How The Gut Microbiome Affects Your Health

Instead of asking what aspects of your health are affected by your gut microbiome, you might want to ask what aspects of your health aren’t affected by it. The gut microbiome is composed of trillions of microorganisms that include bacteria, fungi, and other organisms that affect every bodily system and function you have.

Here’s a quick run-down on the impact your gut microbiome has on your health.

Protecting Your Immune System

Your immune system can’t function properly without correct balance in your gut microbiome. It’s entirely dependent on it. Gut microbiota aid in the development of healthy immune cells and help them to adjust to changes in the environment. What this means is that the gut microbiome helps your immune system learn to recognize dangerous pathogens.

It also helps immune cells recognize healthy cells, stopping your body from attacking cells, and microbiota that it needs to survive. When your gut microbiome becomes imbalanced, you may get sick more frequently.

Autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, diabetes, and rheumatoid arthritis have also been shown to be associated with a poorly functioning gut microbiome.

Protecting Your Heart

It’s been shown that gut health plays a significant role in heart health. A balanced microbiome helps your liver to process substances shown to lead to increased plaque in your arteries, causing an increased risk of a heart attack.

Additionally, your gut microbiome plays a crucial role in producing HDL cholesterol, the type of good cholesterol that your body needs.

Protecting Your Brain and Regulating Emotions

Your gut microbiome is home to millions of neurotransmitters. It helps to produce chemicals essential for proper brain function and mood regulation. Both dopamine and serotonin are housed in your gut, two neurotransmitters that play a crucial role in mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety.

It’s also been suggested that gut microbiota can affect how your brain processes sight, sound, flavor, and texture. All of your senses are tied back to your gut microbiome.

Ensuring Proper Digestion

Since your gut microbiome is, well, in your gut, it makes sense that it plays a significant role in the digestive process. A surge in bad bacteria can lead to digestive conditions such as Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, and irritable bowel syndrome.

Less severe, yet still bothersome, symptoms of imbalanced gut microbiota include constipation, the inability to properly absorb critical nutrients, frequent stomach aches, acid reflux, and more.

How to Protect Your Gut Microbiome

These are just a few of the body functions your gut microbiome affects. It’s crucial to keep the microbiota in your gut balanced and full of the good bacteria it needs.

Here are some ways to improve your gut microbiome:

• Eat more fermented foods
• Make your gummies to strengthen your gut microbiome
• Read this GR8 guide to probiotics

A GR8 gut microbiome leads to GR8 health.