It sure seems like there is not a lot of emphasis on immune health during this Pandemic. I’m working on correcting that! Today I want to start with one of the most important parts of the immune system – your gut health. There is a lot of correlation between gut health and immune system health. How does gut health affect immune system and rest of your body? Read on and let me show you.
Ideally the best way to fight this Coronavirus, or any other disease, is to never develop it in the first place. Or if you do develop a condition, you hardly notice it. Your immune system just takes care of it for you.
70% of your immune system is located in your gut. It makes sense really. Most of the foreign substances that enter our bodies go into our gut. We want all those immune cells checking what is entering your body to see if it is a friend of foe. With your immune system fighting right at the source of pathogens entering your body, it seems pretty likely that gut health and immune system are tied together pretty closely.
There are also a ton of cells lining your gut walls creating seals to hold all the 5 POUNDS of microbes that float around in there. Those microbes include bacteria, viruses and fungi. 10,000+ species inhabit your gut. Collectively they make up your gut microbiome.
How does Gut Health Affect Immune System and Rest of your Body?
Antibiotics and poor diets can easily damage those cell walls, good bacteria and seals. Then some of the stuff meant for the toilet can spill into your blood stream. A lot of problems with older adults such as C.Diff infections can be caused by too many antibiotics. When those pathogens can leave your gut both gut health and immune system suffers.
Damaged cells and gut microbiomes also have trouble absorbing vitamins and nutrients that strengthen your immune system and your overall health.
Once these toxins flow into your blood and other parts of your body, your immune system ramps up to fight them. It will create a state called inflammation to kill the invaders. Inflammation is a great immune response for a short time. However, when your gut is leaking on a regular basis then inflammation becomes chronic.
Think of the immune system on inflammation mode as someone being ramped up on energy drinks 24/7. Eventually it will crash. It is not sustainable. It wears out the immune system and leads to chronic disease. Poor gut health has been linked to all sorts of disorders such as:
- Arthritis
- Diabetes
- Dementia
- Heart Disease
- Cancer
I’ll provide some ideas to keep your gut health optimized in future blog posts. Taking care of your gut takes care of your whole body. So the next time you think about eating fast food or drinking a soda, think about all your good gut buddies trying to take care of you!
