This week our reading focused on the gut microbiome. When thinking about behaviors that an individual could engage in to cause changes in their gut microbial community their are a few for both positive and negative impacts. Some behaviors include; eating fermented foods, fiber and sugar intake, stress, antibiotic use, exercise, sleep, diet, and smoking.
Starting with diet such as ingesting fiber and fermented food, this will help increase beneficial bacteria in the gut microbiome. Fermented foods are a natural source of probiotics and have been shown to reduce gut inflammation. The fiber helps to let the probiotics become more sustainable in their environment making it beneficial as well. Exercise and sleep is also important to avoid obesity and have a good mood while maintaining good habits and hormone control.
Next looking at same negative behaviors such as smoking, stress, and sugar intake, we see more harmful outcomes. Smoking is shown to decrease the amount of beneficial organisms and increase the risk of cancer and inflammatory bowel disease. Stress is known to disrupt the microorganisms in the gut as well as the other negative outcomes that are more known. Sugar and bad diet causes an imbalance of the gut microbes and gut flora as well as increases risks of heart disease and diabetes.
Citation:
Leonard, Jayne. “10 Research-Backed Ways to Improve Gut Health.” Medical News Today, MediLexicon International, 28 May 2019, www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/325293#eat-less-sugar.
