In this interview, Rodney Dietert, Professor Emeritus of immunotoxicology at Cornell University, reviews the interrelationship between your immune system and your gut microbiome. He's spent several decades researching and teaching students about the immune system. As noted by Dietert, your gut microbiome is crucial not just for immune function, but also for your health status in general, as it affects nearly all other physiological systems. He first became aware of the importance of the gut when given the opportunity to write a research paper about which biomarker would be the best to predict the future health of a baby.
Ancestral MicrobiomesHe points out that "more than 99% of your genes are from microbes, not from your chromosomes." You have approximately 3.3 million microbial genes, mainly bacterial. Across the entire population of humans, there are just under 10 million different microbial genes, so you won't necessarily have all of them. You also have 22,000 to 25,000 chromosomal genes (these genes are what were analyzed through the Human Genome Project), which means you only have about 2,000 more chromosomal genes than an earthworm. As noted by Dietert, since we have about 3.3 million microbial genes, that means we're more than 99% microbial, genetically. This is why he concluded that the gut microbiome at birth would be the best predictor of future health. Granted, your microbiome can be altered through diet and environmental exposures, and that will impact and influence your health throughout your life. But initially, the infant microbiome is the best overall predictor of future health.
According to Dietert, there's really no single measure of any particular bacterial species that will give you a definitive answer to what your health will be like. Rather, the most important predictive aspect is the seeding process. If the baby goes through an ideal seeding process at birth, he or she stands a greater chance of experiencing good health. For example, elective cesarean and antibiotic regimens — both in the mother and the baby — are known to degrade the baby's microbiome. Since 2012, when he had that dream, he's been able to map out more specifics, but there's no single ideal microbiome per se. There are many different healthy microbiomes.
Compensatory PracticesPast dogma stated that the infant's immune system was complete at birth with little to no maturation or adjustment required in the infant. Now we realize that this is not true. The baby's immune development in utero is not uniform. It is skewed to protect maintenance of the pregnancy. This skewing then needs to be adjusted in the newborn/infant and the immune system must be expanded, redistributed, and rebalanced. The best way to do this is by ensuring that rebalancing the baby's microbiome is complete and that a healthy infant microbiome can drive necessary post-natal immune maturation. If microbially-driven, infant immune maturation does not happen, then immune dysfunction-driven disease is an increased likelihood for that child. Remember that 60% to 70% of your immune cells are located in your gut and these immune cells are in close proximity to your gut microbiome. So, gut microbiome status and immune status are intimately intertwined. As mentioned, having a C-section puts your newborn at serious risk for developing a less than optimal microbial population. However, in some cases, a C-section is necessary, and the good news is you can compensate for the loss of microbial seeding that would have occurred during vaginal birth. Gloria Dominguez Bello, Ph.D., at Rutgers University, who has pioneered much of this work, uses a vaginal swab technique where the microbes from the mother's vagina are manually transferred to the baby immediately after birth. You can learn more about this technique in "The Importance of Reducing Your Toxic Burden When Planning to Start a Family." "While it's not 100% equivalent, it is very good," Dietert says.
Aside from the vaginal tract, the baby also receives valuable microbes via skin-to-skin contact, including oral contact with breast tissue, as well as from the breast milk itself, which is why breastfeeding is so important and can impact your child's health well into the future. As mentioned above, environmental exposures from soil, food and animals also play a role. Epigenetic InteractionsYour microbiome (in additional to directly metabolizing your food, drugs and chemicals) also influences the epigenetic expression of your (chromosomal) genes. For example, Dietert cites the work of Curtis Klaassen, former president of the Society of Toxicology and an expert on liver metabolism, who years ago shifted focus to microbiome metabolism because, epigenetically, microbes influence liver metabolism.
How Your Gut Microbiome Impacts ImmunosenescenceHistorically, the thymus gland has been known to be really important for the development of the immune system, and in older individuals, the deterioration of the immune system is frequently related to thymic deterioration. The good news is this can to some extent be compensated for by improving your gut microbiome. Dietert explains:
One factor that plays a significant role in the destruction of your gut microbiome is the use of medications. According to Dietert, 25% to 50% of all drugs, including over-the-counter medications, damage your microbiome in predictable ways. Other drugs interact with the microbiome modifying drug treatment outcomes. We ignore these drug-microbiome interactions at our own peril.
So, the more microbe-damaging drugs you use, the greater the degradation of your microbiome will be over time. When combined with a poor diet, you end up with immunosenescence — the gradual deterioration of your immune system — but it's not a given just because you get old if you protect and support your microbiome and immune system across the life span.
Avoid Unnecessary Antibiotic ExposureOne simple strategy that will protect your microbiome is to avoid antibiotics. While they may be necessary to combat an active infection, the vast majority of antibiotics you're exposed to come from food. Animals raised in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) are routinely fed antibiotics that you then ingest when you eat that animal. That's one of the reasons why I strongly support and recommend eating organic, as organically raised animals are not allowed to be given antibiotics unless the animal is actually ill. CAFO animals are also more prone to carry antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The COVID-19 pandemic has also increased the use of antibacterial products. People think they're killing harmful germs but, in reality, they're just killing their immune system. As explained by Dietert:
Colonization ResistanceAs explained by Dietert, you carry coronaviruses in your airways. Most have some coronavirus in the airway, but it won't cause illness as long as you have a healthy airway microbiome. A healthy airway microbiome is supported and promoted by things like physical exercise and spending time outdoors where sun exposure will optimize your vitamin D level.
As just one example of how healthy bacteria can prevent infection, Lactobacillus acidophilus has been shown to block salmonella infection and spread in chickens. In the early 1990s, this type of intervention actually ended up saving the poultry industry that was having a massive salmonella problem, yet you never hear about that.
It's really a classic example of competitive inhibition, and it works the same way in the human body. According to Dietert, as few as 15 beneficial bacteria are able to create a metabolic environment in the gut that keeps the salmonella bacterium in check, thereby preventing it from multiplying out of control and causing disease. So, with a robust diversity of beneficial bacteria in your gut, you're effectively able to block infection from occurring even though you may be exposed to dangerous pathogens. Keep in mind that the composition of your microbiome will also play a significant role in how well you can handle dietary "cheating" or the occasional junk food indulgence. As noted by Dietert:
From Gut to BrainOne way by which beneficial bacteria protect your health is through the production of butyrate and mucin, the mucous layer that protects the intestine. Gut microbes also make neuroactive peptides and neurotransmitters. There's a whole field that's been developed called psychobiotics that focus on using bacteria for neurological and mental health. Certain bacterial species and strains will produce serotonin, for example. Others produce dopamine. Some produce GABA or acetylcholine. While most of the neurotransmitters produced in the gut cannot penetrate the blood-brain barrier, and therefore will not increase levels in the brain directly, they still have an indirect and measurable effect, Dietert says. The vagus nerve is one path through which the gut microbes influence brain chemistry and physiology. How to Address Leaky GutLeaky gut is now recognized by most conventional physicians as a condition that contributes to other pathologies and chronic diseases. One important strategy to address leaky gut is to optimize your vitamin D, as it helps regulate your innate immune system and increases your body's ability to repair epithelial cell damage and gaps in the intestinal barrier. Dietert also recommends supplementing with keystone species bacteria such as the genus Akkermansia, which is involved with mucin regulation. There are only a couple of bacteria that do that. He stresses that while vitamin D is important for gut repair, you also need bacteria to help maintain the mucin layer, as this is what keeps inflammatory bacteria and particles from seeping through the intestinal barrier. Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) or potassium bicarbonate can also be very helpful. I prefer potassium bicarb because most of us have excess sodium and not enough potassium. I personally take about a half a teaspoon of potassium bicarb three times a day. I use a urinary pH to monitor and adjust my dosage. Your urine pH should be about 7, which is neutral. This will also help prevent the leaching of minerals from your bone. Your Health Begins in Your GutIn closing, Dietert reminds and encourages us to "do things that support your whole body, do things that support your immune system, even as you're focused on a specific disease or a specific pathogen." The reason for doing this is because everything is connected.
from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2021/01/24/how-does-the-microbiome-affect-your-immune-system.aspx
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