Why You Really Want To Keep Your Gut Happy
Your gut health affects your whole body, driving your digestion, immune system, energy metabolism and more. Here, Tim Samuels explores why we need to be gut happy
Place your hand on your belly. Summon the inner resolve that this year things are going to be different. Promise to transform what lies beneath – or maybe spills between – your fingers. And then celebrate with a glass of red wine, a hearty wedge of pungent cheese and a stroke of the nearest dog.
For this transformation is not the usual forlorn foray into physical perfection. This is about effecting a change with the potential to impact your entire metabolism and state of mind. One that’s rooted in discoveries that are upending our understanding of how the body works. And will require a far more diverse – and dog-friendly – lifestyle than the abs would demand.
This year, you can pour your energies into trying to expose six sections of the rectus abdominis; or you might wish to work on pleasing the 100 trillion tiny organisms packed into your gut. Because if those guys are happy, the chances are that you’ll be too.
‘BRAIN, HEART, LUNGS, LIVER, KIDNEYS – MEET YOUR NEW FELLOW ORGAN, THE MICROBIOME: A COLLECTIVE OF THOSE 100 TRILLION MICROORGANISMS LIVING IN THE GUT’
The gut barely used to get a look-in at medical school. It was viewed as the functional yet unexciting passage that took in food at one end and deposited waste at the other. The Plain Jane of physiology. But now Jane – if she were seven or so metres of tubing – is now the hottest belle above the balls. The gut is so hot that it’s gone from being an anatomical afterthought to home to the newest and most exciting organ in the body.
Brain, heart, lungs, liver, kidneys – meet your new fellow organ, the microbiome: a collective of those 100 trillion microorganisms living in the gut. Two kilograms of bacteria, viruses and fungi – a whole other world we carry around inside ourselves, upon which it seems our world depends more than we ever thought. And one I’ve been diving into for my new BBC wellness podcast All Hail Kale.
Tim Spector, professor of Genetic Epidemiology at King’s College London, recalls the moment when he realised the centrality of the gut. As director of the country’s biggest twin registry, one question had been puzzling him: how can identical twins be so different? One fat, the other thin. One happy, the other sad. It didn’t make sense – they have exactly the same genes.
But his eureka moment struck when he compared the guts of twins: “One of the biggest factors was that their microbes were different,” he recalls. So, what had been causing one twin to be, say, obese and the identical sibling to be a normal weight was down to the differing compositions of their guts. Genes were no longer all-powerful.
‘ALLERGIES, DIABETES, IBS, ARTHRITIS AND A WHOLE HOST OF CONDITIONS TOO ARE LINKED TO THE MICROBIOME’
Research from around the world has been bringing to light the multifarious – and crucial – roles the gut microbes are playing down there. They drive our digestion, immune system, energy metabolism, nutrient absorption and appetite. “We couldn’t live without these microbes,” says Professor Spector. Allergies, diabetes, IBS, arthritis and a whole host of conditions too are linked to the microbiome.
Beyond the physical, it has also emerged that 90 per cent of the body’s serotonin – the chemical central to mental wellbeing – lies in the gut. The gut-mind link is what piqued my interest in the microbiome. Always looking to boost my serotonin levels to glass vaguely quarter-full, and having tried just about every mainstream and unconventional method under the sun, I then heard about some mice that were making serious sacrifices for human happiness. Truly taking one for our team.
In a lab in Ontario, Professor of Gastroenterology Premysl Bercik had been conducting a fascinating experiment on two very different types of mice: one was naturally very anxious and barely left the shadows the cage; the other was confident, gregarious and bounded around the cage without a care. Professor Bercik took stools from the different mice and put them inside each other’s stomachs: a poop swap known as faecal microbial transplantation. He then observed what happened – which was extraordinary. Three weeks later the mice had essentially swapped personalities: the once-shy mouse had become confident whilst the carefree mouse was now prone to hiding in the shadows. Through exchanging their gut bacteria he’d changed their personalities.
A breakthrough which, thanks to the mice, opens up a new potential frontier for treating mental health. A world of psychobiotics – where particular bacteria strains are prescribed to lift moods; where psychiatrists routinely run tests on your microbial health. Nascent steps are already being made in this direction. A team at Cork University has shown that a certain probiotic can lower stress and improve memory function. Professor Bercik has identified a strain of bacteria he says can impact depression – which he’s developing with a breakfast food company. Even cheerier Cheerios.
‘SOMETIMES WHEN EATING, I IMAGINE THE TRILLIONS OF MICROBES DOWN THERE ARE LIKE A RESTIVE FOOTBALL CROWD’
While scientists try to further understand everyone’s new favourite organ, the question arises: what can you do now to keep your gut happy – helping it to keep you happy and as healthy and robust as possible.
“Diversity is the number one factor,” says Professor Spector. Diversity of diet – which is what our hunter-gatherer ancestors enjoyed: as many different plants, and parts of plants, as possible. Whether that’s vegetables, nuts, fruits, or seeds. Have fermented foods, like keffir, kombucha, kimchi, sauerkraut, yoghurt and unpasteurised cheese. Increase your fibre. Red wine and dark chocolate seem to be beneficial. But avoid processed foods, artificial sweeteners, emulsifiers, and meat reared using antibiotics.
Diversity of the bacteria you come into contact with too. “Go on farms, get dirty, kiss your dog. Lots of swapping microbes is generally good.”
Since making the podcast, I have to confess I’ve developed a strange habit. Sometimes when eating, I imagine the trillions of microbes down there are like a restive football crowd. When I send down some kombucha, or a prebiotic piece of kale, they cheer and sing. Sauerkraut sends them giddy on the terraces. But when a Pringle or Diet Coke goes down the gullet, boos and jeers rise back up. Just a little reminder that we’re not alone. And you’ve got to keep your guests happy.
Listen and subscribe to All Hail Kale on BBC Sounds
This article was originally published in GQ Magazine.
