress we’re under, if we smoke or overuse antibiotics – also significantly affect the quality and diversity of our microbiome, for good and for bad.This is important because in recent years we’ve become more and more aware that an imbalance of the bacteria in our microbiome, especially in the gut, can cause chronic low-level inflammation – and, more importantly, that this inflammation may be the cause of diseases, such as dementia, diabetes, cancer and, yes, heart disease.
The most important part of our gut is its inner lining, a layer of cells called the epithelium, which keeps all the outside substances we ingest into our stomachs – then process through our intestines – from leaking out into the rest of the body. And because the epithelial cells feed on short-chain fatty acids that are produced by the gut bacteria around it, how healthy and diverse the microbiome is directly affects how healthy the epithelium is.
This means that any unhealthy changes in the microbiome can cause a breakdown of this protective
Banana Bananas are gentle on your gut and contain healthy prebiotics, helping to create a healthy balance in your innards.
Miso soup Miso is made from fermented soy beans and helps support digestion by adding benefi cial microorganisms to your digestive tract.
Kombucha tea Beloved by hipsters everywhere, this tea is naturally fermented with a living colony of bacteria, so it’s great for your gut.
Garlic
It might not fend off vampires, but garlic contains amino acid precursor chemicals that help create enzymes important for digestion.
SIX GUT HEALTH FOODS
Yoghurt
Boosts your immune system and helps promote a healthy digestive tract. Stick to plain yoghurts, as the fl avoured stuff is packed with sugars.
Kefir
A potent probiotic with twice the bacteria of yoghurt, plus it can be eaten by people with lactose sensitivity – it’s 99.99% lactose free.
● TAKE IT EASY WITH THE RED MEAT
There’s a known connection between excessive consumption of red meat and heart disease. We’ve assumed this was due to red meat’s high concentration of saturated fats;
however, studies now show that it may not be fat but other chemicals in meat.
Cardiologist Dr Stanley Hazen published a paper in Nature Medicine describing his findings that red meat contains certain chemicals that are metabolised by gut bacteria to produce trimethylamine N-oxide, or TMAO;
and that TMAO may go on to cause atherosclerosis, the fatty build-up in heart and brain arteries that can lead to heart attacks, strokes and even death.
layer – which in turn causes the gut to
“leak”. It’s this “leaky gut” that causes inflammation both there in the gut and in other parts of the body.
And because the surface area of the epithelium is huge – larger than a tennis court if laid out flat – this is a lot of inflammation that can travel to vital organs like the heart and arteries, causing serious illness.
Fortunately, in many instances, simple lifestyle changes can have dramatic beneficial effects on the bacteria inside us. Here, the best ways to foster a healthy gut:
● EAT A FIBRE-RICH, NUTRIENT-DENSE DIET THAT’S HEAVY IN VEGETABLES
A diet high in refined sugar and low in fibre encourages the overgrowth of “unfriendly” bacteria, which then leads to a leaky gut and uncontrolled inflammation. Opt instead for a mostly organic, plant-based diet full of the colourful phytonutrients and fibre that help our microbial friends thrive.
“We need lots of fibre to feed the beneficial microorganisms that live in our gut so that they can continue to survive and provide the benefits that they do,” says Belinda Reynolds, a nutritionist and dietitian. “As the bacteria ferment the fibre in our diet, they produce different health-promoting chemicals, such as short-chain fatty acids, which maintain the health of our gut, create an acidic environment that prevents the overgrowth of bad bugs and assists in digestion and nutrient absorption.”
● EAT FOODS TEEMING WITH PREBIOTICS AND PROBIOTICS
Some foods called “prebiotics”, such as garlic and onions, contain inulin, a fibre that feeds our good bacteria. Certain other foods – yoghurt, sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir, kombucha – and supplements known as “probiotics”
are already full of good bacteria, and help maintain a healthy microbiome.
RAW FERMENTED SAUERKRAUT RESTORES GUT BALANCE AND CAN HELP PREVENT CANCER
EAT FIT | 95
WHAT IS A “LEAKY GUT”?
●“Leaky gut refers to increased permeability of the gut barrier,” says dietitian Belinda Reynolds. “Normally the cells that line our gut wall are tightly packed together, only separating to allow into the body the nutrients we need. When we get local inflammation from a poor diet, or if there is bacterial imbalance, this results in a dysfunction of this selective barrier and some undesirable products are granted passage into the body. This causes inflammation and over-reaction of the immune system. Based on your genetic susceptibility and other factors, your risk of chronic disease, and its severity, is increased. This is why the health of the gut barrier and microbiome should always be taken into account.”
do anything you can to calm your inner mind. “Stress can impact gut health, and poor gut health can also impact how we cope with stress,”
Reynolds says. “Also, acute feelings of stress impact gut function immediately, as the body is more focused on dealing with the stress than it is with digestion. As a result, a great amount of discomfort can occur. It’s important that you relax while eating and focus on the act of chewing to ensure your digestive system is switched back on.”
According to Reynolds, stress can also suppress the production of beneficial substances produced in the gut to support immunity, leaving you more vulnerable to illness.
Finally, there’s even evidence that a healthy microbiome actually signals our brain to eat healthy foods that are good for us (and for them), while a dysfunctional microbiome signals it to crave unhealthy foods, such as excessive carbs and sugars – a fascinating possibility that could be a factor in the Western obesity epidemic.
“The balance of bacteria in your gut certainly isn’t the only factor that will influence your craving of bad foods, but it can play a part,” Reynolds says. “Not only can the bacteria in our gut influence how we metabolise food and influence our blood-sugar control, but they also have an impact on stress hormone levels and specific neurotransmitters that can play a role in our pleasure-seeking behaviours.”
In addition, an unhealthy gut can leave you feeling fatigued, which leads you to seek out “quick fixes” for energy like sugary foods and too much coffee.
We may be on the verge of discovering the optimal mix of gut bacteria, and that could help prevent heart disease and other illnesses.
It’s a beautiful thing when we can use garlic and yoghurt to save lives.EF risk for heart disease, allowing us to
intervene with measures like probiotics and/or nutritional interventions that will optimise gut microflora and reduce the risk of disease.
But don’t rush out there with your poo in a bag just yet. “For most people, I don’t believe a stool test is necessary – especially since our understanding of what a ‘healthy’ gut/bacterial balance looks like is still evolving,”
says Reynolds. “So too are analytical techniques used. But if you have signs of a serious pathogen overgrowth, like a parasite, or serious and persistent gut issues, then yes, further investigation is certainly warranted.”
For the rest of you, consider seeking the advice of an integrative health and nutrition specialist to help with any gut health concerns. Says Reynolds:
“Generally a list of symptoms, medication history such as antibiotic use, diet analysis and possibly certain functional pathology tests will give a good idea of the state of your gut health and the health of your microbiome.”
●CLEAR YOUR HEAD
Though it’s not specifically bacteria related, forgiveness, gratitude and love – powerful, stress-relieving emotions – can, believe it or not, help reduce the inflammation that leads to serious health problems. So relax, meditate – And heads up, meat eaters: Dr Hazen
also found that vegans didn’t even have the bacteria that made TMAO.
●EXERCISE TO GET YOUR GUT GOING
Working out releases beneficial chemicals that help your arteries expand, which reduces inflammation.
In a study published in the journal Gut, Irish athletes were found to have a much better microbiome than non-athlete control subjects. But don’t overdo it. “Staying active is important,”
says Reynolds. “However, frequent intense exercise can actually cause mild damage to the gut.”
●KEEP YOUR WEIGHT DOWN
When you’re living a healthful lifestyle, eating a nutrient-rich, mostly plant-based diet and moving on a regular basis, weight usually stabilises in the correct range for you.
●USE ANTIBIOTICS JUDICIOUSLY
We’rebeginningtolearnfroma
●CONSIDER GETTING A STOOL TEST
Stool testing may reveal if a patient has the wrong bacterial mix and is at