The Gut-Immune Connection

The gut is a key part of the immune system – this is where the body is constantly exposed to toxins and foreign antigens, including those originating from foods as well as those from the environment. In fact, recent studies have shown that the gut flora (the trillions of bacteria, yeasts and other microbes that reside in your gut) is paramount in the development and regulation of the immune system. It is estimated that the gut accounts for up to 70% of your immune function, so paying attention to your gut health is a key component to optimizing overall health.

Good Bugs, Bad Bugs

Large clinical studies have shown the potential for probiotics to strength the immune system; these are the ‘good bugs’ that help keep the GI tract running smoothly. Balancing gut flora will lead not only to a reduction in common winter infections, but also decreased inflammation in general because inflammation is an immune response (we’ll have a blog on this coming soon). Unfortunately, gut flora can be disrupted by many factors, including many medications, improper diet, fever or illness, alcohol consumption, and many others. Keeping the flora in balance can be aided greatly by the use of probiotic and prebiotic supplements.

There are a million probiotics on the market, some are good, most are crap (pun intended). Unfortunately, a good quality probiotic is hard to distinguish from a poor-quality probiotic just by looking at the label. However, a couple things you can look for:

• Be sure the probiotic has multiple strains of live organisms. Even though lactobacillus acidophilus and bifido bacterium are the most prevalent in the small and large bowel respectively, there are other strains that have proven beneficial.  One in particular is saccharomyces boulardii, which is a yeast that has been shown to eliminate potentially pathogenic microbes in the gut.
• Live cultures and enough of them. Probiotics are live cultures, so product freshness is top priority. The label should list the bacteria strains in ‘CFU’ (colony forming units) or state ‘live organisms’. If it lists them in ‘mg’ the product is unlikely to be much use to you. In addition, you lose a LOT of good bacteria on a daily basis (in fact, about 60% of each bowel movement is dead gut flora), so a good supplement should provide at least 15 billion live organisms/CFU per dose.
• Guaranteed potency at ingestion – because no matter what the label says, you need a guarantee (backed up by testing) to insure that you’re getting what you paid for.  A good product should give you this guarantee and be able to back it up with test data (if requested).

We recommend Ortho Biotic – it is a high-potency, multiple strain probiotic that has guaranteed potency at ingestion; in addition, it doesn’t require refrigeration (you should still keep it in a cool place – like your countertop out of the sunshine), so it makes remembering to take it much easier.

No matter what probiotic you choose, be sure to take it on an empty stomach – remember these are live cultures made up of protein, so if you take them with food, they will be digested like food, leaving very little of the probiotic left to help with balancing your gut flora.

Feeding Time

Prebiotics, like fructooligosaccharides (FOS) provide food for the ‘good bacteria’ in your gut. Many foods contain prebiotic fibers, including chicory root, Jerusalem artichoke, dandelion greens, raw garlic, leeks, onion, asparagus and wheat bran. Alternatively, one can supplement Prebiotics (this can be especially important in cases of active infection and/or diarrhea) – we recommend Probioplex Intensive Care (powder or tablet).

Chew-chew!

The final component of a healthy GI tract (and therefore optimal immune function) is to make sure you are breaking down your food properly. This means that you chew your food enough and produce enough digestive enzymes and hydrochloric acid. This insures not only proper digestion, but the acid and enzymes also kill any unwanted bacteria or microbes in or on the food you are eating (washing the food before you eat it doesn’t hurt either).

In general, you should chew every bite of food you put in your mouth until it is a liquid. For most foods, that means you should chew at least 30 times before swallowing, and before you put any more food in your mouth. This takes some getting used to for many people, but it can make a world of difference, not only for your digestion, but also for your immunity.