Could Your Diet Be Damaging Your Gut Microbiome?

Did you know that the food you eat can be damaging your gut microbiome? Some researchers are even saying that those who eat badly tend to have less diversity in their gut microbiomes than those who eat healthier diets. That’s not good! But what exactly does this mean, and how can you learn more about whether or not your diet is harming your gut microbiome? We’ve got all the information here, so keep reading!

Introduction

What is a gut microbiome and why should I care about it? The human body is made up of over 10 trillion cells. That’s so many that scientists have long struggled to accurately describe them all. But recent estimates indicate that at least ten times as many cells exist in our gut—that’s 1,000 trillion microscopic bacterial cells or microbes. Now, whether you call them microbes or bacteria, these little guys are important to you! Our bodies are filled with bacteria because they help us digest food, they play an important role in immune function and they regulate genes throughout our bodies (1). Science has recently discovered that each of us has a unique collection of microbes that can be identified through DNA sequencing.

What is your gut microbiome?

The gut microbiome is incredibly complex and its interactions with our food and lifestyle choices can have a huge impact on our health. But what is it, exactly? The microbiome is made up of trillions of microscopic organisms, mostly bacteria. This bacterial community has a large impact on your immune system, brain function, hormones and overall health. You might think of it as another organ in your body that's just as important as your heart or lungs. When you're healthy, you've got a diverse ecosystem living in harmony inside you. However, if things get out of balance—which they do when we eat poorly or take antibiotics—it's possible to disrupt that harmony and cause inflammation in other parts of your body. So how does one maintain good gut health? By making sure you eat lots of fibre-rich foods like vegetables, fruit and whole grains (these are probiotics), which help nourish beneficial microbes in your digestive tract; by avoiding inflammatory foods like processed meats; by getting enough sleep; by exercising regularly; and by managing stress through mindfulness practices like meditation or yoga.

The link between diet and gut health

A gut microbiome is a live community of microorganisms (bacteria, viruses, and fungi) that live in your digestive tract. A healthy gut microbiome helps keep you from getting sick and maintains optimal digestion. But when you consume harmful substances—from foods or supplements—your gut can get inflamed, affecting your immune system and leading to allergies, arthritis, skin disorders, and even depression.

How diet affects the gut microbiome

Any diet that increases inflammation in your body—like a high-sugar, low-fibre diet—will cause problems for your gut microbiome. The reason being is that fibre helps remove toxins and fermentable substrates from your gut, something you can’t do without it. This will upset the balance of healthy and harmful bacteria within you, leading to less diversity within your gut microbiome. And an imbalanced gut microbiome means poor digestion and absorption of nutrients—and other detrimental effects on many levels of health.

Links to specific diet types

Researchers are still learning about how various diet types affect gut bacteria, but a few trends have emerged from studies so far. A recent study published in Cell (and other papers on which it was based) found that populations eating what was traditionally thought of as healthy diets—high in whole grains, fruit and vegetables—were more likely to have Firmicutes bacteria flourish in their guts, while people consuming more processed foods tended to have microbes that usually live on ruminants like cows.

Final thoughts

What do your guts have to say about you and your diet, health, and lifestyle choices? Is it possible that what we eat directly affects our gut bacteria, which in turn affects our overall health? You might be surprised. Scientists know little about how microbiota (i.e., all of those tiny microorganisms that live in our intestines) influence our metabolism.