How your gut microbiome defends against Covid-19 and is crucial to your immune system, and how to keep it in the best of health
- The billions of bacteria that live in our intestines are the front line of our immune system
- The microbiome can be damaged by processed foods, weedkiller and antibiotics, but it can be fixed with diet, lifestyle and probiotics
It’s a part of our body that most of us rarely think about, but our gut microbiome is absolutely critical to our well-being. The billions of bacteria that live in our intestines help convert our food into energy, protect against pathogens, educate our immune system and affect, directly or indirectly, our entire health.
In fact, 70 per cent of our immune system is in or around the gut, according to South African celebrity doctor Frank Lipman, bestselling author of six books, How To Be Well, The New Health Rules, 10 Reasons You Feel Old and Get Fat, Revive, Total Renewal and his latest, The New Rules of Aging Well.
“The gut is our internal barrier protecting us from the outside world, all these foreign particles that you eat and drink. That alone tells you how important the microbiome is for immunity,” Lipman says.
Not so long ago many people considered gut health a taboo subject, says Dr Ursula Levine, an Austrian-born medical doctor who works at medical spas including the Lanserhof at the Arts Club in London’s Mayfair.
Now that more people are suffering digestive issues or diseases linked to gut health, known as dysbiosis, the subject has taken on greater recognition. In Hong Kong today, about 40 per cent of the local population suffers from poor gut health.
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Additional reasons for the decline of gut health can be found on the surface of our agricultural produce, in the form of herbicides, insecticides, fungicides and harvest aids. Glyphosate, for example, the main ingredient in the controversial weedkiller Roundup, is the most commonly found chemical herbicide on the planet – and there is growing research to support that it causes cancer.
The chances are that some of the food you eat will contain this chemical, particularly if you live in the US, says Lipman. “Problems with our gut start when the lining, which is very thin, gets damaged, often by chemicals found in or on foods,” he says. “That is when you get a leaky gut, and metabolites from the bacteria in your microbiome can leak into the bloodstream and cause an inflammatory immune system reaction.”
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Worryingly, he is noticing more young people suffering from autoimmune diseases, which he believes can be traced back to too many antibiotics prescribed in childhood or teenage years. A leaky gut can almost always be healed, he says, usually starting with prebiotics – compounds in food that induce the growth or activity of beneficial microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi; a detox programme; postbiotics (by-products of the fermentation of probiotics); and supplements including fish oil, omega 3 and fatty acids.
Looking after our gut is even more crucial during the coronavirus pandemic. A recent study by the Chinese University of Hong Kong found that imbalances in gut bacteria are linked to the severity of the disease. In the study, which collected blood, stool samples and patient records from 100 Covid-19 patients 30 days after being discharged from hospital, certain bacteria were under-represented compared with non-Covid-19 patients. The report suggested that the immune response was weaker in those with fewer bacteria.
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Lipman hopes that a silver lining of Covid-19 will be to make people realise the importance of a strong immune system to deal with novel viruses and other public health crises.
“There is a correlation between the health of the gut microbiome and how you’re going to deal with [Covid-19]. If people are generally unhealthy, the same thing will happen again, another year.”
How to replenish your gut
Lipman and Levine suggest the following ways to safeguard your digestive system.
Increase your intake of resistant starch, a carbohydrate that resists digestion in the small intestine and ferments in the large intestine to act as a prebiotic and feed the good bacteria in the gut. It is found in oats and in cooked, cooled potatoes and cooked, cooled rice.
Eat plants of lots of different colours but especially leafy greens, ideally 30 different varieties of fruit and vegetables a week. Blue or purple plants contain antioxidants, yellow or orange plants contain carotenoids/vitamin A.
Eat fermented foods such as sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir and sourdough bread to increase healthy gut flora.
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Non-organic fruit and vegetables often are treated with pesticides which can damage the gut’s lining, so where possible buy organic. You can also buy vegetable soaps to wash your produce before consuming.
