The gut, commonly known as the gastrointestinal system, consists of the stomach, intestines, and colon. Your gut aids in the digestion of food, nutritional absorption, and the elimination of waste products following metabolism. Weakening of your gut health may affect your immunity, mental health, and metabolic process, which may cause severe diseases like cancer, autoimmunity, and obesity. Therefore, understanding your gut health is essential. This article will sketch the role of the gastrointestinal system, gut microbiota, diseases associated with it, and how to keep it healthy.
The gastrointestinal system helps the body to digest food. By digesting food, your body gets nutrients like carbohydrates, proteins, fats, minerals, and vitamins, which are required for the growth and development of your body. In the gastrointestinal system, the stomach is an important organ that works as a container to hold food. In the stomach, the foods are broken down by several enzymes. Later, food goes to the intestine, where it undergoes further breakdown and absorption. In the absorption process, the nutrients of the food get into the bloodstream. After the processing of food, its waste parts move into the colon. This organ is accountable for the processing of waste materials so that you get a healthy bowel movement. Apart from this, microorganisms consisting of bacteria and yeasts, known as gut microflora or gut microbiota, play an essential role in the food digestion process. They synthesize various vitamins, nourish your gut, digest food, and protect you from harmful microorganisms. These helpful microorganisms are also known as probiotics. Bad gut health may lead to several dangerous diseases, which will be discussed in the next section.
It is well documented that bad gut health can lead to a plethora of diseases; however, here are five major diseases that have serious impacts on your health.Constipation: This means you have less than three bowel movements in a week. In this condition, your stool gets harder and dry, resulting in a painful pass. It may also rupture the underlying tissues and cause bleeding.Diarrhea: In this condition, you get watery or loose stool. It may be caused by bacterial infections or any other reason.Cancer: When the organs and tissue of the digestive system get affected by cancer, it is called gastrointestinal cancer. Significant change in gut microorganisms population may synthesize several cancer-causing chemicals and affect your gut health severely.Gastroesophageal reflux disease: It is a chronic clinical condition when the acids from your stomach flow into the food pipe, causing irritation.Irritable bowel syndrome: In this condition, an alteration in the contraction of the colon muscle is observed. Patients suffering from this disease may experience abdominal discomfort and excessive gas.As these diseases occur due to poor gut health, therefore keeping your gut healthy is key. A healthy gut can be achieved by adding good health supplements like prebiotics and probiotics to your daily food intake.
It is known as nondigestible fibers that can be utilized as a food source for our gut microbiota. These fibers go colon by passing through the upper gastrointestinal tract. In the colon gut, microorganisms ferment these fibers to synthesize short-chain fatty acids such as butyrate, propionate, and acetate. In other words, we can say prebiotics are food for probiotics, which enhance the population of beneficial microorganisms in our gut and protect it. Whole grains, onions, garlic, bananas, apples, chickpeas, and lentils are reach sources of prebiotics.
As discussed earlier, probiotics are friendly microorganisms including bacteria and yeasts, that protect our gut and help in food digestion. These microorganisms help in killing harmful bacteria, produce antimicrobial molecules, improve digestion, and regulate immune systems. Yogurt, kefir, and sauerkraut are high in probiotics which enhance the probiotic population in the gut and promote your health. Sometimes, doctors may give you medicines that contain both pre and probiotics. For example, Auxipro XP Capsule includes both pre and probiotics that manage the repercussions of bad gut health.