Jan 23rd 2024
Feed Your Helpful Tummy Bugs!
You know that fresh fruits and vegetables are good for you, but when you feed yourself you’re also feeding trillions of guests. These “guests” are the bacteria (aka microbiota, or tummy bugs) that inhabit your intestines. And according to Justin Sonnenburg, PhD, Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at Stanford School of Medicine, diet is one of the most powerful impacts on gut microbiota, who feed on fiber-rich carbohydrates found in whole plant foods. Why would you want to treat your tummy bugs as honored guests? Because we have an age-old deal with these guys. We provide them with food and a warm place to live; they help us to digest and absorb food, to synthesize vitamins, to produce amino acids, to secrete mucus, to prevent constipation by increasing motility, to create food for intestinal cells, and, perhaps most importantly, to partner with our immune system (more than 2/3 of which is located in the intestines) by degrading toxins and competing with and killi…
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