Fiber Prevents Gut Microbes from Ravaging Your Intestines
The truth of the old adage that "you are what you eat" is becoming increasingly clear, the more we learn about the microbiome — the colonies of microorganisms, including bacteria, viruses and fungi that live in your gut.
December 15, 2016 | Source: Mercola | by Dr. Joseph Mercola
The truth of the old adage that "you are what you eat" is becoming increasingly clear, the more we learn about the microbiome — the colonies of microorganisms, including bacteria, viruses and fungi that live in your gut.1
It's been well-established that your gut acts as a second brain, providing all sorts of input to your brain. This input not only affects your mood and general well-being, but also your immune responses and nervous system functioning.
Your microbiome is individual to you, much like your finger prints, and is a reflection of who your parents were, where you've been, who you spend intimate time with, what you eat, how you live, whether or not you're interacting with the earth (gardening, for example) and much more.
Research shows that your gut microbiome plays a role in the development of many diseases and health conditions, including obesity and difficulty maintaining weight loss after dieting,2,3 depression and multiple sclerosis (MS), just to name a few.4
Parkinson's Disease May Originate in Your Gut
Most recently, researchers say they've found a "functional link" between certain gut bacteria and the onset of Parkinson's disease.5,6 In short, specific chemicals produced by certain gut bacteria worsen the accumulation of proteins in the brain associated with the disease.
The link is so intriguing; they suggest the best treatment strategy may be to address the gut rather than the brain using specific probiotics rather than drugs. Indeed, mounting research suggests we may have had the wrong idea about Parkinson's all along.
Parkinson's patients have been known to struggle with constipation for as long as a decade before neurological symptoms appear, and another recent study found that proteins implicated in the disease actually travel from the gut into the brain.7
Once clumped together in the brain, these proteins, called alpha-synclein, form fibers that damage the nerves in your brain, resulting in the tell-tale tremors and movement problems exhibited by Parkinson's patients.
In fact, the researchers believe alpha-synclein producing gut bacteria not only regulate, but are actually required in order for Parkinson's symptoms to occur.