It wasn’t until recent years that I took my gut health seriously, which is not a good thing. Better late than never I guess. Proper gut health is very important for a person’s overall health, particularly when people are over 40.
While we cannot turn back time and refrain from eating many of the bad things that we ate over the years, we can do better going forward by prioritizing proper gut health via eating a wide array of unprocessed foods and things containing probiotics and dietary fiber. Below are five reasons why gut health is important.
Discomfort
I don’t know about you, but I have had ‘stomach issues’ more often than I can count in my life, particularly after eating fast food and/or too much candy. Sometimes it was slight discomfort, and other times it was like there was an angry monkey in my stomach trying to punch its way out. Ever since I started eating healthier and prioritizing my gut health, I haven’t had those internal battles.
I refrain from overeating and make sure to spread out my meals. I also eat a lot of lean protein sources and complex carbohydrates, take a probiotic pill every day, and use a flavorless dietary fiber in my water (which I drink a lot of!). My digestive system feels great these days, and my days are better for it.
Nutrient Absorption
Proper gut health is vital for efficient nutrient absorption. People can consume a bunch of protein and supplements, but if they don’t have a thriving microbiome, their stomach won’t be able to efficiently break down the ingested molecules and release all of their nutrients. If you want to absorb the most nutrients possible from what you ingest, do everything that you reasonably can to improve your gut health.
Reduces Risk Of Certain Cancers
“Having a healthy mix of gut bacteria may lower a person’s risk of obesity or weight gain,” says Daniel-MacDougall, a nutritional epidemiologist at MD Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas. “Obesity is a known risk factor for many cancers, including colorectal cancer.”
“It’s your long-term choices that matter most when it comes to a healthy microbiome and lowering your cancer risk,” Daniel-MacDougall also said. “So, the first step is to choose a healthy diet that satisfies you. Then, you’ll be more likely to stick with it over time.”
Improved Immune System
“Seventy percent of the immune system is located in the gut,” says David Heber, MD, PhD, professor emeritus of medicine at UCLA Health. “Nutrition is a key modulator of immune function.”
“The microbiome and the immune system are critically intertwined,” says Jonathan Jacobs, MD, PhD, a professor of digestive diseases at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. “What’s present in the gut determines what education immune cells get.”
Better Mental Health
In July 2023, researchers in China and Singapore collaborated on a study that focused on gut health and how it affects anxiety, depression, and other mental disorders. The researchers found that “gut microbiota, especially Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes, are demonstrated to affect mental health.”
“Dietary components, including probiotics (e.g., Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium), prebiotics (e.g., dietary fiber and alpha-lactalbumin), synbiotics, postbiotics (e.g., short-chain fatty acids), dairy products, spices (e.g., Zanthoxylum bungeanum, curcumin, and capsaicin), fruits, vegetables, medicinal herbs, and so on, could exert protective effects against mental disorders by enhancing beneficial gut microbiota while suppressing harmful ones.” the researchers also determined.
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