Did you know that your digestive system provides more feedback to your brain than your brain provides to it? This explains why scientists and medical professionals have come to refer to your gut as your second brain! Many people underestimate the value of their intestinal health, but research continues to prove the importance of your gut. As a matter of fact, the close relationship shared between our brain and gut affects both your mental and physical health. However, those effects may be positive or negative depending on the quality of your gut health.

Embrace your gut fingerprint!

Did you know that your gut flora is completely unique to you—like your fingerprint. Your ancestors, diet, lifestyle, sexual partners, environment, and the places you travel all determine the bacteria that exist in your gut. Thus, gut bacteria play a vital role in your nervous system function, immunity, and even the food you eat.

Get to know your Microbiome

Bacteria are so abundant within the human body that they outnumber other cells by 100 to 1. In other words, for every cell in your body there are 100 bacteria sharing the same environment. As a result, bacteria dominate the internal environment of your body creating what is called a microbiome. Now, within that microbiome are several different types of good and bad bacteria. You may already know that good bacteria outnumbering bad bacteria benefits health and bad bacteria outnumbering good bacteria promotes disease. But, you may not know that your microbiome also drives your food cravings.

What do food cravings have to do my Gut?

In a word—everything! The millions of bacteria living inside you have different nutritional needs. Therefore, your gut bacteria send signals to your brain demanding the nutrients they need. This ultimately manipulates your eating habits for better or for worse. For this reason, gut health is involved in the development of conditions/diseases such as:

• Cancer
• Inflammation
• Multiple sclerosis
• Obesity

Gut Health, Cancer, and Obesity

Again, research has provided great insight into the importance of gut bacteria. For instance, one study found that gut bacteria extracted from fecal samples were invaluable in determining the risk or presence of colon cancer in individuals. Another study discovered that obese people have microbiomes dominated by different types of bacteria compared to lean people. This leads researchers to believe that altering one’s bacterial composition (as seen in bariatric surgery) is a key to weight loss.

For overall health, stick to your Gut

Supporting your gut health is the best way to support your mental and physical health. And you can achieve excellent gut health simply by adjusting your diet. First, add probiotics and fermented foods to boost the number of good bacteria in your microbiome. Next, consume reliable sources of soluble fibre to help those good bacteria proliferate. Finally, ‘Ask a Naturopath’ for more advice along the way.