Gut Microbiome

AliEm14

I recently read a fascinating article on the gut microbiome and its contributions to the longevity of solid organ transplants.

I’m curious what you all do to help promote a healthy gut microbiome, or if you’ve even thought of this before? It’s definitely something I’m going to be more aware of now!

https://www.news-medical.net/news/20240709/Gut-microbiome-health-crucial-to-survival-after-solid-organ-transplants.aspx?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR1_ThBXLNgdb4L9K7ZpWr3Rj0wOz6elWTtOSY8-Psv0ra1A2f1kanQI6eA_aem_HH_eoZzLRhnwGeUfKsffCQ

dlatchison

Wow, thanks for sharing this! I hadn't actually considered this connection re: organ transplants. I feel like I hear about the relationship most often in regards to brain health / preventing cognitive decline. Very cool!

fern22

Okay… LOVE THIS. I’ve been trying to research this on a deeper level and determine how to get the healthy gut bacteria and microbiome back. I do take a digestive enzyme but I’d be interested to see more research on this and what they find can improve the gut microbiome. I highly suggest listening to the podcast ‘Body of Wonder’ - i get a lot of great info from there to then research further!

Nadgeo

I wonder if they looked at the drugs we take and their interaction with our gut biome. I find my stomach goes off like a bomb every 3 days no matter what I do. I stopped all the Septra anti-biotic, I don't eat any seed oils and eat all real food as much as possible so I am really only on Sirolimus and the prograf for the anti-rejection but it seems like a build up of bad bacteria then I get a strange burp then the stomach goes wild for 8 hours like clockwork. Tried probiotics, yogurt, kefir etc. and nothing helps. Has anyone found a solution that has worked for them???

Deb

This may be the answer to a problem I have. As soon as eat, anything no matter how small amount it is, I have to go. My husband laughs at me but what gets me is I don’t lose any weight!!! You’d think if I got rid of everything that fast I would. I did have an infection in my stomach right after surgery and took antibiotics for it but nothing since. I’m going to read more on this.

AliEm14

@Nadgeo thats another really great point. The drugs we take have to have an effect on our GI system. Especially when you look at the fact that literally every post transplant drug has GI stuff listed as a possible side effect.

i wonder if they did/are doing any studies on this in particular. It’s great to say do all these things to help promote gut health but I find that can end up in another situation where we as patients are taking on too much responsibility for something we actually can’t help.

Nadgeo

So all this talk about the build up of bad bacteria in our micro biome got me into my obsessive mode once again and I came up with this 8 days ago but it has been a game changer so far. So apple cider vinegar in with the mother has a ton of probiotic properties and also increases the acidity of the stomach. I had tried it earlier but always in water and I found it too difficult to take so never really gave it a try. So last week I made an effort and now put in with my protein shake in the AM first thing and PM before bed. The difference this last week has been astounding and not one night have I spent in restless turmoil with an upset stomach that is purging itself. This is my shake so try it yourself and see if it helps any of you. So 1 cup orange juice, with 1 Scoop Whey Protein, 1 Tbls Metamucil, 1 Tbls Coconut OIl (C8 and C10) from Costco, 1 Tbls Apple Cider Vinegar, 2 Scoops of Collagen but the only 2 additions are the ACV and the Metamucil. I also take a daily probiotic, eat 1 or 2 yogurts a day but I always did this and always had issues and never a solid stool. Like I said for me it has been night and day and a real game changer. I don't eat any seed or canola oils as much as possible (very hard to do these days). I try to minimize any processed foods in my diet and eat a lot of red meat, chicken and whole eggs. Do not believe anything they tell you about not eating saturated fats. Whole fats are good for you full stop. The food guide is upside down turn it the other way and that is how you should eat. Anyhow off topic but I have been into nutrition at an extremely high athletic level for 40 years and most Doctors have it all wrong.

Again I am a double lung, heart and new kidney survivor and my blood work is always bang on eating this way. Wish you all the best! Hope this helps somebody as it has helped me.

AliEm14

@Nadgeo I'm glad you found something thats worked for you! It can be so difficult to figure these things out, especially taking into account that every body is different and while doctors are incredibly knowledgeable in some areas I also don't think there's a doctor alive who knows everything about all the things.

I know for me personally a lot of "healthy eating philosophies" or even things you described just don't work for me. My body is unique and what people can say is how you "should" be eating or what healthy eating really means would send me straight to the hospital.

Nutrition in and of itself is such a loaded topic, and there are so many ways of doing things and I think at the end of the day its so important that we find what works for our individual bodies. It sounds like you found something that has helped you thrive and I'm so happy for you. Congratulations on your amazing successes in life after transplant!

Blessed123

I used to be really interested in this subject (years before my kidney transplant). Like super focused. It was nothing for me to spend 3-5 hours per evening, for months on end, reading research and asking questions.

Some of the things I found :

1. We should avoid processed foods as much as we can. Our manufacturers want products to be shelf stable for a long time. Hence they add many preservatives. Medical research has shown that these preservatives are killing off our good, helpful bacteria. If it's in a box, or per-prepared it may not be good for our microbiomes, or good for us. For instance; think about that boxed cereal that can sit of the grocery shelf for a long, long time and can sit in our pantry for a long time too. It's got preservatives. Those preservatives kill bacteria, and when we eat them, they kill the good bacteria in our digestive tract. Or how about those snack bars that we grab when we are busy and on the go ? They have preservatives too.
2. Food manufacturers add emulsifiers to so many processed foods. The problem is, research has shown that these emusifiers are causing chronic inflammation in the digestive tract. (If our gut is inflamed, it's not really good for our gut bacteria right ?) This inflammation also weakens the gut wall barrier, and causes more permeability, letting the wrong actors through the gut wall. Polysorbate 80 and polysorbate 60 are especially bad, in my opinion. We really should avoid emulsifiers and processed foods. We really need to cook from scratch, as much as we can. Ice cream, peanut butter and a host of other products have emulsifiers in them. So, if we're having gut issues or health issues we should really learn more about emulsifiers, their names, the products they're in, and should be avoiding them.
3. Medical research has shown that sugars are feeding our bad bacteria. Our food manufacturers are adding sugar to almost everything it seems. This is one more reason to avoid processed or prepared foods. Artificial sugars are even worse. We should avoid sugars as much as we can.
4. . Probiotics do not permanently establish species in the gut microbiome. So, where do we get our good bacteria ? It's from fresh picked fruits and fresh picked vegetables. It's right there. There are good, helpful bacteria on fresh fruits and fresh vegetables. So, eating a large variety of fresh fruits and fresh vegetables, (non cooked) is one of the best ways to increase the diversity and health of our gut microbiomes. If you can, grow a garden. Fresh picked is the best. Our good, helpful bacteria thrive on fiber, such as lentils or beans, etc. So, try to work fiber into your daily diet.
5. Exercise improves our gut microbiome diversity and health. Athletes have been proven to have more diverse, healthy gut microbiomes.
6. The oral microbiome contributes up to one third of the species of our gut microbiome. Since mouthwash indiscriminately kills both good and bad bacteria, we should avoid it completely.
7. Proton Pump Inhibitors affect our gut microbiome and should be avoided.
8. NSAIDS affect our gut microbiome and should be avoided as well.
9. We should avoid antibacterial hand soaps. Regular soap is fine.
10. Processed meats like salami and bologna are especially bad for us. When food manufacturers process foods they often add things that aren't good for our all important, gut microbiome.
11. Kimchi and homemade sauerkraut can be helpful and can introduce some helpful species of bacteria.
12. Women should be asking what exactly is in their cosmetics.
13. Palm oil has antibacterial properties. Coconuts, or coconut oil has antibacterial properties. Even honey has antibacterial properties. Vinegar can kill bacteria. We have good, helpful bacteria and we have bad bacteria. We should be feeding our good bacteria and helping them thrive.

So the point is, we should look at everything in our diet, and everything we expose our body to and ask if it is harmful or helpful to our gut microbiome, our skin microbiome, our nasal microbiome etc, etc.

The more one reads about the microbiome, the more one realizes just how important our microbiome is to our human health. The saddest thing is that our food manufacturers either do not know about the microbiome, or they just don't care (their profits come first).

We are given antibiotics to prevent infections during and after our transplant. This saves lives and is really important. Antibiotics are priceless. The drawback is that just one course of antibiotics can kill up to one third of our gut microbiome species. So, after we are done with the antibiotics, we should be re-establishing the diversity of good bacteria in our gut.

These are just the things I learned from reading medical research about the microbiome. I'm just summarizing from what I read and give all credit to the men and women that did the research. They really helped me.