Gut inflammation and its connection to intestinal flora

Just wanted to share a fantastic article. Thought you might enjoy this....http://www.marksdailyapple.com/gut-flora-inflammation/

Here are a few snippits:
"...Everything is connected to everything else. Chronic stress begets chronic inflammation, which chronically elevates cortisol, which induces insulin resistance and belly fat accumulation. Celiacs are usually intolerant of casein, too. Diabetics get heart disease more and have higher cancer mortality rates. Diabetics are often insulin resistant and usually overweight. Celiacs are often Type 1 diabetics. The overweight sleep less, work more, and get less sun than leaner folks....

...We do know that inflammation, especially chronic, systemic inflammation seems to be involved in nearly every disease under the sun. Obesity, cancer, heart disease, autoimmune disease – if it’s killing people, increasing health care costs, and reducing quality of life, inflammation is bound to be involved at some level. That makes things easier, in my opinion, because we have a good idea how to avoid chronic inflammation, and that should take care of half the battle....

...suggests adopting an anti-inflammatory diet. His dietary recommendations are essentially identical to mine – high SFA, moderate animal protein, low O-6, O-3 supplementation, leafy greens, some fruit and nuts. He also suggests probiotic usage, either in supplement or whole food form (yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut), to repopulate the gut with good flora. The next one is the most interesting: eating fibrous vegetables fresh from the garden, unwashed, in order to feed your new flora as well as introduce new bacteria and new digestive enzymes to diversify your gut’s digestive skill set (similar to how seaweed-borne bacterial enzymes taught Japanese gut flora to break down seaweed). Foods like jicama, onions, garlic, and Jerusalem artichokes provide the prebiotic inulin (a type of fiber) which gut flora consume and convert to helpful short chain fatty acids..."

If you look up the nutritional information of foods on this Web site, http://www.nutritiondata.com/, you will find not only information about nutrients like amino acids, vitamins and minerals, but you will see it gives a rating for "inflammation factor" so you can choose healthy, unprocessed foods that also reduce inflammation in the body.

Lots of good information. Lots to think about. REALLY must try harder to remember my probiotic supplement- at a bare minimum! Any thoughts?

Kirsten

Gut inflammation and its connection to intestinal flora