5 Ways Good Digestive Health Prevents Sickness

1. An intact gut lining wards off sickness-causing agents

We often use the term gut health but what exactly defines “gut health?” After the ancient Greek physician, Hippocrates unveiled that “all disease begins in the gut,” the scientists started digging into the deep aspects of gut health. Today, the modern medicine has turned the pages by defining gut health as ‘a well-functioning gut barrier next to the GI microbiome and the gut microbiome health per se.’ By nature, the protective gut barrier is designed to only allow the passage of dietary nutrients into the blood while impeding the transit of bugs and toxins that can make you sick. A compromised gut barrier, on the other hand, not only gives rise to several infectious, inflammatory and functional GI disorders like IBS, but ailments outside the gut such as mental, cardiovascular, and metabolic disorders can also ensue.

2. Gut Microbiome crosstalks with other body systems

As mentioned above, gut health has to do a lot with the health of the microbes inhabiting it. It is thus of utmost importance that the gut microbes should be friendly and welcoming. These bacteria serve as a conduit through which the gut can communicate with other organs such as the brain, skin, and bones. Anything wrong with the gut or the bacteria that home it can cause a negative impact on other body systems too. Your gut and other systems can be kept in their optimal shape with the help of a well-rounded, balanced diet and probiotics/prebiotics.

3. Adequate digestion facilitates the absorption of dietary nutrients

Proper digestion allows the basic nutrients in food to feed the whole body, thus energizing you all together. Energy rolls up from the food that goes into your digestive tract. Despite consuming a well-balanced diet, if the nutrients in food aren’t able to find their way into your bloodstream due to poor digestion and absorption, you’ll feel fatigued, lose weight, and develop a host of nutrient deficiency symptoms. On the contrary, a healthy digestive system (that can be achieved by using good-quality digestive enzymes) kick starts your immune system and prevents sickness.

4. A healthy Immune system in a healthy gut keeps bad bugs at bay

Your gut is the bedrock of your immune system. This is because a vast proportion of your immune system (around 60% to 70%) resides in your gut and this system can work at its best only if your gut health is up to par. An effectively working immune system can stave off any offenders ingested with the food and prevent illness. A healthy diet and live, friendly bacterial strains (probiotics) can balance out both the gut and immune systems.

5. Good Digestive health can help you lose weight

Obesity is the root cause of various illnesses, primarily heart disease. As mentioned in the previous posts, an optimal gut and its microbiome health may have a positive influence on the number of calories burned, keep your body weight in check, and prevent heart disease. In contrast, an out-of-balance gut microbiome with more hostile but less friendly bugs can make you gain more calories and weight, which in turn, makes you prone to heart disease.