When we think of ways to support our immune system, the most common factors that come to mind are usually supplements (vitamin D, vitamin C, zinc, natural vitamin A, essential fatty acid/EFAs in balance, etc.) and/or immune-boosting modalities like infrared sauna, ozone therapy, vitamin C IV’s and more. While each can play a pivotal role in improving our immune system response, we are failing to address the most critical factor to immunity: gut health.
I have been communicating the importance of gusut health to patients for 30+ years and am astounded that this information continues to evade the general public. As long as an individual has poor gut health, their immune system will be compromised, regardless of other immune-boosting efforts they may be pursuing.
This article seeks to explain which organs, enzymes, and bacteria comprise the gut, the role each of these plays, the powerful connection between poor gut health and a weak immune system, how poor gut health develops, and how we can restore gut health to support peak immune system performance.
What is the Gut?
Most patients assume “the gut” is simply a synonym for the stomach. This oversimplification of the gastrointestinal tract may help explain why so many patients have trouble understanding just how critical digestive health is to every other bodily function and particularly immunity.
However, once I begin to break down just how vast and complex the digestive tract is to my patients, their eyes widen and they begin to grasp the significance of this system. So let’s break it down and lay the foundation for the rest of this article.
The gut is comprised of the mouth, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, pancreas, liver, gallbladder, colon (large intestine), and rectum.
A Few Fun Facts About the Gut
● 90% of the body’s serotonin is produced in the gut.
(Banskota et al, 2018).
● 70-80% of immune cells in the body are housed in the digestive system (Jong et al, 2016).
● There are more than 100 million neurons in the gut
(Powley et al, 2019).
● The gut has its own nervous system: the enteric nervous system (Furness, 2012).
● The gut-brain connection is a two-way path. The brain doesn’t just send information to the gut. The gut is also sending information to the brain. AKA, trust your gut feelings (Powley et al, 2019).