Found My Fitness Podcast: The Sonnenburgs on How the Gut Microbiota Interacts With Our Bodies

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• Sonnenburg Bona Fides: Stanford researchers on the effect of diet on the gut microbiota
  • Their Stanford Lab
  • Authors of The Good Gut, Taking Control of Your Weight, Your Mood and Long Term Health
• Role of healthy gut microbiota
  • A newly discovered/appreciated microbial organ that is essential to metabolism, the immune system and even moods/behavior by a link with the brain
  • Fun Fact: By total number, we have 10x more bacterial cells and 100x more gene than human cells/genes
    • Maybe humans evolved to serve as houses for bacteria?
  • Gut Microbiota are mostly found in the end of your intestine, AKA “distal gut”/”colon”
  • Fun Fact: The Gastrointestinal (GI) tract also houses the most immune cells of any part of the body
  • When in balance, the microbiome and the immune system work in harmony and set our baseline response to respiratory infections, vaccines, and progression of auto-immune disease
  • Our diet directly impacts the gut microbiome, so it is up to us to manage it an keep it healthy
• Dietary Fiber (complex carbs): A key food component that can be metabolized into short chain fatty acids (not digestible by humans)
  • Processed western food/simple carbs get absorbed in upper GI tract and don’t reach microbiome in lower/distral GI = starving your friendly microbiota
    • When starved, the good bacteria ends up relying on your mucus lining of intestine for food which breaks down the barrier between them and you immune system
      • à which can trigger your immune system to attack this good bacteria
      • This leads to inflammation, releasing endotoxin (body then responds by creating more LDL cholesterol = link with heart disease)
    • Short chain fatty acids are actually the bacteria’s waste that we absorb to regulate multiple areas of human biology
      • These help increase the # of T-cells to the calm immune system/inflammation
      • Without t-cells we end up with a hyperactive immune system/inflammation
      • Type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and Multiple Sclerosis all are autoimmune diseases and have been linked to disruption of gut microbiome
        • Don’t overreact here (link DOES NOT EQUAL cause), this is likely part of the story in addition to patients who have gene polymorphisms that predispose them to these diseases
      • Similarly, cancers, heart disease, metabolic disorders, other autoimmune diseases are all linked to inflammation
        • All of these are largely western diseases where we lack good fiber intake
        • Inflammation is also a cause of aging…
      • Short chain fatty acids are also fuel for gut epithelial cells that produce mucin (goblet cells) – double whammy as bacteria feeds on mucin and cells that make mucin are starved (study needed to test)
    • The microbiota also create many other chemicals that go around our body
      • We still don’t know all of them and what they do, but they are different by person and even through the day
  • How Much Fiber Should You Eat:
    • The avg. American only eats 10-15g of dietary fiber per Day
    • US gov. recommends 30-35g
    • Traditional populations eat 100-150g of dietary fiber/day
    • = we eat as much as 10x too little
  • Diversity of Fiber Matters and How To Eat Them
    • Gut Biome should be viewed as a complex ecosystem like a rainforest = resilient
      • a monoculture with only 1 type of bacteria which is fragile (e.g. monoculture farming)
    • As a result you need many types of fiber like fruits, vegetables, legumes, etc.
      • Having a dog at home to expose you to more variety of good bacteria might prove helpful
    • Eating seasonally helps you do this by default
    • Avoid food in wrappers/packages, even when they have added dietary fiber (doesn’t provide the breadth/variety)
      • Not just lack of fiber, but actively doing harm with various additives/chemicals in them
    • Processed food, artificial sweeteners
      • Studies have linked artificial sweeteners to negative impacts of microbiota and lead to insulin resistance
      • Emulsifiers are being studied now as well as they can break down the mucin layer and bring bacteria in contact with the immune system (see above)
• Antibiotics
  • We used to think nothing bad comes from using antibiotics
    • The first cost we found out about was AntioMicrobial Resistance, AKA SuperBugs such as C. Dificile, MRSA, etc.
    • Second Cost: Harming our resident good bacteria
  • Antibiotics are not designed to avoid hurting gut microbiome, they are mostly “broad spectrum” = go after all types of bacteria
    • Essentially, they carpet bomb all bacteria, good and bad
  • Your body can usually rebound over time, but not exactly as it was before
  • Each additional round of antibiotics hits your system again and reduces its ability to recover (kicking it while it already down)
  • Children on multiple rounds tends to develop more diseases
  • Tip: Tell your Dr. if you are ok waiting vs. rushing to antibiotics (they might assume you expect to get them otherwise)
  • What to do after you finish a round of antibiotics when they are needed?
    • Repopulating has not been well studied yet
    • Probiotics have a place in recovery via supplements/fermented foods like yogurt (mechanism not well understood)
      • Not permanent, but do something of value as they are passing through – as placeholders against bad bacteria while your bacteria is re-growing
    • VSL#3 Priobiotic: 450 billion bacteria per sachet (by far the most available), shipped cold (bacteria actually alive)
      • Multiple clinical studies support its efficacy
      • Rhonda did a personal trial using uBiome before/after and increased not just bacteria in VSL#3, but also new strains of bacteria
      • Supplement market is a mess, often not alive, not actual species or have contaminants
      • USP independent verification of the contents (not efficacy)
    • We don’t know which ones you need, so be systematic on testing what happens to you and what does/doesn’t work (e.g. fermented foods, yogurt, supplements, etc.)
  • Origin of Microbiome
    • We believe we are born with gut mostly sterile
    • C-Section babies (more likely to have skin-like bacteria which isn’t good) vs. Vaginal (more like mom as they are exposed to mom’s bacteria during birth)
    • US children on average get 1 round of antibiotics which is concerning
    • Our microbiome is mostly set by age 5 and have them with us for our lives
    • Breast vs. formulas has a huge impact as diet is a major level
      • Breast milk includes oligosaccharides (not digestible), but gut microbes are digesting them to help them grown – not yet able to replicate in formula
      • Breast Feed if you can
    • Breast feeding is challenging, especially when working
      • Requires high caloric load to create the milk
      • Broader societal issue in making this easier as it’s so important to children
      • If you are breast feeding and have extra, you can donate your milk to The National Milk Bank and help premature babies in hospitals