Wellness Guide: The Most Important Organ
As science delves deeper into its complexities, the gut emerges as the body's most important organ and a central player in shaping systemic health.
by Wendy Wilson
The gut, often regarded as the body's "second brain," is a cornerstone of health and vitality, beyond mere digestion. Nestled within its intricate network of organs lies an ecosystem of trillions of microorganisms, collectively known as the gut microbiota, orchestrating biochemical processes crucial for overall well-being. Our diet plays a pivotal role in adequate nutrient absorption and waste elimination. As science delves deeper into its complexities, the gut emerges as the body's most important organ and a central player in shaping systemic health.
THE RESEARCH
Depending on who you ask, you will get different answers to the question “Which is the body's most important organ?”. By far it is the digestive system. Without healthy digestion, there will be disease and eventually death. New research is shedding light on this issue.
The Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Research University in Israel published findings in the March 2024 Journal of Science supporting how important a healthy gut is to humanity and its survival. Due to a lack of healthy food, we are losing gut microbes that are considered good bacteria. When this occurs our body has difficulty converting food into fuel for the cells. The effects of insufficient fuel inhibits metabolic function and give diseases a foothold.
THE FIBER KEY
According to the Israeli research team, a lack of cellulose fiber found in plants is to blame for digestive failure.
“Dietary fiber comes from vegetables or whole grains.” Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, March 2024
Just about everyone has heard their practitioners or doctors say to eat more fiber but only some people understand why that matters. Fiber attracts water and swells up in the digestive tract. This helps preserve the good bacterial flora (gut microbiome) to convert food to fuel. It also helps to press against the colon walls to stimulate nerve endings so the colon moves fecal matter out of the body. Transit time is crucial for a healthy digestive system. A sluggish bowel can reabsorb toxins the body is trying to eliminate.
Fiber should be a mainstay of our diet as it has been for millennia. Without the cellulose from fiber, we lose the extracellular protein complex called cellulosomes. A lack of healthy fiber affects even the way we walk. Our gait is linked to our bowel health. Slow, congested bowels that do not have adequate fiber will give humans a stiff and ridged gait. Adequate fiber will give humans a smooth, gliding gait. Without healthy fiber and gut flora, we cannot digest foods properly including having adequate cellulosome enzymes to break down the digestible fiber and be digested.
“Our diet is changing in industrialized societies and is far removed from the farms where food is produced.” William Martin, Professor and Evolutionary Biologist, Heinrich Heine University Dusseldorf Germany, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, March 2024
“Bottom line is cellulosomes turn fiber into sugars that feed the entire microbiome. The Western culture is taking its toll on our gut microbiome.” Edward Bayer, Professor Weizmann Institute, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, March 2024
FOOD SUPPLY
We can destroy the gut microbiome by not eating healthy and consuming non-organic foods. Many areas of the industrialized world have the worst foods that are genetically modified, full of pesticides, and devoid of mineral and vitamin nutrients. According to the research, our food sources have “far removed us from our ancient humans,” who had healthier gut microbiomes.
“The cellulose-degrading bacteria are being lost from the human gut, especially in industrialized societies.” Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, March 2024
“In the US, 62 million Americans are diagnosed with a digestive disorder annually.” GI Alliance, February 2021
The Digestive Alliance offered some stark statistics:
- 20 million Americans have a chronic digestive disease
- 25% of surgical operations are due to digestive disease
- digestive disease is the most prevalent cause of disability
- digestive disease is third in total economic costs in the US
- 14 million have acute digestive disease including a third of the malignancies
- digestive disease is one the most serious health problems in the US causing mortality
- colorectal cancer is the second cause of cancer death in the US with 51,000 annual deaths
Modern medicine is not in the business of prescribing diets and supplements to correct the imbalance but instead manages disease by drug and surgery therapies. If you don’t look for the cause of a disease you are less likely to find the cure for it. Lifestyle is generally the cause and should be examined to find the problem.
“The cause and natural history of many digestive diseases remain unknown,” GI Alliance, February 2021
SIGNS OF A PROBLEM
Some digestive signals may be subtle initially but can expand to other symptoms over time. Look for signs of:
- change in bowel habits
- blood in stool
- unusual or persistent abdominal gas and pain
- stringy or narrow-looking stool
- the bowel won’t completely empty
- unexplained weight loss
- frequent or persistent nausea and or vomiting
- constant fatigue
- anemia – low blood count
GOES BEYOND FIBER
The digestive ailments we see today come from eating foods that are lacking adequate vitamins, minerals, and fiber. We need to look at the big picture when it comes to imbalances in the gut. Here are a few shifts you can make to protect your most important organ:
- Avoid re-engineered (bioengineered) foods or GMOs. These foods are under a patent and significant changes must occur in the food to qualify for the patent. Therefore, they are not the same as the original food. These foods encourage food sensitivities, metabolic imbalance, inflammation, and immune system issues. You can read more on the side effects of re-engineered food in the article on Causes of Inflammation. https://www.thepowerherbs.com/blog/research-report-causes-of...
- Digestive cleanses help the body remove foreign substances, pharmaceutical residues, heavy metals, pesticides, dyes, and more. Toxins bog down the bowel, disrupt transit time, and increase disease risk. Check out our popular Bowel Cleanse for more information on digestive cleansing.
These two steps help to cleanse and nourish the body so that it is better equipped to heal itself.
NATURAL THERAPY ON THE RISE
Using nutrition and natural therapies is not a trend. This is the human body responding to nutrition to heal itself. People noticed and as a result, natural therapies grew by 20% from 2008 to 2018. More people are checking into treatment options and the healthcare behavior within the American public is changing. Today it is estimated by the Pew Review that roughly one-third of adult Americans are using some form of alternative therapies instead of conventional medicine.
The masses have been conditioned to believe wellness cannot simply be controlled by lifestyle. Yet diabetics are finding out that they can make some lifestyle changes, control their glucose, and get off prescribed medicines. A lifestyle is not a diet. Diets people quit but lifestyles are permanent. If a majority of the population understood this and exercised proactive living, they would not need pharmaceuticals. If people understood how their immune system functions and how to support it, illness and disease numbers would decline. That is empowering!
As research continues to explore the interplay between gut health and systemic wellness, nurturing this vital organ emerges as a cornerstone of self-care. Embracing practices that promote gut health, such as a balanced diet, stress management, and detoxing, empowers individuals to cultivate resilience and vitality from within, reaffirming the gut's rightful place as the body's most indispensable organ.
Sources:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/03/240318142440.htm
https://gialliance.com/gastroenterology-blog/digestive-disease-continues-to-rise-among-americans