Things To Know
What Is The Gut Microbiome
What is the gut microbiome?
Our gut microbiome is unique and is comprised of a complex community of microorganisms, including trillions of bacteria, quadrillions of viruses, fungi, parasites, and archaea, and is critical to our health and well-being 1–11.
Why is the gut microbiome important
The gut microbiome is critical to many processes within our body, including playing a role in the protection against pathogens, metabolism, production of essential vitamins, influencing gut-brain communications, and modulation of the immune system, to name a few 1,6,9.
What can damage the gut microbiome?
- Medications 12–16 such as antibiotics 4,17–20, proton pump inhibitors 21,22, metformin 3,22,23, SSRIs 22,24–26, and laxatives 22
- Diet, such as high sugar, low fibre diets 2,13,17,27–29
- Environmental toxins such as heavy metals and pesticides 12,16,30
- Smoking 4,20,31 and excessive use of alcohol 13,18
- Lack of regular physical activity 3,4
- Excessive and prolonged periods of stress 29,32,33
- Poor or insufficient amounts of sleep 12,34
References: 1. Choi, H. H. & Cho, Y.-S. 2016, 2. Chung, H.-J. et al. 2018, 3. Fan, Y. & Pedersen, O. 2021, 4. Gomaa, E. Z. 2020, 5. Hall, A. B. et al. 2017, 6. Hooper, L. V. et al. 2012, 7. Odamaki, T. et al. 2016, 8. Perez-Muñoz, M. E.et al. 2017, 9. Sommer, F. & Bäckhed, F. 2013, 10. The Human Microbiome Project Consortium. 2012, 11. Wilson, B. C.et al. 2019, 12. Lynch, S. V. & Pedersen, O. 2016, 13. Marchesi, J. R. et al. 2016, 14. Maurice, C.F. et al. 2013, 15. Petersen, C. & Round, J. L. 2014, 16. Tu, P. et al. 2020, 17. Jandhyala, S. M. 2015, , 18. Kriss, M. et al. 2018, 19. Sullivan, Å. et al. 2001, 20. Thursby, E. & Juge, N. 2017, 21. Imhann, F. et al. 2016, 22. Weersma, R. K. et al. 2020, 23. Forslund, K. et al. 2015, 24. Cussotto, S. et al. 2019, 25. Fung, T. C. et al. 2019, 26. McGovern, A. S. et al. 2019, 27. Cani, P. D. 2018, 28. David, L. A. et al. 2014, 29. Moloney, R. D. et al. 2014, 30. Tsiaoussis, J. et al. 2019, 31. Biedermann, L. et al. 2013, 32. Chen, X. et al. 2013, 33. Geng, S. et al. 2020, 34. Li, Y. et al. 2020
