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What is the gut microbiome?
Find
out more about the gut microbiome, how it influences our wellbeing and how to
keep it healthy
Blackmores
What is the gut microbiome?
Sounding like something out of a sci-fi
flick, our digestive system is host to tens of trillions of microorganisms,
with at least 1000 different species of known bacteria and over three million
genes.
This colonization of microorganisms is known
as our gut microbiome – and while one third of our gut microbiota is common to
most people, two thirds are specific to each one of us (though fulfils the same
physiological functions for all humans.)
Our gut microbiome begins to develop at birth
– in utero, our gut is ‘sterile’ – or flora free.
During birth, the microbiota start
developing, and within the first hour of birth, we start to pick up useful
bacteria from our mother, father, and the environment.
Around the age of three, the microbiome
become stable, changing again in our later years of life.
What does it do?
At a basic level, the gut biome is helpful in
digesting food that cannot be digested by your gut, and also produces some B
vitamins and vitamin K.
A healthy gut microbiome helps support
healthy immune function.
More recently, researchers have begun to
understand the true extent of how important a good gut biome is across a wide
area of health.
Microbiota are involved in the prevention of
infection from pathogenic or opportunistic microbes, and the maintenance of
intestinal barrier function.
An imbalance in the gut microbiome (called
disbyosis) may be linked to a range of problems that we can experience to our
health.
Still, even more study has gone into
exploring the gut-brain axis, and how the health of our gut microbiome may well
affect our mental wellbeing.
So how do you create and keep a healthy gut
biome?
Diet is a key player, and a balanced and
diverse diet is the best way to keep gut flora balanced and diverse.
Pre and pro-biotics can have a beneficial
effect, working as fuel for beneficial bacteria.
Fermented foods are a great addition to a gut
friendly diet.
Prebiotics appear to assist in improving the
functioning of microbiota and allowing the growth and activity of ‘good’
bacteria.
Garlic, onion, leek, asparagus, beetroot,
chickpeas, lentils, red kidney beans, baked beans, nectarines, white peaches,
watermelon, dried fruit, oats, and cashews are good food sources of prebiotics.
Probiotics are live microorganisms - such as
bacteria, yeasts and fungi, some of which survive digestion and can have a
beneficial effect on the friendly bacteria living in the digestive system.
Strains of lactobacillus and bifidobacterium
bacteria are the most commonly used probiotics as they can survive the passage
to the gut.
Studies suggest they may help to improve
digestion and support immune function.
Yoghurts and drinking yoghurts, fermented
milk drinks and supplements are all good sources of probiotics.
The third prong is to follow the adage
‘first, do no harm.’
Stress, certain medications and illness can
create imbalance, and while they are not always possible to avoid, it’s
certainly helpful to keep them minimised where possible as these can affect
digestive health and general health and wellbeing.
Blackmores is Australia’s
leading natural health company. Based on the vision of our founder Maurice
Blackmore (1906-1977), we are passionate about natural health and inspiring
people to take control of and invest in their wellbeing. We develop high
quality products and services that deliver a more natural approach to health,
based on our expertise in vitamins, minerals, herbs and nutrients.
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