If you google ‘gut and immune function’ you will be presented with about 125 million options! Safe to say there certainly no shortage of data available in this area, but what can be tricky, even as a health professional, is being able to wade through all the junk, to get to the practical solutions about what we can be doing in our day to day life to help strengthen both our gut and immune system.
Luckily, we’ve done all the hard work for you – let us take you through some of the most interesting bits!
What do we actually mean when we talk about ‘The Gut’?
In our clinic, we think of the gut as our entire internal plumbing system that starts with the mouth and goes down into the stomach, then onto the small intestine and large intestine. What we need to also remember is that each part of the gut has different functions and requirements.
One of the guaranteed questions I’ll get asked at a party as soon as someone finds out I specialise in digestion, is ‘What should I be doing to improve my gut?’. My answer is always ‘it depends’. What is good for the large intestine, can actually make things so much worse if you’ve got an imbalance in the small intestine. Increasing your fibre intake can be super supportive for your large intestine, but if you’ve got Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth or SIBO, more fibre is going to make your symptoms worse.
So how do we identify if our gut is functioning optimally? We’ve got to start looking at your poo!
Talking about Poo
If this conversation makes you squirm, you’ve got to learn to get over it because our bowel movements give us a whole heap of amazing information and we really need to be paying attention! I often refer to our poos as a report card for our health, because they tell us how our body is going.
In our clinic, we assess what we call the 4F’s.
Frequency
1 -2 times per day is optimal
Form
Ideally sausage shaped or formed and holding its shape if it’s in pieces. It should be smooth and not too hard or dry.
Further Inclusions
Are there any other things that you see in your stool like blood, mucus or undigested food?
Feeling in your gut and on passing
Do you get bloating, cramping or pain? Do you feel relieved once you go? What about reflux and burping? Is there any urgency or straining?
Impacts on the Immune system
You’ve probably heard about gut bacteria or the good bacteria that we have in our gut. What I always like to specify is that these gut bugs should be living in the large intestine. The small intestine has a very different function and shouldn’t really have many bugs at all.
Our large intestine is home to our microbiome, which is a collection of around about 38 trillion organisms, which makes that google search look tiny in comparison! These bugs live on the inner lining of the gut and work together in little families and communities to keep us healthy and well. Each family has a different role to play and the harmony of the overall community depends on how well everyone is working together. This also then impacts the gut lining.
The gut lining forms our barrier protection and should be covered by a thick layer of mucus and maintaining this mucus lining is absolutely essential. It’s also why having enough fibre in your diet is important because fibre keeps our bugs fed and full. If they get hungry, they will start to eat into this mucus lining, so if you’re not feeding your bugs, they are going to start eating you!
The very special thing about the gut lining is that it is embedded with highly specialised immune cells called dendritic cells; they look a little bit like an octopus. You can see that one of the tentacles reaches through the gut lining up into the microbiome where it takes samples and information from our bugs and then brings these messages back down to the immune system by telling it what sorts of cells needs to be produced.
How can you support your microbiome and gut to help improve your immune function?
Diet
What you eat and what you digest matters! A whole-food diet, rich in brightly coloured fruits and vegetables, healthy fats (think things like avocado, olives, extra virgin olive oil, salmon, sardines and raw nuts and seeds) and good quality protein is the starting point. Fermented foods like sauerkraut, kim chi, pickles, yoghurt and kefir (if you can handle dairy) can also be beneficial. Bone broth made with organic beef or chicken bones can be super supportive, nourishing and highly anti-inflammatory for your gut. You can try making your own or source a good quality premade one (we have some in the clinic if you want to grab some next time you’re in).
As with most things health-related though, there often needs to be some individualisation so if you’re keen on making some dietary changes to improve your gut and immune system, have a chat with one of our naturopaths who can help guide you in the right direction.
Sleep
The aim is for 7 – 9 hours per night. New research is showing that not only can the bugs in our gut affect the type and quality of sleep we get, but also that our sleep patterns (and internal circadian rhythms) can affect the way our gut bugs communicate with each other. Sleep is important for so many health promoting aspects in our body so it’s worthwhile spending some time creating healthy sleep habits if you haven’t already got them.
Antibiotics and other medications (the Pill)
Medication, especially antibiotics and the Oral Contraceptive Pill can really disturb your microbiome. If you’ve been taking these, even in the short term, it’s worthwhile having a chat to one of our naturopaths so we can point you in the right direction of some probiotics. And before you run and grab one off the shelf, be mindful that not all probiotics are the same. Each strain exhibits specific actions and if you get the wrong one, you could be making your body really cranky!!
Stress management
When we experience stress, especially repeated (or more chronic) stress, we can experience changes in our microbiome and the integrity of our gut lining. This can be an issue as we then become more susceptible to gastrointestinal damage, which can kick start the inflammatory process. Regularly doing things like meditation, mindfulness, breathing exercises and things that bring you joy and happiness can provide an insurance policy that helps to reduce any damage the next time you’re stressed.
Nutritional Deficiencies
Nutrient deficiencies are never a good thing to have, but especially if you are trying to work on improving your gut. Your epithelium, which is your gut lining, will regenerate every 5 – 7 days so it’s important that you have all the nutrients you need ready and available for when those new cells are being created. Common nutrient deficiencies that need addressing when we are looking at gut and immune function include zinc, vitamin C, vitamin A and essential fatty acids. Our naturopaths are highly trained to identify these deficiencies and can also refer you for tests that look into what you might be missing.