May 10, 2022

You might have heard about gut health a lot lately. Do you know if your gut is healthy? Your gut is an important part of your body. Keeping your gut healthy will help your body to stay healthier overall and lead a better and quality life. Thus, we are here to help you learn more about the gut, gut functions, poor gut health symptoms, and most importantly, the ways to improve gut health. Keep reading to discover all about your gut! What is the Gut & its Function? The Gut is also commonly known as the digestive system or the Gastrointestinal Tract, that is the GI tract. It is mainly responsible for digestion of the food you eat, absorption of nutrients, and excretion of waste as required by the body. It is a long tube-like structure present in the body starting from the mouth and ending at the rectum. Your gut consists of a vast variety of bacteria along with a few viruses, parasites, and fungi present mostly in the intestine. They collectively make up the microbiome inside your gut. The microbiome is essential to your body as it helps in the development of the immune system and the synthesis of some vitamins. In fact, your whole body has trillions of bacterias present which help in performing various important functions in your body. If you have a healthy gut and microbiome, it can even help in warding off serious diseases like diabetes, obesity, cancer, depression, etc. A healthy gut maintains a delicate yet proper balance of both good as well as bad bacteria. Both of these types of bacteria are important where an imbalance can lead to health issues of all sorts  Importance of Gut Health To understand the role that your gut plays in your overall health, it is important to look at the effects it has on various parts of the body. Below we will discuss how your gut affects some significant functions going on in your body. Unhealthy Gut and Effects on the Body Heart Diseases and Gut Health The bacteria that are present in your gut are responsible for all sorts of functions. Every person has a different environment in the microbiome with different compositions of bacteria. This can depend on the type of food that you eat and your genetics. Hence, research has found that your gut health can help in identifying the risk of heart attacks or strokes. These heart diseases happen due to the formation of a compound called TMAO or Trimethylamine N-oxide. Your gut bacteria form TMAO from food items like eggs and red meat. And elevated levels of TMAO can result in hardening of the arteries causing heart attacks and strokes. Therefore, a healthy microbiome is highly beneficial for your heart health. Kidney Health and Gut Health TMAO can also cause chronic kidney diseases which can further change the composition of your gut microbiome. This can lead to the overgrowth of bad bacteria resulting in the breaking of the intestinal walls. If your intestinal walls break, the bacteria can go out of the intestinal area which is known as a leaky gut causing more inflammation in the kidneys. Thus, to keep your kidneys healthy and functioning well, it is highly important to have a healthy gut. Skin and Gut Health If you have a leaky gut, then it can even lead to inflammations in your skin as well. These inflammations can lead to different skin problems like acne vulgaris and psoriasis. In other words, having a healthy gut is vital if you want healthy and glowing skin.  Immune System and Gut Health The microbiome plays a highly crucial role in the functioning of your immune system. The bacteria of your microbiome prevent any external toxins to invade the body. More importantly, having a healthy gut ensures that the bad bacteria in your gut don\’t attack your own body cells which effectively assists the immune system. In other words, poor gut health can lead to a rise in autoimmune conditions in the body. Gut Health and the Brain Your gut and the brain are interrelated to each other as well. Both your gut and brain are interconnected to each other where your gut health will affect how your brain functions and vice versa. The gut is directly connected to the brain through millions of nerves. In fact, your gut even produces several chemicals like serotonin and dopamine which affect the functioning of your brain. Due to the presence of a large number of nerves and neurotransmitter chemicals in your gut, which is similar to the central nervous system, the gut is also known as the second brain. A third connection between the gut and the brain is through the immune system of your body. When the gut is in an unhealthy state it increases inflammation in the body because of a leaky gut. This can lead to a few brain disorders like Parkinson\’s, Alzheimer\’s, autism, etc. Gut Health and Mental Health In recent times, people have started focusing on their mental health which has brought a lot of major mental health issues into the limelight. And as we are talking about the gut-brain connection, it is important to go through the effects of gut health on your mental health as well. The inflammation from the gut can lead to disruptions in the chemicals released to the brain. This can lead to mental illnesses such as stress, anxiety, and depression. And this in turn affects the gut by creating issues in digestion like feeling gassy and uneasy in the stomach while being stressed. While research is still being done about this gut health and mental health connection, there are still a few ways to overcome issues like this. You can consider practicing meditation or any other form of relaxation technique as a healthy mind leads to a healthy body and a healthy gut. 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