IMA Head of Medical and Scientific Affairs Dr. Ryan Cole joined The National News Desk to break down what the gut microbiome is and why it matters well beyond digestion. Dr. Cole describes it as an ecosystem that works best when it’s diverse, helping balance the immune system and supply the vitamins the body needs. Through the gut-brain axis, those microbes even send chemical signals along the vagus nerve. When the gut falls out of balance, he explains, mood, stress, and overall health can tip in the wrong direction.
As Dr. Cole puts it, the gut begins at the mouth. He notes that certain harmful oral bacteria have been linked to Alzheimer’s, cardiac disease, and many types of cancer. Cutting back on sugar and using a xylitol toothpaste can help keep them in check, he says. For the gut itself, he recommends a diverse diet, fermented foods like kefir and sauerkraut, and good rest and exercise, while avoiding processed foods and excess antibiotic use.
Check out these related resources from IMA below, followed by the full segment transcript.
Transcript
Jan Jeffcoat: Your gut could be telling you more about your health than you think. Trillions of bacteria live inside our digestive system, and scientists are learning just how much that could influence everything from our immune systems to inflammation, even our mood and mental health. The good news: simple changes to your daily routine could help keep those bacteria working in your favor. Joining us now to break it all down is Dr. Ryan Cole, pathologist and Head of Medical and Scientific Affairs for the Independent Medical Alliance. Good morning to you, Dr. Cole. Great to see you.
Dr. Ryan Cole: Great to see you, Jan.
Jan Jeffcoat: We hear so much about gut health these days that a lot of folks probably don’t realize just how much is happening inside their own bodies. So tell us, what exactly is the gut microbiome, and why does it matter so much?
Dr. Ryan Cole: Most people don’t realize that we’re more bacteria than we are human cells in terms of raw numbers. This is an entire ecosystem, and we want a diverse ecosystem in the body because it helps balance the immune system. It certainly helps digest and absorb our food, but also provides the vitamins that our body needs. And it can contribute to our overall systemic health to have a good, balanced gut biome.
Jan Jeffcoat: And this goes well beyond digestion. I know research has linked gut health to everything from immunity and inflammation to our brain. So how much influence does our gut really have over our overall health?
Dr. Ryan Cole: An amazing amount of correlation between the overall health and how healthy our gut biome is. And so, like you said, beyond just managing our inflammation and signals to our immune system, there’s that important gut-brain axis you mentioned. The microbes literally send chemical signals that send messages along our vagus nerve. It can affect our mood, it can affect our stress, it can affect our overall health. And when that gets imbalanced, those things can tip in the wrong direction.
Jan Jeffcoat: And here’s something that I was kind of surprised about, because your mouth is its own microbiome. So what’s the connection between the bacteria in our mouths and our guts, and could poor oral health be a warning sign of bigger problems?
Dr. Ryan Cole: Absolutely. And the gut begins at the mouth. There are obviously things we can do to maintain good oral hygiene, but there are certain bad bacteria. We have beneficial bacteria, bad bacteria, but there are certain ones that are related to and found in Alzheimer’s lesions, cardiac disease, many different types of cancers.
So goes the mouth, so goes our systemic health. So avoiding excess sugars and using toothpastes that have xylitol that can kill off some of these bad bacteria is critically important to overall systemic health as well.
Jan Jeffcoat: So let’s give people something they can do today. What are the best foods, and what are some of the best daily habits to support a healthy gut? And what should we stop doing that could be causing more harm than good?
Dr. Ryan Cole: Great question. Well, start with a good, diverse amount of foods in the diet: fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds. Eat them as close to organic as possible. I think it’s critically important to add fermented foods, whether it’s unsweetened yogurts or kefir or sauerkraut or kimchi. And make sure that you have good circadian rhythm, good rest, good exercise, because those things help absorption and also help the balance of those bacteria in the gut.
Avoid processed foods, excess sugars. Avoid excess use of antibiotics that can wipe out our good bacteria. Little steps, one thing at a time, but find balance and find health.
Jan Jeffcoat: All right, Dr. Ryan Cole with the Independent Medical Alliance, thank you so much for joining us this morning. And for more information and helpful resources, just go to imahealth.org.
