Gut Check: Separating Fact From Fiction in Microbiome Mania

Welcome back to the Daily Dumbbell, where we did not almost fight Grandma in a parking lot after misreading a text. But rest assured if it ever comes to that, we’re leaving with the belt.

We have a significant weight & reach advantage as well as not having osteoporosis.

Today we’re talking about the gut microbiome!

Let’s dive in!

Feature:
Gut Check: Separating Fact From Fiction

From trendy diets to probiotic supplements, the buzz around gut health seems to be everywhere. it's vital to cut through the noise, side-step the hype, and discern between gut gurus and gut gimmicks.

The gut microbiota, a bustling metropolis of microorganisms, teeming within our digestive tract, is garnering increasing spotlight in the health world. Its undeniable influence extends from digestion and nutrient absorption to immune functions and even our mental health.

Yet, in terms of our understanding, it's almost as mysterious as the Quantum Realm.

There's an army of dedicated experts, working relentlessly to unravel the secrets of this microscopic universe. Yet, the journey has just begun, and there's much to uncover.

The starting line is behind us, but the finish line? That's still far ahead.

Fun Fact: It's this recognition of what we don't know that sets apart the true experts from the charlatans.

Fun Fact #2: We debated heavily over using Ant Man references or Magic School Bus references for this one. Ms. Frizzle seemed like the obvious choice, but we’re not interested in being responsible for children on this trip.

So strap into your magic(?) shrinking suit with us as we embark on a quest to explore the Gut Realm. We will:

• Navigate through the existing research,

• Highlight the promising areas of study, and

• Address the myths and misconceptions that abound.

What we Know

Through genome sequencing and a plethora of studies, we know without a doubt the gut microbiome plays a vital role in:

• Digestion

• Nutrient Absorption

• Immune System Health 

Weaker yet compelling evidence points to the gut microbiome's influence on:

• Mental Health

• Weight & Food Cravings

• Metabolism

Just as the quantum world is influenced by external forces, our dietary choices, stress levels, sleep patterns, and physical activity affect the diversity and composition of our gut microbiota.

It's like adjusting the dials of a quantum machine, every small change you make, leads to a much larger outcome. 

What's a "gut-friendly" menu, and what's not? Here's where the ground beneath us becomes a little less stable. We know for sure that diet diversity is key, especially gobbling up a rainbow of fruits and vegetables.

Our gut microbiome responds to the foods we eat and depending on the diversity of those choices, different bacteria will proliferate.

Each bacterium has a preferred dish, and without it, they can't survive.

“If you don’t use it, you lose it” turns out to be an apt expression for much of our digestive processes.

Just like cutting out dairy for too long can lead to lactose intolerance… at least temporarily. The diversity in our gut microbiome depends on the diversity of our diet.

So, what should you eat?

The truth is we don’t know that yet. But, likely, it mirrors what any health expert would suggest for overall wellness: a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, whole grains, lean meats, and fatty fish.

The surefire way to pick out charlatans in this space is to find who is making definitive claims about what to eat and what not to eat.

So what about what to avoid? Well, that’s where things get tricky.

Danger Zone

• Alcohol

• Antibiotics

You can think of a night of binge drinking and a course of antibiotics as a nuclear bomb for your gut flora. Drink responsibly and use antibiotics when you need them, but understand these are wreaking havoc on your gut.

Could be Bad

• Artificial Sugars

• Heavily Processed Foods

There’s preliminary evidence here for these. Although it would appear that artificial sugars just tend to alter the microbiome because different bacteria feed on the artificial sugar than would eat the regular sugar. Problem? Dunno.

The problem with processed foods is more likely what you’re not eating. The absence of nutrient dense foods is more likely to be causing problems than the presence of processed food.

What We Don’t Know

Remember when probiotics were all the rage? Kombucha, Kefir, Kim chi, other goofy bullshit that starts with a k? So do we. We also remember pre-biotics were supposed to be the next big thing. Turns out, a lot of the excitement might have been mostly hype. 

Apologies to Kimchi for the stray. We love you.

We have yet to fully grasp the vast interconnectedness of the gut with other systems in our body. We know the gut communicates with our immune system, brain, and even our metabolism.

But how it happens and which direction the communication is going, is a different story. Understanding these intricate connections is a frontier that researchers continue to explore.

Research Roundup

This study published in Nature Medicine in 2022
This study published in Cell in 2022

• The study found that people who were obese & people who had Type 2 Diabetes (respectively) had different gut bacteria than people who were not obese. 

• The researchers believe that these differences in gut bacteria may contribute to the development of obesity/Type 2 Diabetes

• But does the gut microbiome influence obesity? Or do the habits that lead to obesity influence the gut microbiome? It seems to pretty obviously be the latter, but that’s why we do science 🤷

This study published in Nature in 2018: 

• Found that the gut microbiome can communicate with the brain. 

• Gut bacteria produce short-chain fatty acids that can travel to the brain and affect brain function.

• Suggesting this communication between the gut microbiome and the brain may play a role in a variety of health conditions, including obesity, depression, and anxiety.

This study published in Cell in 2019

• Found that some gut bacteria produce compounds that provide resistance to pancreatic cancer.

• Most patients diagnosed with this type of pancreatic cancer die within 5 years. 19% make it 12 months. But a small subset (< 6%) live past 10 years.

• By comparing the microbiome of long term survivors against those who died early, they could compare the diversity of the microbiome and find patterns.

• They were able to identify a specific “microbiota tumoral signature” that was predictive of long term survival.

• By implanting stool samples from long term survivors into mice with pancreatic cancer they were able to see slowed tumor growth and improved outcomes in the mice.

Takeaways

What we currently know is that this diversity in bacteria is the most important part of it all. As to what is good and what is bad? Our suggestion is to not worry about that right now.

Focus on eating healthy, exercising, and managing stress. Eat probiotic foods like yogurt & kimchi if you enjoy them but don’t stress too much about it.

 Quick Quackery:

Doctorate in Biotech indeed.

Truly one of the most intellectually lazy takes on the internet. The desire to post photos of skinny teens from the 60s or 70s compared to larger, typically obese people today baffles us. It’s also just mean.

These talking points however are completely asinine.

Sugar intake has hardly increased since 1970, steadily decreasing over the last 25 years. While obesity has continued to rise.

Sorry Keto Bros, those extra calories are almost entirely coming from fats.

Vegans are, on average, 5 points lower on the BMI scale. 23 to 28. 🤯 
A 5’7” Vegan is on average 145lbs compared to 185lbs for non vegans. 🤷‍♂️ 

Prescribed medications, vegetable oils, and herbicides are strange buzz words to throw in here. We’re just going to roll our eyes and skip over those as they don’t really have anything to do with the topic.

Acknowledging that broken clocks are in fact occasionally correct, he did include sedentary lifestyles & processed foods.

golf clap

This was going to be a medium dive into a different topic…

But when we checked to see if Simon was an actual Dr. or a Ph.D in an unrelated subject giving nutrition advice like all the other jabroni’s out there (ding ding ding), we noticed his pinned Tweet:

A lot to unpack. Was banned in 2021 for apparently no reason. Also, curiously lost his court case about it? Interesting adjective to use there 🤣 

We’re going to gloss over the first 14 Tweets about his rise to fame tweeting about how sunlight and Vitamin D were the secret cure for COVID, and skip to #15.

To preface: he lost his job with a university for the above antics. We have a sneaking suspicion it was more for being an incredibly annoying ass-hat. But it’s his story, we’ll let him tell it.

Ummmm… pause. Timeout.

Life in France was too expensive… so I was forced to buy 10ish acres of land in the jungle? That sounds brutal mate… were you ok?

I too hate to retreat to my jungle home in Brazil, sitting on 10 acres of tropical paradise when I’ve been cancelled through no fault of my own.

The remaining tweets are about how his Brazilian lawyer convinced him to spend money sue Twitter. He spent multiple tweets on how sure they both were that he’d win.

Shockingly they lost.

Anyway, just a reminder that when you see a stupid tweet, it might not be a one off. They might just be one of the dumbest, least self aware people on the planet. 🤷 

Thanks for reading today’s newsletter! We hope you have an amazing Thursday. The weekend is almost here but don’t forget to come back tomorrow for another spotlight on a pioneer in the health and wellness space.