Fortify your gut

Immunise yourself this monsoon with the best gut flora and have a smooth sail with the rain beating down on us

Here comes the monsoon and there come water-borne diseases - the runny stomach, cramping stomach, and bloating, go hand in hand. It is awful that even to this day we have maximum deaths due to diarrhea and gastroenteritis than any other water-borne disease.

Common sense suggests that we stay away from street foods, cold food, drink boiled water and avoid raw foods. However, we have never known that the best preventive medicine is our body’s gut flora as it protects us and save us from dreaded diseases. India has a rich heritage of fermented food that increases gut flora. First and foremost let’s understand what gut flora really is and how important it is to save our lives.

From the day of your birth, close to a 100 trillion bacteria colonise your body with the largest number found in the intestine. These bacteria live harmlessly aiding body functions especially digestion. They are called “Gut Flora” and are present in the digestive system and are body friendly microorganisms, which suppress the growth of harmful bacteria, reduce toxins (poisonous substances) and thus keep our digestive system healthy.

The gut flora also plays an important role in boosting immunity, which is nothing but our body’s ability to fight diseases. Immunity is of two types – ‘Innate immunity’, which we are born with and ‘Acquired immunity’, which is given through vaccinations. It is the innate immunity that decides how strong we are and how well we can fight infections.

‘Natural Killer Cells’ are part of the innate immune system, and are responsible for keeping infections at bay. Maintaining a high activity of ‘Natural Killer Cells’ will ensure a more effective immunity preventing illness and thereby reducing the need for medicines and antibiotics. Natural Killer Cells are often negatively influenced by stress, ageing, poor nutrition, pollution, etc.

More than 100 years ago, Japan was facing multiple water-borne diseases leading to many deaths. During this time Dr Minoru Shirota discovered the importance of ‘Lacto bacilli Shirota’. Research has documented this as the most effective gut flora that is majorly responsible in maintaining a healthy digestive system.

So logically if one would increase the ‘Lacto bacilli Shirota’ in the body, more Natural Killer Cells would be produced to provide a stronger immunity. India has a tradition of fermented foods like curd, lassi, buttermilk, dosas and pickles, which are consumed for their nutritional benefits.

However, we often miss the benefits because of a weak digestive system therefore I recommend powerful strategy to increase gut flora is to sip on fermented beverages that I advocate to my clients like Kefi, Miso, Yakult, Tempeh, fermented teas and Kanji. We need to make them a regular part of our diet, thereby improving gut flora.

Let’s choose wisely as to what we eat because the age old saying “You are what you eat” has never been more true. Avoid eating processed and junk food as it increases the bad bacteria; add on more organic produce and probiotics to your diet. The more the merrier is certainly true with good bacteria in your gut.