Gut Microbiota - An Ecosystem Within Us

Each of us is a walking ecosystem

Each of us is a walking ecosystem. Though we may identify as human, the microbes within us outnumber our human cells. In fact, only ten percent of the cells within us are human; the rest are microbial.  From a genetics perspective, we are even more them than us. In fact, 99.5% of the genes in our bodies are actually the genes of the microbes that inhabit our gut. 

It would seem plausible then that our multitudes of microbiota (around a 100 trillion per person) could have an outsized impact on our health and well-being. Cutting-edge research over the last five years demonstrates that they do! Moreover, the specific food we chose to eat modifies our gut microbiota, which in turn transforms our health.

From the dawn of humanity we have coexisted with microbes. These microbes (including bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protists) depend on us for shelter and food. We in turn depend on them for a sizable portion of our digestive prowess, immunity, and even neurotransmitters (which influence our mood and more!). While some biota are harmful, a vast majority coexist with us in a mutually beneficial symbiosis.

These microorganisms make themselves at home throughout our bodies - in our mouth, eyes, nose, vagina, and more - though they are most abundant in our digestive system, specifically in our large intestine (home to 97 percent of our microbes) where they excel at foraging on fiber from our food.

Food Choices Rapidly Shift Our Microbiome

Not all human gut microbial ecosystems are alike. In fact, we each harbor a unique ecological community of microorganisms that changes rapidly (the average microorganism generation is 20 minutes) with the specific foods we consume and the people, animals, plants, and environments we encounter.

Because microorganisms are picky eaters - each species sporting specific plant fiber preferences - biotic populations in our colon grow and shrink based on our food choices. When microorganisms get to eat their preferred fibers, they multiply and when deprived of their predilections their populations are reduced.

So how can we adjust our diet to herald a healthy microbiotic ecosystem in our gut, one that minimizes inflammation and dysbiosis (including gas, bloating, abdominal discomfort, and irregular stools), decreases the likelihood of chronic disease, and enhances longevity and well-being? Science strongly suggests that our gut health is dependent upon diverse microbiotic communities supported by diets brimming with abundant and diverse plant fibers. 

Decades of research show that a high-fiber diet is associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, type II diabetes, obesity, inflammatory disease, kidney stones, colon cancer, and other malignancies. Now cutting-edge studies  suggest that our gut microbiome plays a key role in those benefits. Whereas animal products, simple sugars, and processed foods are digested earlier in the digestive tract, plant fibers (veggies, fruits, legumes, nuts, seeds, and whole grains) arrive at our large intestine mostly undigested, becoming a welcome meal for microbes. When our gut microbes feast on these fibers, they produce short chain fatty acids and butyrate metabolites, which reduce inflammation, thus mitigating chronic illness.  

The Healthful Impact of Fiber & Diverse Plants & Fermented Plant Foods

But in order for our microbes to produce these helpful metabolites we must eat plants. Lots of them.  

Health-promoting gut microbiota not only flourish with the consumption of diverse plant fibers, but with fermented foods. Recent research, including a study headed by Stanford University researchers Erica and Justin Sonnenberg and published in Cell in August 2022, indicates that diets high in fermented foods (think yogurt, sauerkraut, kimchee, miso soup, kefir, lassi, tempe) both increase microbiota diversity and decrease inflammatory markers in healthy adults. In a seven-week double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial, participants who switched to a diet high in fermented foods (eating an average of seven servings per day compared to less than one per day pre-study) experienced a twenty-five percent increase in the variety of gut microbe species as well as a significant, cohort-wide decrease in inflammatory cytokines.

Diets high in fruits, vegetables, and other plant fibers not only nourish us with vital nutrients, they also support the microbial communities that are the foundations of our health.  A fun way to increase the number of plants that you consume is to keep a log awarding yourself one point per plant, aiming for a minimum of thirty distinct plants per week. It's not as hard as you might think! Yesterday I ate forty-five unique plants in a single day in three delicious, nutritions home-made meals and felt incredible, 

Adding plant fibers can be a healthfully rewarding and creative process. In fact, you can simply uplevel meals you already enjoy, adding additional fruits, veggies, whole grains, nuts, and beans to your favorite soups and salads. You can even uplevel simple staples like oatmeal. Annie’s Oats is one of my favorite autumn morning meals, full of diverse plant fibers. Soaking and fermenting the oats overnight before cooking can add bonus benefits for your microbiome.

Annie's Oats: A Morning Microbiome Multiplier! 

- 1/3 cup gluten-free oats (pre-soaked overnight with 1 cup of water and 1 tsp of yogurt to ferment)

- 2 Tbsp chia seeds

- 2 Tbsp flax seeds, ground

- Handful of raisins or blueberries

- 3 dried mission figs, sliced

- 1/2 cup of toasted walnuts

- 1/4 cup toasted coconut 

- 1/4 tsp fresh ginger, chopped

- 1/2 tsp lions main mushroom powder

- 1/2 tsp turkey tail mushroom powder

- 1/4 tsp whole fennel seeds (fresh from my garden!)

- 1/4 tsp cinnamon powder

- Pinch of cardamon, cloves, nutmeg, sea salt, turmeric, and black pepper.

- 1/2 tsp ghee

- Water (to desired consistency)

 In the evening, put the oats in a cup of water, stir in a teaspoon of yogurt, and place the mixture on the countertop overnight to ferment. In the morning pour out the soak water to reduce phytic acid and improve digestibility. Add in the rest of the ingredients as well as plenty of water and bring to boil. Reduce the heat and simmer on the stove top for 10 min, stirring regularly. Enjoy your fermented fiber-fulled breakfast, brimming with 17 plant points!

Gut Health - An Ayurvedic Perspective

Maintaining a healthy digestive system is important to overall vitality and wellbeing. Digestive imbalance presents in various ways. Examples of discomforts after eating include: gas, bloating, acid reflux, mucus and congestion, constipation, loose stool, rashes, cloudy head, lethargy, and irritability. The precise presentation pattern suggests the root of imbalance, thus intimating the remedy.  In Ayurveda (the 5000 year old system of wellness in India) the solution is individual and nuanced, yet potent. It begins with an understanding of dosha.

How Doshas Factor Into Gut Health

In order to comprehend dosha, it's important to recognize that from an Ayurvedic perspective, all people and things (biotic and abiotic) are composed of five elements - space, air, fire, water, and earth - in varying amounts. The three doshas - vata, pitta, and kapha - are specific combinations of these elements. 

Vata dosha is comprised of air and space. 

Pitta dosha is made up of fire and water. 

Kapha dosha consists of earth and water. 

The relative predominance of each dosha in the digestive system influences appetite, digestion, absorption, and elimination. When one dosha is in excess, corresponding digestive symptoms can result.

Digestive Vata

Vata, made up of air and space, is the lightest, coldest, driest, most mobile dosha. Excess vata in the gut results in a tendency toward gas, bloating (with corresponding belly discomfort), constipation, and a lightheaded feeling when hungry.

To encourage digestive balance and minimize these symptoms we can favor foods that soothe vata, and minimize meals that vitiate vata.  Foods to reduce during gas and bloating are light, cold, dry, bitter and astringent. These include snacks like crackers and popcorn, most beans, iced drinks, and excess raw food and ruffage.

In order to actively soothe digestive vata, consider adding substantive, warm, moist, and subtly sweet foods, such as warm soups, broths, stews, oatmeals, and kitcheries, all with warming spices. A hint of sea salt, and a splash of sour also benefit. Maintaining a routine and cultivating serenity within a comfortably warm environment further calm vata symptoms.

Digestive Pitta

Pitta, made up of fire and water, is the warmest and most intense dosha. When excess pitta predominates, we are prone to acid reflux, loose stool, sharp appetite, and even rashes. We may also tend to feel "hangry" - irritable and short – when missing a meal. 

Foods that should be reduced when pitta symptoms are present are hot, pungent, spicy, salty, and sour. These include garlic, raw onions, chilis, jalapeños, and vinegar. Processed foods (typically salt-laden), fried foods, most cooked oils (except ghee and coconut oil), and alcohol are also best avoided. So too are stimulants including caffeine and nicotine.

Dietary alterations which pacify pitta and restore digestive ease include cool, astringent, bitter, and subtly sweet foods such as a plethora of raw or lightly cooked veggies and fruits. Beans and cooling herbs and spices like cilantro, coriander, fennel, and cardamom are also balancing. The raw green ruffage that challenges the vata gut actually balances excess pitta. A cool environment and a focus on going with the flow, soothe pitta symptoms too.

Digestive Kapha

Kapha, made up of earth and water, is the heaviest dosha. When kapha dominates the digestive system, there is a tendency toward lethargy after meals, brain fog, decreased motivation, and possible congestion and mucus. Earth and water mixed makes mud, and our bodies and minds indeed feel muddy and sticky with elevated kapha.

Foods that amplify kapha include heavy, sweet, oily, and cold foods such as ice-creams, dense and sweet desserts, pastries, cheeses, fried foods, and excess nuts.

Modifying meals by adding light, warm, dry, stimulating, spicy foods mitigates kapha. When kapha predominates, a little caffeine can be helpful (which cannot be said for other doshic imbalances). Overeating exacerbates symptoms; whereas reducing meal quantity and frequency, allowing ample time for complete digestion, helps. Stimulating activities as well as moderate to vigorous exercise aid reduction of kapha symptoms as well.

Conclusion

Many people suffer at times from digestive imbalances, experiencing gas, bloating, acid reflux, mucus, constipation, loose stool, rashes, lethargy, or irritability. By recognizing how specific symptoms correlate with Ayurvedic doshas, dietary shifts can be made that reduce the vitiated dosha and restore gut health.

 Many issues outside the scope of this article can contribute to digestive difficulties in addition to the foods we choose. Such factors include environmental toxins like pesticides and herbicides, food-born pathogens, antibiotics, some medications, stress, an imbalanced gut microbiota, poor food combinations, nutritional deficiencies, and inflammation. Professional guidance can help identify and mitigate such factors, promoting a healthy gut.

Serious medical conditions including a range of gastrointestinal and other systemic disorders can produce similar digestive symptoms, so it is important to see a licensed medical professional if symptoms are chronic or intense. A licensed medical provider with additional Ayurvedic training can expand on these ideas with thoughtful, personalized guidance to foster vitality and wellness.