One of the most frequent topics I dig into with clients is digestion. In fact, I talk about it so much my kids don’t even find poop funny anymore.😜 What most people are surprised to learn is that digestion might be a root cause for you, without having overt GI symptoms - maybe you have health issues that you never even realized could be tied to your digestive health ✨
In this series, I will dig into how critical systems can become dysfunctional because of gut health and what you can try in order to support gut health.💥 Remember, gut health is highly individualized - so anyone trying to sell you on a list of foods or supplements is not giving you the whole picture - healing the gut is a healing journey like any other.
Just remember, digestion alone is not always the root cause.⚡️I often see clients desperately seeking answers through testing and treating gut health, while missing the larger-picture root cause work, such as lifestyle, trauma, mental health, movement, time outside, and so on.⚡️What’s more, each of these are bidirectional - meaning that sex, thyroid and adrenal health, can all impact gut health as well.
So what systems are most commonly affected by digestion?
- Sex Hormones
- Thyroid & Metabolism
- Adrenal health
- Skin
- Blood Sugar
- Immune health
- Brain health
Hormones are one major category that can be affected by digestion and each system a little differently.✨ Maybe you have hormone imbalances and never realized that it could be triggered or affected by your gut health. What’s more, most of these impacts are reciprocal — meaning that sex, thyroid, and adrenal hormones can also throw off digestion when they are out of balance.
⭐️ Here are some of the ways that digestion affects hormones:
1. Sex hormone imbalances:
⚡️A healthy digestive system (including liver and gallbladder) and microbiome balance is necessary for keeping hormones in balance, and for the elimination of both external toxins and internal byproducts of hormones. When metabolites and byproducts aren’t removed effectively they can cause hormone imbalances, such as estrogen dominance, PCOS, and endometriosis.⚡️What’s more, infection from certain bacteria (ie, H. Pylori), or inflammation in the gut lining, can affect hormone balance for women, and decrease sperm health and motility for men.⚡️Lastly, we need excellent gut health in order to absorb the nutrients that are critical for making sex hormones, such as B vitamins, including choline, vitamin E, A, and more.
2. Thyroid imbalances:
⚡️Approximately 20% of thyroid hormone conversion takes place in the gut — which means if your gut is not happy, you could be experiencing thyroid symptoms simply from a lack of active thyroid hormone.⚡️Increased intestinal permeability, and/or intestinal inflammation can trigger an autoimmune thyroid response, such as Hashimotos or Graves. And, just like sex hormones, effective absorption of micronutrients and minerals in your gut (think B vitamins, selenium, and iron) is essential for the production of thyroid hormones and maintenance of thyroid health.⚡️And the problems can be reciprocal as thyroid health can impact gut function by slowing motility, contributing to bacterial overgrowth, impairing bile production, and decreasing stomach acid production.
3. Adrenal health:
⚡️Internal stress is one of the biggest burdens on our adrenal glands. This can come from any system that is off, including gut health. Issues such as increased intestinal permeability, infections, and bacterial endotoxins (such as LPS) can trigger a stress reaction, increasing the production of cortisol.⚡️Impaired gut health will lead to a decreased production of neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine, creating more work for the adrenal glands.⚡️And just like with sex hormones, it’s all reciprocal, meaning that increased cortisol can then continue to damage the gut lining, decrease absorption of nutrients, and keep your body in an overwhelmed state.
💥Remember these are just possible pathways — you are still the expert of your body🌿 and none of this information should be used to diagnose!
So, what else can be affected by digestion?
👏 Just about every system in the body is affected by digestion, but here are some ways that digestive dysfunction can affect your skin, immune system, blood sugar balance, and brain health:
1. Skin issues👃:
✨As you might imagine, the gut is intimately tied to skin health. When there is damage to your intestinal lining, gut bacteria and their byproducts can seep into the bloodstream, accumulate in the skin, and disrupt your skin's healthy balance.✨What’s more, having an imbalance of certain bacteria can help or hinder skin health by increasing histamine production, or cause heightened sensitivity reactions, leading to additional skin symptoms.✨Lastly, effective absorption of nutrients, such as Vitamin A, C, & E, and zinc, is critical for skin health.
2. Blood sugar🩸:
✨Impaired intestinal function can lead to decreased absorption of macro and micro nutrients leading to unstable blood sugars. ✨The impact of gut health on hormones (adrenal and thyroid in particular) as discussed in the previous post, can also alter blood sugar and insulin response. ✨Additionally, insulin is in part regulated by the bacteria, Lactobacillus reuteri, which is stored in the gut. When there is an imbalanced microbiome, a deficiency of this beneficial bacteria makes insulin production and response even worse.
3. Immune health🦠:
✨It’s estimated that 70% of the cells that make up your immune system are actually housed within your gut - we call this your GALT (gut associated lymphoid tissue). ✨A healthy gut microbiome and intestinal lining is essential for producing and maintaining immune cells and processes. ✨Secretory IgA (sIgA) is the main immunoglobulin (antibody) found in the gut’s mucous secretions and provides protection against potential pathogens and toxins. sIgA is the first line of defense against bacteria, food residues, yeast, parasites and viruses, and imbalances may provide the link between gut imbalances and systemic illness.
4. Brain Health🧠:
✨Many of you have probably heard that gut health can impact mental health. Gut bacteria are responsible for producing neurotransmitters such as dopamine, norepinephrine, acetylcholine, and GABA, which are critical for mood, anxiety, concentration, reward, and motivation. ✨It’s estimated that 90% of serotonin is manufactured in the digestive tract and not the brain. ✨What’s more, the human gut is lined with more than 100 million nerve cells - that’s more than in the spinal cord or in the peripheral nervous system.
Check out my next blog post on signs of a healthy digestive system and how you can support your gut. 🌟