Trust Your Gut
- marketingc8
- 7 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Your gut microbiome is having a moment.
Have you heard of high-throughput sequencing?
It’s a technique used in analyzing DNA.
High-through sequencing is also called next-generation sequencing (NGS).
It’s a modern laboratory technology that reads millions of DNA or RNA pieces at the same time.
With NGS, scientists cut “large” DNA or RNA strands into tiny pieces, then add small pieces of what’s called “adapters” to end of each strand.
Next, machines run billions of reactions at the exact time, in parallel. And powerful software then lines up all the readouts to recreate the genetic codes.
As a result, scientists have the ability to map entire microbial communities (rather than studying one isolated bacterium at a time).
The news?
There’s a “gut-brain axis” that show your mood, cognition and stress responses are connected to microbes in your gut.
“You can think of your gut microbiome as a thriving native garden that you rely on for nutritious foods and medicines,” states this article from the Cleveland Clinic. “When your garden is healthy and thriving, you thrive, too. But if the soil is depleted or polluted, or if pests or weeds are overrunning the helpful plants, it can upset your whole ecosystem.”
From an article in New Scientist envisions future doctors tweaking the contents of your digestive track “to improve complex and hard-to-treat psychological disorders.” This might seem far-fetched, the article concedes. “But research over the past couple of decades has revealed the far-reaching impact of the ecosystem of bacteria, fungi, viruses and other microbes that lives within us. Perhaps most surprising has been the associations scientists have discovered between the gut microbiome and our mental health. Now they are exploring whether harnessing this intricate ecosystem could help people feel better.”
Fun facts about that microbiome:
Every human carries roughly 38 trillion microbial cells. (Who counted … and how?) That’s more than the number of human cells.
No two people have the same gut microbiome. It’s as unique as your DNA.
The collective genes in your gut microbiome contain millions of unique genes, vastly outnumbering the human genome.
Your gut talks directly to your brain via the vagus nerve.
A large percentage of the body’s feel-good chemical, serotonin, is produced in the gut.
Your microbiome can shift and change its balance based on what you eat in as little as three days.
So what are good foods to keep your gut microbiome healthy?
There are foods that deliver live good bacteria to your stomach, including yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, kimchi, and miso.
And there are good foods that serve as fuel for good bacteria including garlic, onions, leeks, oats, whole grains, apples (with skin), and beans including lentils and chickpeas.
Eat up!
Feel better.
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