The estimated 1.3 trillion bacteria in our intestinal tract
is collectively called the microbiome.
Like phytonutrients, most people are unaware of its importance in
health. Most experts studying this new
frontier in health are showing strong evidence that Hippocrates was correct in
saying ‘all disease begins in the gut’.
There are many kinds and families of gut bacteria, (over 1000
species) and most are living in our
colon, but bacteria also populate the other areas of gi tract in mouth, even
stomach, duodenum , jejunum, and ileum but to a much lesser degree. Microbes are all over our skin. The gut/colon microbes have major
interactions with our body so much that it is called an essential organ and a
‘second brain’. Thousands of different
strains of bacteria, viruses, and funguses are present and populations vary
greatly with our diet. They produce
millions of biomolecules, of which 30-90% are unknown. They interact with our
immune system in beneficial or in deleterious inflammatory ways. Most of these microbes are beneficial and
friendly to us. It is a vast ecosystem
delicately balanced but can be severely disrupted by contaminated foods,
antibiotics, and poor dietary choices. These bacteria feed on the undigested
vegetable fibers from the food we eat.
If we eat mostly whole plant foods, we supply a rich supply of fibers
that allow the most beneficial types of bacteria (like Provetello,
bifidobacterium, lactobacillus) to flourish.
With these high vegetable fibers,
they produce chemicals that benefit our bodies, especially the short
chain fatty acids like butyrate which is the best energy food source for our
gut enterocytes that are responsible for the integrity of our intestinal
barrier.. These gut microbes seem to be
in communion with each other and secrete chemicals to eliminate harmful
inflammatory bacterial pathogens that would harm our bodies. So these friendly bacterial homesteaders also
modulate with our immune system to recognize which strains are beneficial and
to be protected, and which are to be attacked and destroyed. If we eat the Western Diet of processed
foods, animal products and dairy, not much fiber or micronutrients are supplied
and the bacterial populations change to less desirable and inflammatory
species. Our intestinal lining is made up of mostly one layer of columnar
cells, covered by a thick mucus which is secreted by these enterocytes. Underneath this lining lies a rich vascular
system of capillaries to absorb nutrients interspersed with such a great array
of immune and nerve cells. 70-80% of our
immune system is located here. Hippocrates
said ‘all disease begins in the gut’ for a good reason: our gut encounters more
compounds and potential antigens in one day than the rest of our body would see
in a lifetime. Different bacteria in our
microbiome interact differently with our body’s immune system, metabolism, and
with ingested pathogens. What we are
eating determines its’ makeup and diversity.
The science of the microbiome is a vast frontier that is just being
explored, and not all understood yet but much has been learned over the past 20
years, not known to the previous scientific community. Certain bacteria species such as Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium are more favorable to our
gut and flourish with ingested whole plant foods. They feed on such undigested fibers that our
body does not digest. They digest and
break down the undigestible fibers and secrete many small chemicals that are
absorbed into our body. Some very
important of these are short chain fatty acids like butyrate acetate, and
propionate which our intestinal lining depends upon for fuel. Such fuel promotes a strong intestinal
barrier, where no leaking occurs and a thick mucus barrier is produced by the
goblet cells in the lining. Other
chemicals secreted by a healthy microbiome have been shown to be absorbed from
the colon and circulate in our bodies and influence other organs beneficially
such as our brain and our mood. The
mucus barrier that overlays our intestinal lining becomes thicker and healthier
when we feed a high amount of plant fibers to our microbiome bacteria. This thick mucus barrier keeps our
intestinal lining and immune cells from becoming inflamed and agitated. Experiments have shown that when a typical low
fiber Western diet is consumed (about 8-15 gms/fiber/day), the microbes suffer
and start to digest the mucus barrier, causing inflammation and activating
immune cells and cytokines. Whole plant
based diets supply 35-55 gms/day/fiber and so feed the microbes, which feed our
intestinal lining cells, which produce abundance of the protective mucus
lining: thus preventing the inflammatory cascade. A diet low in fiber and phytonutrients from
mostly animal products, processed foods, and dairy promotes growth of less
beneficial and inflammatory populations of microbes. The high content of sulfur containing amino
acids methionine and cysteine in animal and dairy promote bacteria that produce
hydrogen sulfide, the rotten egg smelling gas, which is also inflammatory and
destructive to intestinal cells and reduces production of its protective mucus
layer. The prevailing theory on the
origin of all the auto-immune diseases begins with damage to our gut
lining. : The latter mentioned foods
tend to harm the gut lining by their inflammatory and oxidative promoting
properties: this causes separation of the intestinal cells whereby peptides ,
bacterial products (called lipopolysaccharides or endotoxins) and other
compounds leak into the underlying vascular network. Here they encounter our immune cells that
recognize them as foreign invaders and form antibodies against them to destroy
them. These immune cells circulate in
the body and sometimes the antigen-recognizing pattern they carry interacts
with some part of our own bodies makeup, so that ‘friendly-fire’ happens, where
we now injure ourselves. We know this
happens in type 1 diabetes, hypothyroidism, rheumatoid arthritis, celiac
disease, and likely in all the others like multiple sclerosis. Many people suffering from auto immune
diseases have also gastrointestinal dysfunction and symptoms. The reason the microbiome is called our
‘second brain’ is because changes here strongly affect mental health and
serotonin levels. So the beginning of
therapy is aimed at repairing the leaky gut starting with the right diet of
whole plant foods and eliminating the other toxic anti-inflammatory foods.
Also, it is well known that a healthy diverse microbiome
obtained from having diet mostly whole plant foods provides best protection
against infections and epidemics. In our
age of Covid-19 epidemic, best immune protection comes from eating these whole
plant foods. There are over 300,000
edible plants available for us; all of them contain plant fibers and
phytochemicals that our gut microbes feed on and prosper and produce the short
chain fatty acids and other chemicals beneficial to our whole body. They are key in forming our immune system,
neutralizing toxins, preventing growth of unfriendly pathogens that we ingest,
and keeping our intestinal barrier intact from attacks and damage. (2, 12, 13, 36, 39, 43, 44, 45, 49, 54, 59,
61, 64, 71, 84, 85, 91,106, 126, 129 136)
Blue Zone Observations.
Blue zones are specific areas around the earth where certain
populations of people live much longer and healthier lives than others. One example is Okinawa Japan, where they have
high percentage of active, healthy people living more than 100 years. Two other examples are the island of
Sardinia, Italy, and the Seventh Day Adventist Population in California. These populations all eat a predominantly a
whole plant-based diet of vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts and mushrooms. There is no blue zone or longevity zone ever
found where they eat a predominantly animal , dairy, or keto diets. Some
may occasional seafood or meat, but this on rare occasions and less than
5% of calories . They do eat the healthy
fats found in olives, avocados, nuts and seeds.
They use lots of spices such as turmeric oregano, parsley, thyme, etc.
Most get regular exercise, good sleep, and are not overweight. This observation
along with many animal studies confirm the healthy longevity benefits of whole
plant food.
