Gut Is More Than You Think-Part Three
This part completes the journey of a wonderful book by a thoughtful author who has presented a complex topic in an easy to digest manner.
This is the final part of the book GUT by Giulia Enders. In this part, we will learn a few interesting things about the role of gut flora; harmful bacteria and parasites; the good bacteria and cleanliness.
Our gut bacteria exist almost at the end of the digestive process when our bodies have already absorbed most of the food’s content. Its place truly lies in the large intestine and if it shifts into the small intestine, there is bad news. Fascinatingly, bacteria don’t just aid us from within, it offers nourishment from the outside too. For example, yoghurt is basically bacteria kissed milk and sauerkraut is bacteria bombed cabbage; both these products are basically a new and more nutritious formation with the creative potential of bacteria.
Did you know?
The Bacterial population of our mouth is only about one ten thousandth of the number that live in our gut.
How Gut Bacteria Makes Us fat?
Theory-1
Giulia introduced ‘chubby bacteria’ which excretes indigestible carbohydrates from our food. Skinny people excrete more while the chubby ones excrete less. This is the reason why some people gain more weight despite eating less. Because their chubby bacteria utilise every bit of their food’s energy while skinny people excrete indigestible carbs as waste. Interesting! Right?
Studies on obese subjects reflect that they have less diversity of gut flora and a certain type of bacteria- which primarily metabolise carbs- tends to prevail in them.
Did you know why a chocolate with the same number of calories as a banana makes us more obese?
Bacteria produce various fatty acids out of indigestible carbohydrates: vegetable-loving bacteria tend to manufacture fatty acids for the gut and the liver; others produce fatty acids that feed the rest of the body. That’s why a chocolate bar makes you fatter than a banana with the same number of calories (plant carbohydrates activate the bacteria that provide fatty acids locally- to the liver etc- not to the whole blood stream).
Theory-2
Gut bacteria is not the singular factor for obesity (probably 60-70%). Scientists consider another important marker for extreme weight-gain: inflammation. Increased number of infection markers in the blood of obese or some diabetic people have been found. This is not infectious to the level of requiring treatment and doctors call it ‘subclinical infection’. But this infection does cause weight gain. Bacteria is not the sole reason for subclinical infections; hormone imbalance, lack of vitamin D, or too much gluten rich food also have similar effects.
Theory-3
A hypothesis from 2013 posits that our gut bacteria affect our appetite; midnight craving for that chocolate ice-cream or a burger isn’t demanded by our brain but the gut which can nudge the brain for this. (That’s crazy!) But to trigger craving for a specific food, bacteria have to access the brain.
So how does it access it?
Our brain is covered inside a membrane called meninges which is protected by a fat-based coating layer. Very tiny things such as pure sugar, minerals and fat-soluble neural transmitters can pass that barrier (nicotine does). It turns out that gut bacteria can produce such small particles. Examples are tyrosine and tryptophan: these two amino acids are converted into dopamine and serotonin in the cells of the brain. Therefore, our bacteria reward us when we offer them their desired food. Over habits make us slaves after all.
Of Cleanliness and Good Bacteria
Gut bacteria cleaning can be likened to cleaning up a forest. There are three main tools for keeping our insides clean: -
Antibiotics- ‘Anti bios’ means ‘against life’. Antibiotics act as our saviour by getting rid of the pathogens acquired by our body
Prebiotic- ‘Pre bios’ means ‘before life’. Prebiotics feed the good bacteria in our gut as they pass into the large intestine undigested.
Probiotic- ‘Pro bios’ means ‘for life’. Probiotics make us healthier as they are, the edible living bacteria.
Our gut has both desired and undesired bacteria. The cleaning of the gut should sensibly be like pruning a shrub, rather than cutting it entirely. Point being - it's bad to completely eliminate the bacteria but prudent to limit its number because the body uses bad ones to train our immune system against unwanted incomers. When perfect conditions are encountered, bacteria multiply and gets out of hand. There are four reliable strategies to contain their spread -
The common practice of washing fruits and vegetables at our homes is an important step of dilution. Most soil dwelling bacteria get diluted into low concentrations that they become harmless to us. Clean you procure well!
Bacteria need warm and moist locations. They cannot breed on dry surfaces. Drying the food and its environment helps in preserving it for a longer time by increasing its shelf life.
Another strategy is the common practice of refrigerating the food in our homes. The point is to compartmentalise food items well to avoid making a cocktail of microbes in the refrigerator itself.
The process of cleaning which basically means using soap for trapping the microbes in a film of fat and then washing it off with water. It is important not to overdo it to avoid the exposure of unprotected skin by stripping of the natural fat layer.
Kitchen Tip
Kitchen sponges are warm, moist and full of food which is a perfect home for microbes. Wiping the surface with kitchen sponges after cleaning is as close to directly licking them up. Items like sponges, towels are best for cleaning the worst of dirt.
The use of antibiotics is like using mouthwashes and its use should be occasional because they are blind killers; bacteria, whether good or bad, are both gone. Moreover, antibiotics try to kill them all but the stubborn bacteria avenge their killing by developing resistance against antibiotics. So, be mindful and prefer to be a pre or pro but not an anti. (biotic user)
Probiotics offer many benefits such as:
Probiotic bacteria prove to be beneficial for our gut. They secrete butyrate which soothes and pampers the villi in our gut leading to its growth promoting better absorption of nutrients.
“Good bacteria defend our gut - it is, after all, their home, and they do not willingly surrender their territory to bad bacteria.” They occupy their favourite seats and put them on the waiting list. Security service bacteria use different tactics to drive away the pathogens by producing antibiotics in small amounts or by simply snatching away their food.
When our immune system is attacked, the probiotics heal and treat our gut by increasing the efficiency of our immune system and providing possible protection from allergies.
This brings us to the end of the GUT book by Giulia Enders. It’s been a nice easy read through its 240 pages where knowledge has been presented by its author in a really digestible manner where my brain could absorb its contents readily. Authors like Giulia indeed take their role seriously by making science-based books fun. Thanks to such thoughtful ones, we- the choosing ones- meet satisfaction at the end. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the beginner’s understanding of our gut and it can be read by a wider age group too.
If you have read the previous two parts, I’m grateful to you for taking time out and caring to read my work. I hope this would have helped you learn a few interesting things and widen your knowledge base.