A Healthy Gut Improves Longevity & Anti-aging

The gut microbiome contains a 100 trillion organisms. Collectively this gut microbiome weighs 4.4 pounds, occupying our intestinal track. An interesting fact is that we have 10 times the number of microbes in our gut than human cells.

Recently we have learned that 80% of the human immune system lies within the gut. Another fascinating fact is that the lining of the intestinal track is only one cell thick between the inside of the gut and our bloodstream. We have also learned that 75% of our white blood cells, which are the cells that fight infection, hover around the lumen, or tube of our intestinal tract, as guardians to protect from infiltration of bad bacteria into our bloodstream.

Another compelling fact about the gut is that our mental health is directly tied to the gut’s microbiome. This is because the gut can actually manufacture the happy hormone serotonin, which increases our happiness levels. The gut is also referred to as our second brain, as it is a command center that works in cooperation with and communicates with the human brain for managing many types of physiological, neurological and hormonal functions.

One such example is maintaining good thyroid function. Another is maintaining good brain health. For instance, certain disorders of the brain such as Parkinson’s disease could stem from the degeneration of our intestinal neurons. When these neurological signaling pathways from the gut to the brain degenerate, disorders such as Parkinson’s disease may arise. Therefore, a healthy microbiome keeps us healthy and balanced, which is called homeostasis.

A new study (Cell Host & Microbe Journal 2024) recently showed that the microbiome has an interesting role where some of the good bacteria (segmented filamental bacteria-SFB) are able to kill viruses such as COVID, RSV and influenza. These SFB bacteria live in the microbiome and act as the first line of defense, similar to alveolar macrophages in the lungs, which are also the first line of defense, blocking viruses as they enter the respiratory track.

In our next article, we will discuss the definitions of prebiotics, probiotics and postbiotics to get a better understanding of the importance of human gut health for longevity and anti-aging.