Understanding dysbiosis from a root cause perspective
Our gut microbiome houses trillions of different bacteria. Some of that bacterium is beneficial working in our favor and some is harmful working against us. A healthy microbiome will be heavily populated with a diverse number of beneficial bacteria. When the harmful bacteria proliferate, it takes over causing an imbalance within the microbiome, wreaking havoc on our overall health. Any kind of imbalance in the microbial ecosystem of the gut is called dysbiosis.
Dysbiotic bacteria can consist of bacterial overgrowth, parasites, fungi, and/or a lack of adequate beneficial flora. Dysbiosis can cause nagging and uncomfortable symptoms such as constipation, bloating and gas. The proliferation of harmful bacteria can be a direct consequence from antibiotic use, over consumption of alcohol and processed foods, especially processed carbs, and stress.
The “good” bacteria flourishes when you eat fiber from foods like vegetables and fruit. The “bad” bacteria thrive off of processed junk food and sugar. It’s a good idea to get in the habit of asking yourself which bacteria you are feeding before you eat! But what if you are eating a perfect diet, does this mean you will never have dysbiosis? The answer is yes, you still can contribute to the development of dysbiosis if your digestion is not optimally functioning. Changing your diet is a huge factor with dysbiosis, but why is it occurring in the first place? Something has caused the gastrointestinal tract to become so imbalanced to where it is now a suitable place for things like candida, parasites, and harmful bacteria to live.
Think about attempting to grow a bright green and healthy bed of grass in your front yard. But every time you throw out the trash you toss that bag in your yard and you don’t water it. The trash keeps piling up. This also blocks the sun from the grass. The trash will eventually mold, grow bacteria, and attract bugs leaving you left with a mess on your hands with no green grass. The way this trash and yard situation should work is, the trash should be placed on the curb and hauled away by the trash service. The grass should get optimal amounts of water and sunlight to prosper.
In order for our gut microbiome to flourish we must be able to digest food particles down to a molecular size for maximum absorption. In order for this to happen digestion must be working at full capacity from north to south. If our food doesn’t digest properly, it causes a number of problems with digestion and to the gut flora. In order to “take the trash out,” the three stages of digestion: cephalic, gastric, and intestinal phase, must be functioning properly and in order. Meaning, if the cephalic phase is compromised the gastric and intestinal phase will also be and so on.
The cephalic phase is all about the brain and nervous system. If you are eating while standing, watching tv, emotionally upset, rushing, driving, etc. your body will be in a sympathetic state, which is your flight or flight nervous system. That will shut digestion down and prime the body for an “emergency.” This will compromise the brain's attempt to give the organs involved in digestion such as the stomach, gallbladder, and pancreas a heads up on what kind of macronutrients you are eating so it can adjust accordingly. This can hinder the stomach acid, bile, and pancreatic enzyme production. Thinking back to the grass scenario, being in a sympathetic state is like the trash service not being notified to pick up the trash. If you aren’t in a parasympathetic state, which is the rest and digest nervous system, digestion will be compromised right from the beginning which will ultimately lead to dysbiosis, “trash in the yard.”
The quality and quantity of stomach acid and overall function of the stomach is paramount in the gastric phase and keeping dysbiosis at bay. Many, in fact most people don’t have enough stomach acid due to stress, not consuming enough protein, or water, vegan or vegetarian diet for a prolonged period of time, food sensitivities, excess alcohol consumption, a deficiency in zinc, vitamin B1 and B6, and the proliferation of helicobacter pylori. Not having sufficient stomach acid can be detrimental to digestion and contribute to dysbiosis. This happens because if we are lacking adequate stomach acid, we can’t convert pepsinogen into pepsin which means we can’t break down protein properly. This means parasites can slip through and set up shop within the gastrointestinal tract for years to come. Parasites ideally should be digested in the stomach before entering the more vulnerable areas of the small intestine. Not having the ability to digest protein is like the bugs from the trash in your yard infesting your house.
It is absolutely necessary that there’s enough stomach acid to bring the pH of the partially digested food between 1.5-3 before food passes along into the duodenum for the intestinal phase. The duodenum is the very first and smallest section of your small intestine which is connected to your stomach. These next steps in digestion are extremely important for digesting our food and it is dependent on the ideal pH in order for it to happen in the first place! This is where the gallbladder secretes bile for fat emulsification and the pancreas releases digestive enzymes that assist in breaking down fat, carbohydrates, and protein.
Not having enough or good quality bile can be problematic when it comes to dysbiosis. One reason is because bile plays a key role in the wave-like contractions that move food through the intestinal tract called peristalsis. This means that constipation can also be a result of inadequate bile meaning, “the trash is piling up in the yard.” Also, if fat emulsification doesn’t happen or the job is incompletely done, pancreatic lipases are going to have a difficult time digesting what’s left of the fat molecules causing the fat to go rancid within the gastrointestinal tract. Although our intestinal villi secrete specific enzymes that finalize digesting our food, the last big hurrah in digestion is the breakdown of food by pancreatic enzymes. It’s important that this is able to happen! Without pancreatic enzymes you're left with undigested food particles that will cause fats to go rancid, proteins to putrefy, and carbohydrates to ferment.
The small intestine is where 95% of our food is absorbed. Knowing this, we want to have it as clean and sterile as possible. In order to keep it “clean,” north to south digestion must be functioning properly to “clear trash from the yard so the grass can get sunlight and water.” If not, the dysfunction will keep contributing to dysbiosis and it will continue to occur and/or get worse. Restoring balance in the function of digestion along with diet and lifestyle changes is addressing the root cause of dysbiosis. This is contributing to “keeping the grass green and healthy in your yard.”