Checks and Balances: How Good Gut Bacterias Keep Bad Bacterias in Check
What if we told you that you are basically a skin-encased bacterial colony?
In fact, you have more bacteria than you have cells in your body.
Did you just say ‘Ew!’?
We get it but hey, hear us out for a minute before dismissing it. What we are about to share now might change your reaction completely.
Most of these bacteria are literally serving your health and wellbeing: maintaining hormonal balance, fighting the bad guys like pathogens, and free radicals, and protecting your body from toxins. They are your body’s best friends.
However, just like everywhere else, some culprits show up to muddle things up. These are the bad bacteria, or pathogens, that try to enter our body through everyday eating, breathing and just, existing.
In this blog, we will get to the core of how the good bacteria in our body protect us from the bad, ways to increase their number, and what happens when there’s a microbial imbalance.
We will clear your doubts related to the microbes hanging out in your body—good bacteria and bad bacteria, friends and foes, and more.
Let’s get into it, shall we?
What is the Gut Microbiome?
The trillions of bacteria, viruses, and fungi, together called the gut microbiome, are housed in the digestive tract.
While their full-time job is to break food down to nutrients and convert that to energy, they also play key roles in maintaining equilibrium in major processes of your body: hormonal balance, fertility, neurotransmission, and more.
This microbiome consists majorly of good bacteria that are beneficial for the growth and sustenance of your health. These bacteria need to be fed regularly for optimal performance as they not only contribute to essential processes in your body but also protect your body from bad bacteria.
These good guys stop growing when they are starved. This promotes the growth of pathogens in the body, which leads to imbalance. Ultimately, making way for the manifestation of health issues and diseases in the body.
Functions of the gut microbiome:
Regulate metabolism
Energy production
Enhance immune functioning
Antimicrobial effects: repress pathogenic microbes
Protect against oxidative stress
Maintain intestinal health
Maintain hormonal balance
Improve glucose tolerance and reduce insulin sensitivity
Difference between Good & Bad bacteria
Not all bacteria are bad bacteria.
Our bodies house over a billion good bacteria, in fact, necessary for us to survive and live a healthy life. We are made up of these tiny bacteria working day-in and day-out to build and run our bodies cell by cell in harmony.
Good bacteria helps:
Maintain hormonal balance
Protect against toxins and pathogens
Digest food and absorb nutrients
Produce essential vitamins in the intestinal tract such as vitamins B6 and B12, vitamin K, biotin, folates, nicotinic acid, pantothenic acid, folic acid, and niacin.
On the other hand, bad bacteria are the bacteria that we are generally scared of. They colonize and weaken our bodies, invite disease and lead to all things bad for our health. They are the reason we sanitize our surroundings, wash our hands before eating, clean our cooking spaces, and take all the necessary measures to avoid bacteria build-up.
Bad bacteria in the body:
Release toxins
Damage the cells and tissues
Weaken the immune system
Cause inflammation
Studies show that the good bacteria protect our guts and bodies from disease, by fighting with pathogens, wearing them out in the gut by producing inhibiting acids, and using assistance from the immune system to ultimately drain them out of the body.
What’s an Imbalanced Microbiome?
Certain things promote the growth of bad bacteria in the body and completely destroy the diversity of good bacteria in our gut.
These can be:
Over-sanitization
Over-eating processed, sugary, and fried foods
Over-consumption of Antibiotics
The modern lifestyle has put the population of good bacteria in our microbiome at risk.
When the good bacteria are not fed properly, they tend to die: reviving the good bacteria is a very hard job. Considering that most people don’t even realize when it happens, thus, don’t make any efforts to revive them, puts them at a higher risk of developing an imbalanced microbiome.
An imbalanced microbiome, also known as dysbiosis, refers to a lack of diversity in the gut, and an increase in the bad bacteria.
The repercussions of this imbalance are:
Obesity
Hormonal imbalance and diseases
Autoimmune diseases
Hyper inflammation
Digestive issues
Insomnia
Skin issues
What happens when the number of bad bacteria increases?
As bad bacteria start colonizing the gut, their effects are evident on the whole body: cardiovascular health, hormonal balance, weight, mental health, and other areas.
This imbalance weakens the immune system—leading to the development of more diseases. It also kills the intestinal barrier, which means the nutrients derived from the food a person eats will not be absorbed; therefore, weakening the body further, and slowing down other processes as well.
While the multiplication of bad bacteria does not necessarily bring about disease.
The effects that the increase in pathogenic microbes has on the body can damage the barriers and cells of the body, which can develop infection, autoimmunity, imbalances, and ultimately, develop/catch diseases.
Health conditions and diseases that can develop:
Colitis
Diabetes
Hypothyroid
Celiac Disease
Cardiovascular Disease
Eczema
Multiple Sclerosis
Autism
Development of Cancer
The Solution to Microbial Imbalance
If you have been reading our blogs regularly lately, you probably know the solution already.
To fix the microbial imbalance, one needs to work on diversifying the gut microbiome by certain lifestyle and dietary changes, ingestion of supplements, and getting treatment.
Basically, the key is to feed much of the good bacteria that are still left in the microbiome to support the process of colonization resistance.
Colonization resistance is when the beneficial bacteria in your body fight the pathogenic bacteria that have colonized or are trying to colonize the gut. Good bacteria do so by preventing the growth of pathogenic microbes in the gut.
Ways to Increase the Number of Good Bacteria in the Gut
Feed the good bacteria with Prebiotics
Think of prebiotics as fertilizers for the growth of good bacteria in the gut. They are non-digestible fiber for the body, but essentially food for the microbes. These components are found in fruits and vegetables rich in fiber and resistant starch.
Sources of Prebiotics:
Vegetables: Garlic, green vegetables, asparagus, artichokes, dandelion greens, onions, tomatoes, etc.
Fruits: Apples, bananas, berries, watermelon, grapefruit, etc.
Whole grains: Barley, Oats, Wheat, bran, etc.
Legumes: Peas, beans, lentils, chickpeas, soybeans, etc.
Nuts and seeds: Almonds, flaxseeds, pistachio, etc.
Limit the use of Antibiotics
Antibiotics are taken to kill the bad bacteria in the gut that causes diseases. However, these medications don’t know how to differentiate between good and bad bacteria, killing both and harming the microflora in the gut.
Try avoiding taking medication for conditions that can be healed naturally.
Play in the dirt
Over the millennia, the soil has played a crucial role in the evolution of the human gut microbiome. Since the soil is rich in a variety of gut microorganisms, it also provides the body with inoculants that stimulate and increase immunity.
Studies show that children who are exposed to dirt at a younger age develop into adults with a well-balanced gut microbiome, compared to those who aren’t.
So let loose and have a recreational time in the soil, with your plants, in the forest, or wherever.
Have a Balanced Diet
Your diet plays a vital role in your overall gut health.
Eat a balanced diet rich in fiber from vegetables, whole grains, and fruits. Try to limit the consumption of animal products. And most importantly, feed the good bacteria with probiotics and prebiotics.
Avoid Artificial Sugar
Studies show that artificial sugars, such as sucralose, can change the microbes in the gut into toxins and pathogens, which can lead to issues such as blood poisoning, inflammation, leaky gut, and liver damage.
Avoid Over-sanitizing
Over-sanitizing can lead to dysbiosis. Just like antibiotics, antibacterials such as disinfectants and sanitizers, don’t know the difference between good and bad bacteria. Therefore, they end up killing both types of bacteria and reducing diversity in the gut microbiome.
Consume Polyphenols
Polyphenols are another type of prebiotics, that specifically feed Bifidobacteria in your gut microbiome. The Bifidobacteria reside in the intestine and play a key role in the digestion and production of vitamins.
They also act as antioxidants that help reduce inflammation in the gut and other parts of the body and help in maintaining the hormonal balance as well.
Some polyphenols:
Green tea
Green leafy vegetables
Herbs and spices
Chocolate
Olives
Coffee
The Role of Probiotics
Probiotics are essential for the growth and sustenance of good bacteria in the gut. They act as fuel for the microbes and should be a vital part of your everyday diet.
You can easily include probiotics in your diet by eating fermented foods such as yogurt, kimchi, pickles, kombucha, etc. If you’re up for a treat, you can also include probiotic supplements regularly. The Ultimate Probiotic by Magnolia Wellness is a good place to begin.
Functions of Probiotics:
They keep your immune system strong
They improve gastrointestinal health
Alleviate anxiety and depression
Alleviate digestive issues such as constipation, irritable bowel syndrome, etc.
Ease allergy symptoms
Help with lactose intolerance
Prevent oxidative stress-induced dysfunction in the body
Keeping your probiotic and prebiotic intake in check is the key to growing a healthy microflora in your gut, that will in return protect you from all the harmful things that enter your body to hurt you.
Feed the good bacteria; change your life.
We hope this blog helped you learn the importance of good bacteria in your gut and the repercussions of the gut microbiome imbalance. If you have any further questions, reach out to us at hello@magnoliawellnessoc.com and we will get back to you very soon.