How To Improve Your Gut Microbiome: 6 Tips

Gut health is trending, and that’s good news. The world has witnessed an increasing number of people with less-than-optimal and more-than-uncomfortable gastrointestinal health. The highest numbers of GI upset are in Europe, followed by the U.S. and Canada.

The gut is a well-studied system in the human body that is teeming with healthy bacteria. When our gut is healthy, we also experience health in other areas of our bodies. When our gut health is compromised, we will likely experience negative health outcomes elsewhere.

Improving gut health is possible through diet, exercise, and lifestyle changes. A newly discovered essential fatty acid is also a key player in supporting gut health and our overall longevity and health span. 

We’ll explain what the gut is and how this fatty acid can help. If improving your gut health is on your short list of health goals, it’s time to take action. 

What Is the Gut?

The gut is essentially a nickname for the entire gastrointestinal (GI) tract. The gut includes the entire tract through which food passes from your mouth to the esophagus, stomach, and small and large intestines. When people refer to gut health, they usually refer to the specific portion of the gut that includes the large intestine. 

The gut has three important functions:

1. Digest food. Every bite of food we intake is digested in the gut. Digestion begins with saliva in the mouth and ends when excess food is eliminated as waste.
   
   
2. Absorb nutrients. The micronutrients and macronutrients our bodies need come from the foods we eat. The gut is responsible for absorbing those nutrients properly and effectively.
   
   
3. Eliminating waste. Once food has been digested and the nutrients have been absorbed, the gut eliminates excess waste from the body.

A diverse community of bacteria keeps the gut functioning healthfully. The “gut flora” or gut microbiome needs a balance between healthy microorganisms and harmful bacteria to help aid in digestion and carry out other important functions. 

Functions of the Gut Microbiome

The microflora found in the gut has several functions aside from helping you digest your food properly and absorb needed nutrients. 

Numerous bodily systems rely on the gut microbiome for proper function. 

• Immune System. The immune system relies on the gut to help differentiate harmful bacteria from helpful bacteria. About 80% of your immune cells reside in the gut, helping ensure you don’t become ill due to the pathogens that pass through your gut each day.

• Nervous System. The gut/brain axis refers to the link between the gut and the brain. Neurons and neurotransmitters exist in the gut and continually communicate with the brain. Because the brain and gut are in constant communication, researchers have hypothesized that there could be a connection between certain mood and neurological disorders and gut health.

• Endocrine System. The endocrine system is responsible for producing the body’s hormones. Endocrine cells in the lining of the gut secrete hormones that play a role in satiety, blood sugar regulation, and hunger. Because of this connection, researchers are now focusing on whether or not certain metabolic illnesses, like type 2 diabetes and obesity, could be linked to imbalances in the gut microbiome.

Although we’ve known about the microbiome since the 17th century, new research is showing us how important the microbiome is to our overall wellness. Interestingly, it also plays a role in our longevity.

The Gut and Longevity

Interested in living as long and healthfully as possible? If so, focusing on your gut health is a good place to start. Our bodies age in two ways: chronologically and biologically. Chronological aging happens due to the passage of time, while biological aging happens within our cells. 

As we age, certain cellular functions begin to malfunction and slow down. Researchers have outlined 12 ways in which our cells age biologically, making us biologically older. One of the 12 hallmarks of aging, as they are called, is dysbiosis. 

Dysbiosis refers to an imbalance in the gut microbiome, which has been linked to frailty and accelerated aging. Interestingly, senior adults who have a healthy and diverse microbiome were found to be healthier and live longer than their peers. 

Improving your gut health could improve your overall wellness and even play a major role in the time you have left to live. Even better, the steps to take to improve your gut health are straightforward and fairly easy to incorporate into your life. 

Six Ways To Improve Your Gut Health

Helping your gut microbiome doesn’t require you to sign up for two-hour fitness classes or limit your diet to one certain food group. Instead, you simply need to be more proactive about the decisions you make and how they impact your gut’s health. 

These six steps will dramatically improve your gut health, pay dividends into your longevity, and give you a fighting chance to age as healthfully as possible.

1. Eat a balanced diet. 

You probably already know that certain foods are better than others in terms of how nutrient-dense they may be or how calorically empty they are. For instance, you get more nutrients if you eat an apple instead of a handful of candy because of the fiber and water content of the apple, not to mention the essential vitamins you’ll be ingesting. 

Fiber is essential for gut health because it works as a prebiotic. Prebiotics are like food for the microorganisms living in your gut, helping to keep them nourished and strong. Fiber is also essential for protecting your colon health. 

To make your diet even more gut-friendly, throw in a few fermented foods like kefir or sauerkraut. These foods are like reinforcements for your microflora, containing healthy levels of bacteria that serve as boots on the ground for the gut. 

Interestingly, a recent study found that eating fiber allows our gut microbes to use inulin to make C15:0, supporting our overall gut and liver health — more on this amazing essential fatty acid later. 

2. Drink plenty of water. 

Staying hydrated is essential. Being properly hydrated ensures your body’s core temperature is regulated. Water plays a role in carrying nutrients to your cells and helps your digestive tract properly digest your food. 

If you don’t drink enough water, you may develop constipation. When you are constipated, the microflora in your gut changes, and the mucus lining of your digestive tract becomes dry. Drinking enough water can reduce your risk of these negative changes in your gut microbiome. 

3. Stay active.

If you need another reason to hit the gym or take a walk, do it for your gut health. A recent review of published data concluded that people who engaged in physical activity for at least 150 minutes per week had better gut health than those who did not. The people with the healthiest guts in this study did a combination of aerobic exercise and resistance training. 

4. Manage stress.

Stress is bad for your health. Chronic stress can even lead to a higher risk of cardiovascular disease. Stress causes excessive production of hormones like adrenaline and cortisol. 

When these hormones are released, they can trigger gastrointestinal issues like diarrhea and nausea, which can disturb your gut microbiome. Try deep breathing, meditation, or talking to a therapist if you have trouble managing your stress or feel overwhelmed by the level of stress you have. 

5. Prioritize sleep.

Sleep is important for your body, but many people struggle to get enough. Although improving your sleep could certainly improve virtually all areas of your life, improving your gut health may lead to a better night of rest. 

If you have trouble sleeping, it might be time to refresh your sleep hygiene routine. Sleep hygiene refers to the methods you use to fall asleep at night, like dimming the lights, lowering the temperature, or unplugging from electronics. 

6. Take a supplement. 

Science supports that a simple fatty acid supplement can support your gut health, pay dividends in your long-term health, and even reverse the aging process in your cells. Although you may be familiar with some fatty acids, this one was recently discovered by a team of doctors and scientists from the US Navy studying healthy aging and longevity in bottlenose dolphins. 

The scientists found that dolphins with higher levels of a certain fatty acid in their diets had a reduced risk of age-related illness compared to populations whose circulating levels of this fatty acid were lower. They took their research further, and over 10 years, discovered that the same health benefits were available to humans, too. That fatty acid is called pentadecanoic acid — or the C15:0 we mentioned earlier.

The Role of Pentadecanoic Acid

C15:0 is an odd-chain, saturated fatty acid that is essential to our health. This means that we need it to thrive, but our bodies can’t readily make it on their own. 

Therefore, we have to get it from food or supplements. As mentioned before, C15:0 supports the gut by bringing it into homeostasis, the exact opposite of dysbiosis. 

C15:0 also supports the body by:

• Keeping cell membranes strong as they age.

• Supporting mitochondrial function (increasing ATP production by 350% and reducing ROS by 45%).

• Activating AMPK to help clear away damaged cells and support balance in functions like glucose uptake, mood, sleep, and hunger (which directly impacts the gut).

• Activating PPAR receptors that support immune, heart, and liver health.

• Supporting liver function and improving liver enzymes.

C15:0 is so important to your body that not having enough of it can lead to a nutritional deficiency syndrome, known as Cellular Fragility Syndrome. Cellular Fragility Syndrome is associated with ferroptosis, a recently discovered type of cell death directly related to accelerated aging. The good news is that fixing your C15:0 levels is easy through dietary changes and supplementation.

How Much C15:0 Do We Need?

Optimal levels of C15:0 are between 0.2% and 0.4% of a person’s total fatty acids. It’s worth noting that people who live in Blue Zones (areas of the world where people consistently live to be 100+) have C15:0 levels that are much higher than the global average, reaching over 0.6% of their total fatty acid counts. 

To find out where you stand, click here for an easy-to-use at-home test. 

How Does C15:0 Affect Gut Health?

Given numerous studies demonstrating broad health benefits of C15:0, a team of researchers from the Department of Nutrition, Division of Gastroenterology, and Institute of Digestive Health Research from the Cleveland Medical Center and Case Western University investigated the effect of C15:0 supplementation on gut health. 

So, what did they find? 

• C15:0 protected healthy body weight
• C15:0 protected healthy colon tissue
• C15:0 lowered gut permeability (aka leakiness)
• C15:0 calmed overactive gut immune response within 2 weeks

The researchers concluded that fatty15 supplementation provided significant gut health benefits, including calming immune responses and maintaining the integrity of the gut lining. Impressive, right?

Getting Enough C15:0

Trying to get more C15:0 from your food isn’t always the most efficient way to increase your C15:0 levels and improve your gut health. C15:0 is only found in trace amounts in full-fat dairy products like whole milk. 

Who do you know who drinks whole milk these days? In addition to packing in additional calories, you’d also be taking in a lot of “bad,” even-chain saturated fat. Therefore, supplementing your diet with a pure C15:0 supplement is a beneficial solution. Fatty15. 

Fatty15 is the first and only supplement that contains the vegan-friendly, sustainable, patented, award-winning, and pure version of C15:0. It gives you the essential C15:0 you need at just one calorie per dose, and contains nothing else. 

In addition to the tips above, taking fatty15 daily is a smart decision to strengthen your cells, support your gut health, and improve your long-term health and wellness. Healthy digestion, a happy gut, and stellar metabolic health? That’s a big win from this science-backed, once-a-day fatty acid supplement. 

Sources:

What Is Your Gut Microbiome? | Cleveland Clinic

Hallmarks of aging: An expanding universe | PubMed

Physical fitness in community-dwelling older adults is linked to dietary intake, gut microbiota, and metabolomic signatures | PubMed

The Effect of Exercise Prescription on the Human Gut Microbiota and Comparison between Clinical and Apparently Healthy Populations: A Systematic Review

Effect of an Asian-adapted Mediterranean diet and pentadecanoic acid on fatty liver disease: the TANGO randomized controlled trial | ScienceDirect

Efficacy of dietary odd-chain saturated fatty acid pentadecanoic acid parallels broad associated health benefits in humans: could it be essential? | Scientific Reports

A review of odd-chain fatty acid metabolism and the role of pentadecanoic Acid (c15:0) and heptadecanoic Acid (c17:0) in health and disease | PubMed

Pentadecanoic Acid (C15:0), an Essential Fatty Acid, Shares Clinically Relevant Cell-Based Activities with Leading Longevity-Enhancing Compounds