What is the gut health craze about?
It isn't anything new, but it is a result of a shifting consumer awareness away from fast food and sugary beverages and towards vitality and wellness.
To an extraordinary degree, brain health & disease, not discounting other non-brain related diseases, is directly dictated by what goes on in your gut. Your gut is your internal ecology, or the bacteria that live inside of your body.
Through holistic teachers such as Hippocrates and Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek, to Élie Metchnikoff linking longevity to a healthy balance of bacteria in the body and coining the phrase “Up to 90% of all known human illnesses can be traced back to an unhealthy gut”, we’ve made vast leaps in microbiome research as it pertains to human physiology.
our intestinal organisms affect a wide variety of physiological actions including
1) Immune system functioning - The gut is your body’s biggest immune system organ, and actually regulates the immune system. Your gut has its own immune system called the “gut-associated lymphatic tissue (GALT) which represents 70-80% of your body’s ENTIRE immune system. By feeding your body good bacteria, those organisms can educate and support your immune system and prevent autoimmunity! According to the National Institute of Health (2021), “the immune system plays a crucial role in the susceptibility, persistence, and clearance of these infections. With 70–80% of immune cells being present in the gut, there is an intricate interplay between the intestinal microbiota, the intestinal epithelial layer, and the local mucosal immune system”.
2) Detoxification machine - Your gut can be viewed as your body’s second liver, neutralizing many toxins found in your food and serving as a line of defense in preventing infection.
3) Creates a physical barrier against potential bad bacteria - Some types of bacteria have “flagella”, which are hairlike threads that help them “swim” in your gut. This type of bacteria has been shown to stop deadly pathogenic flora, or viruses and injurious parasites, dead in their tracks.
4) Indigestion, nutrient absorption, and vitamin production - Your microbiome helps your body properly digest food, absorb nutrients in your gut, and play a critical role in releasing important enzymes and substances throughout your body such as vitamins and neurotransmitters.
5) Regulates inflammatory pathways - This in turn affects the risk for virtually all manners of chronic disease. All manner of disease is rooted in inflammation run amok, and your immune system controls inflammation.
6) Stress Management - Believe it or not, your microbiome has a big role in your ability to handle stress due to the flora’s effects on your endocrine hormonal system. According to John Hopkins Medicine (2019), “The endocrine system is a complex network of glands and organs. It uses hormones to control and coordinate your body's metabolism, energy level, reproduction, growth and development, and response to injury, stress, and mood.”
7) Other functions that your intestinal flora directly affect include the following:
Utilization of carbs & fats, allergies, asthma, ADHD, diabetes, dementia, and even cancer.
And the list goes on…
Essentially, EVERYTHING about our health, how we feel both physically and emotionally, hinges on the state of our microbiome.
This is why we created DIVINI. To provide a healthy, great tasting beverage so you can regularly consume good bacteria to support your gut, which we now affects so many other aspects of your body and wellbeing. Enjoy!
Sources:
1) Anatomy of the endocrine system. Johns Hopkins Medicine. (2019, November 19). https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/anatomy-of-the-endocrine-system
2) Perlmutter, D. (2017). Brain maker: The power of gut microbes to heal and protect your brain - for life. Yellow Kite.
3) Wiertsema SP, van Bergenhenegouwen J, Garssen J, Knippels LMJ. The Interplay between the Gut Microbiome and the Immune System in the Context of Infectious Diseases throughout Life and the Role of Nutrition in Optimizing Treatment Strategies. Nutrients. 2021 Mar 9;13(3):886. doi: 10.3390/nu13030886. PMID: 33803407; PMCID: PMC8001875.