How does your gut health affect your body composition?
Focus on your gut health is imperative if you are aiming to achieve your optimal body composition. It is well known that gut bacteria play a significant role in numerous biological functions. Studies have shown that good gut health leads to greater fat loss, improved digestion and nutrient absorption, less bloating and inflammation and greater immune system function. Bad gut health, on the other hand, can cause weight gain, insulin resistance, metabolic damage and systemic inflammation. You can eat “clean” and follow your macros and training to a tee, but if you’re not looking after your gut, you won’t be able to reach your full physical potential. So, let’s look at the effects of gut health on body composition.
The gut has three main roles: the fermentation and digestion of foods and conversion into vitamins, nutrient absorption and prevention of pathogens and toxins from entering your body. On average we have 100 trillion microorganisms in our digestive tract. Preservation of diverse and thriving beneficial bacteria is crucial as it supresses the harmful bacteria as they compete for the nutrients and colonies in the gut. Dysbiosis, which is the imbalance between the good and bad gut bacteria can have a significant influence on both fat loss and fat gain.
There is growing evidence to support the role of gut microbiota influencing why we crave certain foods. This is not surprising as the bacteria continually rely on the incoming dietary matter to provide their own sustenance and growth. While most bacteria can feed on a variety of sources, different bacteria prefer different nutrients and some can only grow on a single nutrient source. By shaping our eating preferences, they increase their own chances of survival. If you have an overgrowth of microbes that enjoy sugar or dairy, for example, this is what you will crave.
Up to 90% of the strains of bacteria in our gut fall into two categories of microbiota. Overweight people tend to have an imbalanced gut microbiota. Most overweight people have a reduced biodiversity of bacteria and an excess of the fat-forming bacteria called firmicutes. Thin people tend to have higher amounts of bacteria called bacteriodetes as well as a more diverse range of bacteria strains. It’s important to remember to eat a varied range of food so that you are creating and nourishing the beneficial bacteria strains. If you have a repetitive diet, you won’t have as diverse range of bacteria, which means your gut health won’t be optimal.
Gut Health
by JARED HUSTLER
WBFF PRO MUSCLE MODEL