Are your GUT and IMMUNE System team players?

By Dr. Janet Opila-Lehman, ND

With the continued presence of the coronavirus infection, information keeps coming out on the importance of supporting your immune system. What does your gut have to do with all this? Who would think that what you eat, how it gets digested and eliminated has anything to do with your immune function. The actual fact is that about 70-80% of your immune cells reside in your gut – in your Gut-Associated-Lymphoid-Tissue (GALT). If bacteria, protozoa, fungi, and viruses are ingested or inhaled they affect your gut microflora or lining. 

This GALT tissue is the “coach” in your intestines and has some important jobs. It regulates the permeability of your gut, allowing nutrients (and pathogens) into your body’s blood system. It directs whether what you eat/inhale/ingest is a “good player” or “bad player” and facilitates your immune cells to either accept the input or knock it out. (Smart immune cells!). This gut “game” occurs 24/7 and is affected by many variables – your mood, your exercise activities, your sleep, your supplements/meds, your stress levels, etc. It’s like keeping a game of soccer going with all the players doing their part, and the ball moving in the right direction.

Exciting research is now showing that there are specific relationships between changes in the microbial community and different diseases. The Human Microbiome Project has spent millions of dollars to catalog microbiome communities in people with different diseases. The next step is to figure out how the microbiome can be adjusted to treat the different diseases. 

But meanwhile – here are some tips to make sure your gut stays happy and that your immune system functions optimally! 

10 Tips To Maintain Your Gut/Immune Health

1. Eat fermented foods – fermented vegetables, kefir, kimchi, kombucha, miso, sauerkraut, tempeh.
2. Eat prebiotic foods – asparagus, bananas, chicory, garlic, Jerusalem artichoke, onions whole grains.
3. Eat less sugar and sweeteners (includes alcohol) – lots of sweets may lead to gut dysbiosis, which upsets your gut health and the ability of your immune cells to function properly. 
4. Take probiotics – a multi-strain formula to insure gut diversity.
5. Decrease stress – techniques such as walking in nature, meditation, deep breathing, muscle relaxation activities will help your gut stay in a parasympathetic calm mood rather than a sympathetic fight & flight mode.
6. Exercise regularly – helps your circulation stay optimal and your digestion moving. 
7. Avoid taking unnecessary antibiotics – which can damage the balance of the good bacteria in your gut.
8. Sleep – strive for 7-8 hours of good sleep/night. Unplug or remove all electronics in your bedroom and sleep in a really dark space.
9. Use healthy cleaning products – your gut microflora gets disrupted by cleaning chemicals and has to work overtime to detox these products.
10. Avoid smoking and recreational drugs – what you inhale eventually ends up in your gut and can decrease your good bacteria and increase the bad bacteria.

Questions or concerns? If you are experiencing troublesome health symptoms and/or need immune supplements, don’t hesitate to call or email Dr. Janet Opila-Lehman. She is a Naturopath Doctor who focuses on gut and immune health using natural, safe, effective treatments.

Email: Dr.Janet@WNCNaturopathicMedicine.com

Phone: 828-424-0078

References:

Hsin-Jung Wu,  Eric Wu.  The role of gut microbiota in immune homeostasis and autoimmunity. Gut Microbes.2012 Jan 1; 3(1): 4–14. 

Perez-Muñoz ME, etal.   Discordance between changes in the gut microbiota and pathogenicity in a mouse model of spontaneous colitis. Gut Microbes. 2014 May-Jun;5(3):286-95. Epub 2014 Mar 24.

G Vighi, F Marcucci, L Sensi, G Di Cara, and  F Frati. Allergy and the gastrointestinal system

Clin Exp Immunol. 2008 Sep; 153(Suppl 1): 3–6. 

The Human Microbe Project: www.commonfund.nih.gov