Nutrition extends far beyond what you eat, and this month, let’s dive into a key player: the gastrointestinal tract. The role of the gut extends beyond breaking down food; it’s central to our immune system. The health of the gut has been connected to brain health, heart health, lung health, and even blood sugar control. Another part of this system is the microbiome, which refers to the bacteria, fungi, paraside, and viruses that live in all areas of our body and contribute to the breakdown and production of nutrients the body relies on. So what we eat is not just food for our body, but it also feeds the entire biome.
Dietitians and nutritionists often start an initial assessment by taking a close look at digestion. If digestion is “off,” it may indicate a root cause of other health concerns. This could include nutrient deficiencies, cognitive (brain) health issues, skin conditions, hormone imbalances, and imbalances in blood sugar control. But why might digestive issues surface when they didn’t exist before? Explanations could include high-dose or long-term antibiotic use, foodborne illness, recent cancer treatment (including certain chemotherapy), and surgery or radiation around the gut. Diets high in certain food additives and ultra-processed foods have also been implicated in many of the digestive issues seen more recently.
Three terms related to the microbiome and commonly used but not always well understood are prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics. To understand how food plays a critical role in our digestive health, let’s start by defining these terms.
Prebiotics
Keeping the microbiome healthy is essential since there is a symbiotic relationship built on both parties doing well when they work together. To keep a healthy biome, consider first the need for fuel. Bacteria that live in our gut use certain types of fiber and resistant starches from our diet, also called prebiotics.
Food sources of prebiotics include:
Apples
Asparagus
Bananas
Dandelion Greens
Eggplant
Endive
Garlic
Jerusalem artichokes
Jicama
Legumes (beans, lentils)
Onions
Probiotics
Another way to take care of the microbiome is by including foods with live cultures, also known as probiotics. Different types of probiotic rich foods have different cultures, and they have been used around the world for centuries to preserve food. As part of this process, nutrients in the food may also become more digestible.
Food sources of probiotics include:
Kefir
Yogurt (plain) with live cultures
Kimchi
Kombucha
Miso
Cottage cheese with live cultures
Natto
Tempeh
Postbiotics
Postbiotics are considered the compounds that microorganisms produce or also dead microorganisms themselves (post = after; bio = life). While their benefits are still being understood, some examples of postbiotics include short-chain fatty acids, enzymes, amino acids, B vitamins, and vitamin K2. Short-chain fatty acids are being studied for their benefits in blood sugar control, reducing inflammation in the gut, and, more recently, helping to reduce appetite. More on this topic in a later article.
The harmony of maintaining a balance between the body and the microbiome is essential to our health. I remember a statement I heard years ago that may best summarize the complicated relationship between food and digestion: “It’s not just what you eat that matters but how you ate it, how you digested it, and how the nutrients were absorbed.” This statement defined how I viewed nutrition from that point forward. Our gut isn’t just a long tube that takes in food, extracts what we need, and then excretes what is left. As our understanding of the microbiome expands, so does our ability to quantify why unprocessed foods from plants play such a central role in our health.
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