We now know the gut is the cornerstone of health and inflammation in the body. The first theory to explain the link between the gut and inflammation, which underlies all the chronic diseases we suffer from, was put forward in 1907, when Elie Metchnikoff proposed that tissue destruction (disease) and senescence (ageing) throughout the body were consequences of chronic systemic inflammation, which occurred as a result of increased permeability in the colon and the escape of bacteria and their products into the blood. He believed that these bacterial products activated our immune response (macrophages) and that the resulting inflammatory response caused deterioration of surrounding tissues and that this macrophage “intoxification” had systemic effects and led to deterioration of even distant tissues. And he was right.
Over 100 years later a new health paradigm emerging from the research is that there is a common pathway from wellbeing and health to chronic disease (“chronopathy”) and even to death, which comprises following steps: 1) unhealthy diet, sedentary and stressed life style and exposure to toxic chemicals;→2) intestinal dysbiosis;→3) alteration of the intestinal mucus layer (especially that of the colon);→4) poisons and bacteria getting into the blood;→6) inflammation;→7) dysfunction of the gut and all the systems that it links into;→8) changes in our gene expression , epigenetics;→9) “chronopathy” and premature death.[1]
Therefore, in order to maintain a good health or to improve or even reverse chronic diseases in a person, the main action is to improve the gut, the intestinal microbiota (eubiosis), most of which is located in the colon. We rely totally on our gut microbiome for our health and they play a pivotal role of intestinal microbiota in human health, disease and, in general, in its wellbeing.[2]
The main implication of this theory is that we should become a sort of gut microbiota farmers, that is, we ought to be more conscious of our intestinal microbiota, take care of it and monitor it permanently. Thus, as part of our good life habits (healthy eating, physical exercise), we need to find out what we can do to improve our gut health.
[1] Gonzalez-Correa et al., 2017
[2] Ibid, 2017.
Dr Dingle’s WA. Gut Helalng Tour
Perth May 9
http://tix.yt/gutsecrets-perth
Bunbury May 29
http://tix.yt/guthealingbunbury29-5
Busselton May 31
http://tix.yt/guthealingbusselton31-5
Albany June 6
