Healthy Action Australia > Natural Weightloss
How The Bacteria in Your Gut is Linked to the Size
of Your Waistline
Written by Dr
Mercola What does the bacteria in your gut have to do with your waistline? A lot more than you might
think!
Multiple studies have shown
that obese people have different intestinal bacteria than slim people, and regardless of weight most people do not
have the optimal balance of good and bad bacteria in their intestines. This imbalance can wreak havoc on your
health in many ways, and yes, it may even contribute to overweight and/or difficulty in shedding excess
weight.
In the latest study, obese
people were able to reduce their abdominal fat by nearly 5 percent, and their subcutaneous fat by over 3 percent,
just be drinking a probiotic-rich fermented milk beverage for 12 weeks.
Given that the control group
experienced no significant fat reductions at all during the study period, this is one more gold star for
probiotics.
Why is Your Gut Bacteria so
Important? Your body contains about 100 trillion bacteria -- more than 10 TIMES the
number of cells you have in your entire body. Ideally, the ratio between the bacteria in your gut is 85 percent
"good" and 15 percent "bad."
Ensuring that you're getting a
regular supply of good bacteria in your digestive system is so important because an estimated 80 percent of your
immune system is located there. So supporting your digestive health is essential to also supporting your immune
system, which is your number one defense system against ALL disease.
A healthy ratio of good to bad
gut bacteria is also essential for:
•Proper development and
function of your immune system
•Protection against over-growth of other microorganisms that could cause disease
•Digestion of food and absorption of nutrients
The probiotics in your gut also play a role in helping numerous bodily functions, such as:
•Digesting and absorbing
certain carbohydrates
•Producing vitamins, absorbing minerals and eliminating toxins
•Keeping bad bacteria under control
•Preventing allergies
If you have an excess of unhealthy bacteria in your gut, it can manifest in many ways, such as gas and bloating,
fatigue, sugar cravings, nausea, headaches, constipation or diarrhea. You may also find that, despite a healthy diet and exercise, you have difficulty shedding
weight.
Healthy Gut Bacteria Can Help You Lose
Weight Certain bacteria may cause low-grade inflammation in your body, contributing to
obesity and difficulty in losing weight.
One such study found that the
bifidobacteria counts taken from infants at the age of 6 months and 12 months were twice as high in healthy weight
children as in those who became overweight, while S. Aureus levels were lower. (Interestingly, this finding may
explain why breast-fed babies are at a lower risk of obesity, as bifidobacteria flourish in the guts of breast-fed
babies.)
Two other studies found that
obese people had about 20 percent more of a family of bacteria known as firmicutes, and almost 90 percent less of a
bacteria called bacteroidetes than lean people.
Firmicutes help your body to
extract calories from complex sugars and deposit those calories in fat.
When these microbes were
transplanted into normal-weight mice, those mice started to gain twice as much fat. So this is one explanation for
how the microflora in your gut may play a key role in weight management.
Probiotics have also been
found to benefit metabolic syndrome, which often goes hand-in-hand with obesity. This makes sense since both are
caused by a diet high in sugars and unhealthy fats, which leads to insulin resistance, fuels the growth of
unhealthy bacteria, and packs on excess weight.
Interestingly, probiotics even
appear beneficial in helping women lose weight after childbirth when taken from the first trimester through
breastfeeding.
What Interferes With Healthy Gut
Bacteria? Your gut bacteria do not live in a bubble; instead, they are an active and
integrated part of your body, and as such are vulnerable to your lifestyle. If you eat a lot of processed foods,
for instance, your gut bacteria are going to be compromised because processed foods in general will destroy healthy
microflora and feed bad bacteria and yeast.
Your gut bacteria is also very
sensitive to:
•Antibiotics
•Chlorinated water
•Antibacterial soap
•Agricultural chemicals
•Pollution
Because of these latter items, to which virtually all of us are exposed at least occasionally, it's generally a
good idea to "reseed" the good bacteria in your gut by taking a high-quality probiotic supplement or eating
fermented foods.
Tips for Optimizing Your Gut Bacteria In
the past, people used fermented foods like yogurt and sauerkraut to support their digestive health, as these foods
are rich in naturally beneficial bacteria.
This is still the best route
to optimal digestive health, as long as you eat the traditionally made, unpasteurized
versions.
Other healthy choices
include:
•Lassi (an Indian yoghurt
drink, traditionally enjoyed before dinner)
•Fermented milk, such as kefir
•Various pickled fermentations of cabbage, turnips, eggplant, cucumbers, onions, squash and carrots
•Natto (fermented soy)
If you regularly eat fermented foods such as these that, again, have not been pasteurized (pasteurization kills the
naturally occurring probiotics), your healthy gut bacteria will thrive.
If these foods do not make a
regular appearance in your diet, or you've recently taken antibiotics, a high-quality probiotic supplement will
help give your gut bacteria the healthy boost it needs.
Although I'm not a major
proponent of taking many supplements (as I believe the majority of your nutrients need to come from food),
probiotics are definitely an exception.
I have used many different
brands over the past 15 years and there are many good ones out there. I also spent a long time researching and
developing my own, called Complete Probiotics, in which I incorporated everything I have learned about this
important tool over the years.
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