DOCTORS ARE TRAINED TO IDENTIFY DISEASES by where they are located. If you have asthma,
it’s considered a lung problem; if you have rheumatoid arthritis, it
must be a joint problem; if you have acne, doctors see it as a skin
problem; if you are overweight, you must have a metabolism problem; if
you have allergies, immune imbalance is blamed. Doctors who understand
health this way are both right and wrong. Sometimes the causes of your
symptoms do have some relationship to their location, but that’s far
from the whole story.
As we come to understand disease in the 21st century, our old ways of defining illness based on symptoms is not very useful.
Instead, by understanding the origins of disease and the way in which
the body operates as one, whole, integrated ecosystem, we now know that
symptoms appearing in one area of the body may be caused by imbalances
in an entirely different system.
If your skin is bad or you have allergies, can’t seem to lose weight,
suffer from an autoimmune disease or allergies, struggle with
fibromyalgia, or have recurring headaches, the real reason may be that your gut is unhealthy. This may be true even if you have NEVER had any digestive complaints.
There are many other possible imbalances in your body’s operating
system that may drive illness, as well. These include problems with
hormones, immune function, detoxification,
energy production, and more. But for now, let’s take a deeper look at
the gut and why it may be at the root of your chronic symptoms.
Symptoms Throughout the Body Are Resolved By Treating the Gut
Many today do have digestive problems including reflux or
heartburn, irritable bowel, bloating, constipation, diarrhea, and
colitis. In fact, belly problems account for over 200 million doctor’s
visits and billions in health care costs annually. But gut problems
cause disease far beyond the gut. In medical school, I learned that
patients with colitis could also have inflamed joints and eyes and that
patients with liver failure could be cured of delirium by taking
antibiotics that killed the toxin-producing bacteria in their gut. Could
it be that when things are not quite right down below, it affects the
health of our entire body and many diseases we haven’t linked before to
imbalances in the digestive system?
The answer is a resounding yes. Normalizing gut function is one of
the most important things I do for patients, and it’s so simple. The
“side effects” of treating the gut are quite extraordinary. My patients
find relief from allergies, acne, arthritis, headaches, autoimmune
disease, depression,
attention deficit, and more—often after years or decades of suffering.
Here are a few examples of the results I have achieved by addressing
imbalances in the function and flora of the gut:
normalize gut function and flora through improved diet, increased fiber
intake, daily probiotic supplementation, enzyme therapy, the use of
nutrients that repair the gut lining, and the direct treatment of bad
bugs in the gut with herbs or medication.
A number of recent studies have made all these seemingly strange reversals in symptoms understandable. Let’s review them.
Research Linking Gut Flora and Inflammation To Chronic Illness
Scientists compared gut flora or bacteria from children in Florence,
Italy who ate a diet high in meat, fat, and sugar to children from a
West African village in Burkina Faso who ate beans, whole grains,
vegetables, and nuts.(i)
The bugs in the guts of the African children were healthier, more
diverse, better at regulating inflammation and infection, and better at
extracting energy from fiber. The bugs in the guts of the Italian
children produced by-products that create inflammation, promote allergy,
asthma, autoimmunity, and lead to obesity.
Why is this important?
In the West, our increased use of vaccinations and antibiotics and
enhancements in hygiene have lead to health improvements for many. Yet
these same factors have dramatically changed the ecosystem of bugs in
our gut, and this has a broad impact on health that is still largely
unrecognized.
There are trillions of bacteria in your gut, and they collectively
contain at least 100 times as many genes as you do. The bacterial DNA in
your gut outnumbers your own DNA by a very large margin. This bacterial
DNA controls immune function, regulates digestion and intestinal
function, protects against infections, and even produces vitamins and
nutrients.
for you to great effect. For example, some good bacteria produce short
chain fatty acids. These healthy fats reduce inflammation and modulate
your immune system. Bad bugs, on the other hand, produce fats that
promote allergy and asthma, eczema, and inflammation throughout your
body.(ii)
Another recent study found that the bacterial fingerprint of gut
flora of autistic children differs dramatically from healthy children.(iii)
Simply by looking at the by-products of their intestinal bacteria
(which are excreted in the urine—a test I do regularly in my practice
called organic acids testing), researchers could distinguish between
autistic and normal children.
Think about this: problems with gut flora are linked to autism.
Can bacteria in the gut actually affect the brain? They can. Toxins,
metabolic by-products, and inflammatory molecules produced by these
unfriendly bacteria can all adversely impact the brain. I explore the
links between gut function and brain function in much greater detail in
my book, The UltraMind Solution.
Autoimmune diseases are also linked to changes in gut flora. A recent
study showed that children who use antibiotics for acne may alter
normal flora, and this, in turn, can trigger changes that lead to
autoimmune disease such as inflammatory bowel disease or colitis.(iv)
The connections between gut flora and system-wide health don’t stop there. A recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine
found that you could cure or prevent delirium and brain fog in patients
with liver failure by giving them an antibiotic called Xifaxan to clear
out bugs that produce toxins their poor livers couldn’t detoxify.(v)
Toxins from bacteria were making them insane and foggy. Remove the
bacteria that produce the toxins, and their symptoms clear up
practically overnight.
Other similar studies have found that clearing out overgrowth of bad
bugs with a non-absorbed antibiotic can be an effective treatment for
restless leg syndrome(vi) and fibromyalgia.(vii)
Even obesity
has been linked to changes in our gut ecosystem that are the result of a
high-fat, processed, inflammatory diet. Bad bugs produce toxins called
lipopolysaccardies (LPS) that trigger inflammation and insulin
resistance or pre-diabetes and thus promote weight gain.(viii)
It seems remarkable, but the little critters living inside of you
have been linked to everything from autism to obesity, from allergy to
autoimmunity, from fibromyalgia to restless leg syndrome, from delirium
to eczema to asthma. In fact, the links between chronic illness and gut
bacteria keep growing every day.
So what can you do to keep your gut flora balanced and your gut healthy, and thus overcome or avoid these health problems?
Five Steps to a Healthy Gut (and a Healthy Body)
Follow these five simple steps to begin re-balancing your gut flora:
symptoms, you might want to consider what is living inside your gut.
Tending to the garden within can be the answer to many seemingly
unrelated health problems.
Please leave your thoughts by adding a comment below—but remember, we
can’t offer personal medical advice online, so be sure to limit your
comments to those about taking back our health!
To your good health,
Mark Hyman, MD
References
(i) De Filippo, C., Cavalieri, D., Di Paola, M., et al. 2010. Impact
of diet in shaping gut microbiota revealed by a comparative study in
children from Europe and rural Africa. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 107(33): 14691–6
(ii) Sandin, A., Bråbäck, L., Norin, E., and B. Björkstén. 2009.
Faecal short chain fatty acid pattern and allergy in early childhood. Acta Paediatr. 98(5): 823–7.
(iii) Yap, I.K., Angley, M., Veselkov, K.A., et al. 2010. Urinary
metabolic phenotyping differentiates children with autism from their
unaffected siblings and age-matched controls. J Proteome Res. 9(6): 2996–3004.
(iv) Margolis, D.J., Fanelli, M., Hoffstad, O., and J.D. Lewis. 2010.
Potential association between the oral tetracycline class of
antimicrobials used to treat acne and inflammatory bowel disease. Am J Gastroenterol. Aug 10 epub in advance of publication.
(v) Bass, N.M., Mullen, K.D., Sanyal, A., et al. 2010. Rifaximin treatment in hepatic encephalopathy. N Engl J Med. 362(12): 1071–81.
(vi) Weinstock, L.B., Fern, S.E., and S.P. Duntley. 2008. Restless
legs syndrome in patients with irritable bowel syndrome: response to
small intestinal bacterial overgrowth therapy. Dig Dis Sci. 53(5): 1252–6.
(vii) Pimentel, M., Wallace, D., Hallegua, D., et al. 2004. A link
between irritable bowel syndrome and fibromyalgia may be related to
findings on lactulose breath testing. Ann Rheum Dis. 63(4): 450–2.
(viii) Cani, P.D., Amar, J., Iglesias, M.A., et al. 2007. Metabolic endotoxemia initiates obesity and insulin resistance. Diabetes. 56(7): 1761–72.
it’s considered a lung problem; if you have rheumatoid arthritis, it
must be a joint problem; if you have acne, doctors see it as a skin
problem; if you are overweight, you must have a metabolism problem; if
you have allergies, immune imbalance is blamed. Doctors who understand
health this way are both right and wrong. Sometimes the causes of your
symptoms do have some relationship to their location, but that’s far
from the whole story.
As we come to understand disease in the 21st century, our old ways of defining illness based on symptoms is not very useful.
Instead, by understanding the origins of disease and the way in which
the body operates as one, whole, integrated ecosystem, we now know that
symptoms appearing in one area of the body may be caused by imbalances
in an entirely different system.
If your skin is bad or you have allergies, can’t seem to lose weight,
suffer from an autoimmune disease or allergies, struggle with
fibromyalgia, or have recurring headaches, the real reason may be that your gut is unhealthy. This may be true even if you have NEVER had any digestive complaints.
There are many other possible imbalances in your body’s operating
system that may drive illness, as well. These include problems with
hormones, immune function, detoxification,
energy production, and more. But for now, let’s take a deeper look at
the gut and why it may be at the root of your chronic symptoms.
Symptoms Throughout the Body Are Resolved By Treating the Gut
Many today do have digestive problems including reflux or
heartburn, irritable bowel, bloating, constipation, diarrhea, and
colitis. In fact, belly problems account for over 200 million doctor’s
visits and billions in health care costs annually. But gut problems
cause disease far beyond the gut. In medical school, I learned that
patients with colitis could also have inflamed joints and eyes and that
patients with liver failure could be cured of delirium by taking
antibiotics that killed the toxin-producing bacteria in their gut. Could
it be that when things are not quite right down below, it affects the
health of our entire body and many diseases we haven’t linked before to
imbalances in the digestive system?
The answer is a resounding yes. Normalizing gut function is one of
the most important things I do for patients, and it’s so simple. The
“side effects” of treating the gut are quite extraordinary. My patients
find relief from allergies, acne, arthritis, headaches, autoimmune
disease, depression,
attention deficit, and more—often after years or decades of suffering.
Here are a few examples of the results I have achieved by addressing
imbalances in the function and flora of the gut:
- A 58-year-old woman with many years of worsening allergies, asthma,
and sinusitis who was on frequent antibiotics and didn’t respond to any
of the usual therapies was cured by eliminating a worm she harbored in
her gut called Strongyloides. - A 52-year-old woman who suffered with daily headaches and frequent
migraines for years, found relief by clearing out the overgrowth of bad
bugs in her small intestine with a new non-absorbed antibiotic called
Xifaxin. - A six-year-old girl with severe behavioral problems including
violence, disruptive behavior in school, and depression was treated for
bacterial yeast overgrowth, and in less than 10 days, her behavioral
issues and depression were resolved. - A three-year-old boy with autism started talking after treating a parasite called Giardia in his gut.
normalize gut function and flora through improved diet, increased fiber
intake, daily probiotic supplementation, enzyme therapy, the use of
nutrients that repair the gut lining, and the direct treatment of bad
bugs in the gut with herbs or medication.
A number of recent studies have made all these seemingly strange reversals in symptoms understandable. Let’s review them.
Research Linking Gut Flora and Inflammation To Chronic Illness
Scientists compared gut flora or bacteria from children in Florence,
Italy who ate a diet high in meat, fat, and sugar to children from a
West African village in Burkina Faso who ate beans, whole grains,
vegetables, and nuts.(i)
The bugs in the guts of the African children were healthier, more
diverse, better at regulating inflammation and infection, and better at
extracting energy from fiber. The bugs in the guts of the Italian
children produced by-products that create inflammation, promote allergy,
asthma, autoimmunity, and lead to obesity.
Why is this important?
In the West, our increased use of vaccinations and antibiotics and
enhancements in hygiene have lead to health improvements for many. Yet
these same factors have dramatically changed the ecosystem of bugs in
our gut, and this has a broad impact on health that is still largely
unrecognized.
There are trillions of bacteria in your gut, and they collectively
contain at least 100 times as many genes as you do. The bacterial DNA in
your gut outnumbers your own DNA by a very large margin. This bacterial
DNA controls immune function, regulates digestion and intestinal
function, protects against infections, and even produces vitamins and
nutrients.
Can bacteria in the gut actually affect the brain? TheyWhen the balance of bacteria in your gut is optimal, this DNA works
can. Toxins, metabolic by-products, and inflammatory molecules produced
by these unfriendly bacteria can all adversely impact the brain.
for you to great effect. For example, some good bacteria produce short
chain fatty acids. These healthy fats reduce inflammation and modulate
your immune system. Bad bugs, on the other hand, produce fats that
promote allergy and asthma, eczema, and inflammation throughout your
body.(ii)
Another recent study found that the bacterial fingerprint of gut
flora of autistic children differs dramatically from healthy children.(iii)
Simply by looking at the by-products of their intestinal bacteria
(which are excreted in the urine—a test I do regularly in my practice
called organic acids testing), researchers could distinguish between
autistic and normal children.
Think about this: problems with gut flora are linked to autism.
Can bacteria in the gut actually affect the brain? They can. Toxins,
metabolic by-products, and inflammatory molecules produced by these
unfriendly bacteria can all adversely impact the brain. I explore the
links between gut function and brain function in much greater detail in
my book, The UltraMind Solution.
Autoimmune diseases are also linked to changes in gut flora. A recent
study showed that children who use antibiotics for acne may alter
normal flora, and this, in turn, can trigger changes that lead to
autoimmune disease such as inflammatory bowel disease or colitis.(iv)
The connections between gut flora and system-wide health don’t stop there. A recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine
found that you could cure or prevent delirium and brain fog in patients
with liver failure by giving them an antibiotic called Xifaxan to clear
out bugs that produce toxins their poor livers couldn’t detoxify.(v)
Toxins from bacteria were making them insane and foggy. Remove the
bacteria that produce the toxins, and their symptoms clear up
practically overnight.
Other similar studies have found that clearing out overgrowth of bad
bugs with a non-absorbed antibiotic can be an effective treatment for
restless leg syndrome(vi) and fibromyalgia.(vii)
Even obesity
has been linked to changes in our gut ecosystem that are the result of a
high-fat, processed, inflammatory diet. Bad bugs produce toxins called
lipopolysaccardies (LPS) that trigger inflammation and insulin
resistance or pre-diabetes and thus promote weight gain.(viii)
It seems remarkable, but the little critters living inside of you
have been linked to everything from autism to obesity, from allergy to
autoimmunity, from fibromyalgia to restless leg syndrome, from delirium
to eczema to asthma. In fact, the links between chronic illness and gut
bacteria keep growing every day.
So what can you do to keep your gut flora balanced and your gut healthy, and thus overcome or avoid these health problems?
Five Steps to a Healthy Gut (and a Healthy Body)
Follow these five simple steps to begin re-balancing your gut flora:
- Eat a fiber–rich, whole foods diet—it should be rich in beans, nuts, seeds, whole grains, fruits, and vegetables, all of which feed good bugs.
- Limit sugar, processed foods, animal fats, and animal protein—these provide food for unhealthy bugs.
- Avoid the use of antibiotics, acid blockers, and anti-inflammatories—they change gut flora for the worse.
- Take probiotics daily—these healthy, friendly flora can improve your digestive health and reduce inflammation and allergy.
- Consider specialized testing—such as organic acid
testing, stool testing (new tests can look at the DNA of the bacteria in
your gut), and others to help assess your gut function. You will likely
have to work with a functional medicine practitioner to effectively
test and treat imbalances in your gut.
symptoms, you might want to consider what is living inside your gut.
Tending to the garden within can be the answer to many seemingly
unrelated health problems.
Please leave your thoughts by adding a comment below—but remember, we
can’t offer personal medical advice online, so be sure to limit your
comments to those about taking back our health!
To your good health,
Mark Hyman, MD
References
(i) De Filippo, C., Cavalieri, D., Di Paola, M., et al. 2010. Impact
of diet in shaping gut microbiota revealed by a comparative study in
children from Europe and rural Africa. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 107(33): 14691–6
(ii) Sandin, A., Bråbäck, L., Norin, E., and B. Björkstén. 2009.
Faecal short chain fatty acid pattern and allergy in early childhood. Acta Paediatr. 98(5): 823–7.
(iii) Yap, I.K., Angley, M., Veselkov, K.A., et al. 2010. Urinary
metabolic phenotyping differentiates children with autism from their
unaffected siblings and age-matched controls. J Proteome Res. 9(6): 2996–3004.
(iv) Margolis, D.J., Fanelli, M., Hoffstad, O., and J.D. Lewis. 2010.
Potential association between the oral tetracycline class of
antimicrobials used to treat acne and inflammatory bowel disease. Am J Gastroenterol. Aug 10 epub in advance of publication.
(v) Bass, N.M., Mullen, K.D., Sanyal, A., et al. 2010. Rifaximin treatment in hepatic encephalopathy. N Engl J Med. 362(12): 1071–81.
(vi) Weinstock, L.B., Fern, S.E., and S.P. Duntley. 2008. Restless
legs syndrome in patients with irritable bowel syndrome: response to
small intestinal bacterial overgrowth therapy. Dig Dis Sci. 53(5): 1252–6.
(vii) Pimentel, M., Wallace, D., Hallegua, D., et al. 2004. A link
between irritable bowel syndrome and fibromyalgia may be related to
findings on lactulose breath testing. Ann Rheum Dis. 63(4): 450–2.
(viii) Cani, P.D., Amar, J., Iglesias, M.A., et al. 2007. Metabolic endotoxemia initiates obesity and insulin resistance. Diabetes. 56(7): 1761–72.
About Mark Hyman, MD
Mark Hyman, MD, believes that we all deserve a life of vitality—andthat we have the potential to create it for ourselves. That’s why he is
dedicated to tackling the root causes of chronic disease by harnessing
the power of Functional Medicine to transform healthcare. He is
a practicing family physician, an nine-time #1 New York Times
bestselling author, and an internationally recognized leader, speaker,
educator, and advocate in his field. He is the Director of the Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine. He is also the founder and medical director of The UltraWellness Center, chairman of the board of the Institute for Functional Medicine, a medical editor of The Huffington Post,
and has been a regular medical contributor on many television shows
including CBS This Morning, the Today Show, CNN, The View, the Katie
Couric show and The Dr. Oz Show.
