It’s a Bug’s Life: offer love and take care of your microbiome

You have more bacteria about you - on your skin, in your gut and all the other nooks and crannies – than there are actual human cells in your body. More importantly they do stuff that matters. Whether that is for good, or evil depends on which bacteria are in your particular crowd. This matters for the critical aims we have in respect of longevity. The goal in its simplest terms is reduce inflammaging and prevent dementia, mainly Alzheimer’s Disease [AD]. But apart from the relationship between the mouth microbiome and AD the inflammation associated with a bad microbiome in the gut triggers AD, heart disease, atopic conditions such as asthma, eczema and rhinitis, irritable bowel, inflammatory bowel disease and is a contributing cause for obesity.

The role of your microbiome

You probably know that AD is the end result of inflammation in the brain. That inflammation comes from several possible sources: adrenal stress, insulin resistance, uncontrolled blood sugar, inflammatory chemicals entering the body via a leaky gut and very importantly some infections [bacteria or viruses] that get into the body either from the mouth or the gut. If your mouth microbiome contains several possible culprits but especially members of the treponeme family and you have poor gum hygiene/ periodontitis, then they can get into the blood stream and into the brain. They are found to a higher than normal degree in AD sufferer’s brains. Several viruses and bacteria associated with a leaky gut can affect the brain. Chronic cytomegalovirus [CMV] infection, persistent herpes, helicobacter and Lyme Disease are also implicated, among others.

Love and Care

Love and care for your microbiome means knowing where the problem lies and tackling it by making the local environment friendly to good bacteria and/or putting good bacteria in place that don’t cause harm. 

Let’s start with the mouth: for years I thought that ‘clean my teeth’ meant polishing my tooth enamel to a Tom Cruise quality shine. This might affect your Tinder attractiveness but does nothing for your health. What we need to focus on is gum health and avoiding gum [periodontal] disease. When plaque builds up at the base of our teeth and in the interdental spaces it holds bacteria against the gums and local inflammation occurs. The damaged inflamed gum allows bacteria to get into the blood stream and the risk of AD goes up [also the risk of coronary heart disease!]. An electric toothbrush held principally on the gum-tooth margins for 2 minutes twice a day, the use of interdental brushes of appropriate size after every meal [much more effective than floss] and an ideal mouthwash are transformative.

Mouthwash dynamics

We don’t need an antiseptic mouthwash – killing off the good bugs with the bad doesn’t help at all. Nor do we focus on the flavour or perfume of the post rinse mouth. What you need is to rinse with something that is a mild but effective cleanser, washing out all the post brush, interdental debris and move the mouth pH [acidity] into a zone that favours good bacteria but inhibits bad ones. There are two options; either to use a mouthwash containing xylitol and saline such as H2Ocean Arctic Ocean, readily available in the USA or used in the UK for post mouth piercing hygiene, or as I prefer, to use a probiotic mouth wash such as Luvbiotics [there is also a Luvbiotics lozenge].

Onwards and downwards

Dental checks, hygienist appointments, interdental brushes and a proactive mouthwash maintain mouth microbiome and protect against AD.

Each part of your body has its own microbiome, a specific population of bacteria and other microorganisms. This is true even for areas like the inside of the bladder or the cerebrospinal fluid that used to be considered sterile [unless ‘infected’ with known bad bugs]. Improved laboratory techniques have shown us a whole new biological world of bugs that we didn’t know were living where they are. A healthy microbiome [the Good] fulfils particular roles in that organ and most important keeps out The Bad and the Ugly.

What does the gut microbiome do?

The good bugs help you digest some foodstuffs that our own system doesn’t handle well, fibres like cellulose and intestinal mucus for example, and this ‘fermentation’ creates useful substances called Short Chain Fatty Acids [ SCFA’s] that care absorbed back into the blood stream and help our metabolism [mainly control of sugars and cholesterol] reduce the risk of diabetes and obesity and inhibit the growth of cancer cells. Plus inhibiting the growth of the Bad and the Ugly [actual harmful bacteria such as ‘infections’ like salmonella or clostridium difficile]. Finally, there is an important contribution to our immunity and some SCFA’s have positive effects on mood stabilisation.

So this means the microbiome determines some important health outcomes?

Definitely. If you are overweight, depressed, have type 2 diabetes, a weak immune system, high cholesterol, irritable bowel syndrome or are going to get colon cancer then a substantial part of the reason-why is that you are not looking after your gut microbiome properly. The good news is that you can modify this situation by putting good things into your diet and avoiding some bad ones.

The microbiome and obesity. How twins prove what is going on

Identical twins [identical genes] are not always the same weight. When researchers checked, the fat twin has a poor microbiome made up of obesity causing bacteria. These convert fibre in the colon, that is not normally digested, to sugars that are absorbed. In other words, they cause an increase in calories for the same food intake. They also secrete chemicals that cause sugar cravings, increase appetite and stop production of the appetite suppressing ‘fullness’ hormone Leptin. Clean out the fat twin’s gut and put in some poo from the thin twin [a faecal transplant] and they will lose weight, proving that the microbiome and not their genes is the problem.

Helping your microbiome

You can influence your microbiome by your intake of pre-biotics [fibre like inulin, milled linseed, chia, quinoa, and green vegetable matter] that good bacteria will thrive on. Some of these every day are needed. Then add in daily pro-biotics; fermented foods that contain good bacteria, eg plain yoghurt, kefir, kombucha fresh sauerkraut or kimchi, fermented miso [Google what you don’t know about].

Poor diet: a major cause of inflammation

What to avoid? Low fibre intake reduces production of SCFA’s and your bugs use less favourable nutrients, and produce detrimental metabolites. Convincing evidence shows that the low fibre Western diet degrades the colonic mucus barrier, causing a ‘leaky gut’, and thus infection susceptibility and inflammation. Please avoid all artificial sweeteners and neat fructose [fruit juice and fructose added to many processed foods as ‘fruit sugar’] as these seriously damage the microbiome. Just eat the whole fruit and train yourself to cope without the sweetener [takes about 2 weeks to get accustomed].

Antibiotics

If you have to take an antibiotic it will do bad things to your microbiome. Around 2 weeks of intensive ‘rehab’ along the lines above will restore your good bugs.

Discovering your gut microbiome and looking after it, might be the most important thing you do this year or this decade.

The major role that your microbiome plays in inflammaging, Alzheimers risk, weight management, sugar and cholesterol metabolism and mental wellbeing is the most useful scientific advance in your anti-ageing journey because you can control it by yourself, without medical intervention.

Read more…

In the UK a major researcher is Prof. Tim Spector read one of his books or his article:

[Search:  Valdes A M, Walter J, Segal E, Spector T D. Role of the gut microbiota in nutrition and health  BMJ 2018;  361 :k2179 doi:10.1136/bmj.k2179]

Another simple read is the Clever Guts Diet by Michael Mosely