Living in any neighborhood involves ,well, getting to know your neighbors. Functional medicine opens a window allowing us to interact those little bacteria living in our gut neighborhood for these neighbors profoundly affect our health. With about 1.3 trillion bacteria living in each of our gastrointestinal (GI) tracts, these neighbors abound beyond the number of cells making up our entire body. But it doesn’t stop there. While we are made up of over 22,000 genes, collectively, our bacteria neighbors possess over 3 million genes. We are outnumbered in more ways than one. For this reason, researching these neighbors remains an ongoing and intensive process. But, the effort to get familiar with these neighbors is paying off when it comes to helping you enjoy a healthier life, more abundant life.
In any neighborhood, different citizens serve different functions and the gut bacteria hood is no exception. More than just loafing around as free-loaders, these bacteria assist in vitamin production, digestion, and more. For example, bacteria pump out Vitamin K which helps our blood clot. Other bacteria break down fibers and other indigestibles leaving us with some extra carbs and some short chain fatty acids. These fatty acids subsequently feed the nearby cells lining the colon. Very nice of those bacteria to feed their human cell neighbors. Then there is nothing like some good neighbors to keep the bad neighbors from setting up shop. The good bacteria in our gut make the colon very inhospitable for bad guy bacteria by sending out chemicals that dissuade bad guys from hanging out in their hood. Even if we don’t know their function just yet, most bacteria in our gut seem to have a role to play.
Besides all the impressive roles gut bacteria play in digestion and metabolism, they also influence our mood. Thus a good gut bacteria neighbor may make or break our mental health day. The gut bacteria may produce chemicals that act as neurotransmitters, potentially leading to anxiety or depression – or that peaceful easy feeling. Of course, such neighboring goes both ways. High stress in the human host can feed the less desirable bacteria though stress hormones. Our main control center, the brain, interacts in other ways than through these chemical exchanges. Direct interaction with nerves in the GI tract may trigger or inhibit food cravings at times. Hormonal changes triggered by gut bacteria may predispose us to mood changes as well. The gut bacteria neighbors are apparently very resourceful in how they touch our lives.
The gut neighborhood’s story continues with its own security force. While our entire gut is lined with cells and systems to prevent infection, this human immune system also cooperates with the gut bacteria and utilizes them in several ways. These bacteria may either prime the immune system for doing a better job or dysregulate the immune system’s function. Bacteria may open up the gut lining barrier, allowing bad guy bacteria to break into their neighbors houses or set up our own immune system to attack our own tissues in autoimmune disease like rheumatoid arthritis. As researchers have repeatedly shown, this human/bacteria alliance serves critical functions in protecting us.
Just like every neighborhood in the nation has a unique character, each person’s gut bacteria hood has a fingerprint. As we learn more about what the bacteria do, we will begin to see how individual differences affect individual health. Besides obvious symptoms like constipation or diarrheal habits, these bacteria seem to play a role in several autoimmune diseases and food allergies. The specificity of each person’s gut bacteria fingerprint can even be used in forensics. Detectives can use this knowledge to determine who was at a crime scene or how long a body has been dead. Diet, environment, medications, lifestyle, and more all play a role in this bacterial fingerprint.
On a side, note some may ask if this neighborhood concept of dysbiosis reflects an overactive imagination of functional medicine doctors. With a list of over 2000 dysbiosis related articles on Pubmed (the major online search engine for research articles) this is no imaginary world, but a fact of life that conventional medicine must face up to sooner or later. The list continues to multiply as researchers dig deeper down the rabbit hole. Parkinsons, Alzheimers, Multiple Sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis add to the more obvious Crohn’s and irritable bowel as diseases connected to bowel bacteria. Functional medicine walks through these possible connections daily while conventional medicine lags behind in application.
To be continued…
Sanctuary Functional Medicine, under the direction of Dr Eric Potter, IFMCP MD, provides functional medicine services to Nashville, Middle Tennessee and beyond. We frequently treat patients from Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, and more... offering the hope of healthier more abundant lives to those with chronic illness.
