acupuncture, classical herbal medicine & zero balancing

We’ve been hearing a lot in the media about the microbiome, but what is it and why is it so important?

The microbiome is the general term for all of the microscopic organisms: bacteria, viruses, fungi, yeasts, etc; that live in and on the human body. Most often when people are talking about the microbiome, they’re referring to the organisms that live in the gut, but we have different microbiomes on the skin, in the mouth, in the lungs, and in the urogenital tract. The gut microbiome is, however, the most densely populated and best studied.

Why it matters: For years there was a trend to think that all microbes were bad, and to be truly healthy we needed our bodies to be as clean as possible. This is when all of the antibacterial hand soaps, gels, and cleaning products became popular. But as we got cleaner, we saw a rise in illnesses such as allergies, asthma, and autoimmune conditions. The Hygiene Hypothesis suggests that our exposure to microbes early in life is important to the proper development of the immune system and research has shown that the more diverse our microbiome, the healthier we are!

In addition to helping us build a healthy immune system, a diverse and thriving microbiome helps to digest foods that our bodies can’t break down and turn them into nutrients, especially B vitamins and vitamin K, and short-chain fatty acids. (We’ll write about those in the future.) They protect us from harmful microbes by acting as a sort of internal police force. And they play an important role in mood and brain function (also referred to as the gut-brain axis). An imbalance in the gut microbiome can be linked to issues such as obesity, autoimmune diseases, allergies, and mental health conditions.

Now that we know what the microbiome is and what it does, how to we help it to be healthy? There are several things that influence our microbiome development and ongoing health. We inherit our microbes from our mother when we are born, so it’s important to make sure that babies born via C-section get this exposure. Antibiotics should be avoided except when truly necessary because these can indiscriminately kill the bacteria in our bodies, creating imbalance. To strengthen and diversify our microbiome, it’s important to eat a variety of plant foods and avoid excessive amounts of processed foods. Environment and lifestyle also affect our microbiome as stress and pollutants can negatively impact our critters.

When our microbiome has been depleted because of these factors, good ways to help build them back up is to eat lots of fermented foods like kimchee, lacto-fermented pickles, and yogurt, increase our intake of plant foods including veggies, fruits, herbs and spices, and, if necessary, take probiotics and prebiotics. We are now carrying two probiotic products from Microbiome Labs: HU58 and MegaSporeBiotic. Ask us which one is right for you!