August 21, 2025 • 18 mins
Your gut is home to trillions of microbes that influence everything from digestion and immunity to hormones and beyond. Dr. Suzanne Devkota, Director of the Cedars-Sinai Human Microbiome Research Institute and Associate Professor of the Division of Gastroenterology at Cedars-Sinai, joins us to explore what makes a microbiome healthy, how it changes across life stages and the everyday habits that can improve gut health.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to hear something good on women's health and longevity.
We are so grateful to our partners P ANDNG, maker
of trusted brands like Tampex Always and Always Discreet, and Walgreens,
the women's well being destination, supporting every stage. Together, we'll
bring you something good each week on women's health and longevity,
and it wouldn't be possible without their support. Each week,
(00:23):
we aspire to bringing the good news on women's health
by talking to renowned scientists and medical experts, and by
sharing health advice that.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Can help you live healthier and happier.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Today, we're speaking with doctor Suzanne Devcota about how the
microbiome plays a central role in overall health, influencing everything
from digestion and immunity to hormones and beyond. We'll explore
what makes a microbiome healthy, how it changes over time,
and the daily habits that best support it. Doctor Suzanne
Devcota is a director of the Cedars Sinai Human Microbiome
(00:55):
Research Institute and Associate Professor of the Division of Gastroentterrology
at Cedars Sinai.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Welcome, doctor Devcoda.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
So let's just start by talking about the basics.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
What is the gut microbiome and why is it so
central to our overall health.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Yeah, the gut microbiome is, you know, we often think
about it as a conglomertive bacteria that live in our gut,
but it actually is more than just bacteria. It's fungi,
it's protozoa in some parts of the world, it's small worms.
It's a lot of micro organisms that live in our gut.
But they live essentially in symbiosis with our human body.
(01:35):
So the microbiome is a different concept than what we
think of as like an infectious disease that might go
through our gi tract. So these are organisms that co
evolved with us since birth that perform essential functions for
our body. In some cases, they produce essential vitamins that
we actually can't make on our own, and so it's
a really beautiful symbiosis and co evolution, and we them nutrition,
(02:01):
We provide them safe harbor, and so it's a win win.
But we actually really rely on them for producing a
lot of byoproducts that we need, but also helping us
digest our food.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
That sounds positives. That's good.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Yeah, yes, So how does the microbiome, talk to the
different systems in our body, immune system, hormones, the brain.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
How does that work?
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Yeah, I mean it really comes down to what is
the role of the gut in all of those systems.
And in my work and not just mine, many others,
we've always sort of had this theory hypothesis that all
systemic disease conditions arise in the gut. And if you
think about it, you know, from our mouth to our
(02:45):
you know, anus, we're excretion. It's we're really a hollow
tube and all external exposures that we take in from
the outside go through that central tube. And so if
you view then what's inhabiting your gut as sort of
bio sensors of your external environment, your gut microbiome becomes
critical for modulating, you know, responses to things you might encounter,
(03:09):
things that we take for granted, like international travel or
maybe we you know, Thanksgiving dinner where we're off our
normal diet and things like that, and our microbes adjust
and help us try to maintain some homeostasis to a degree.
So that's like in the normal healthy state, But the
gut itself has the most numerous immune cells in the
(03:31):
whole body and is the most innervated organ in the
whole body. So it's really a central like grand central
station for immune system and for our hormones and our
nervous system essentially. And so in that regard, if you
think about now, we're also it's also inhabited by you know,
one hundred trillion bacteria that are producing small molecules and
(03:52):
interacting with each of these factors. You know, you can
really go into the nuances of how microbes may interact,
you know, and mature the immune system but also cause
problems if it's not functioning the way it should. But
really it comes down to the gut being the central
node and the most dense population of immune cells and
(04:14):
neurons essentially.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
So super interesting and probably more than most people realize
for sure, I guess the first thing that comes to mind,
of course, is you want to keep healthy. So how
do you maintain a healthy microbiome and what does that
look like and how do you measure it?
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Yeah, that's the you know, that's the holy grail question
that we all are spending our careers trying to study.
What we do know is that diet is so vitally
important to maintaining a healthy gut microbiome other than antibiotics,
there's no other factor that can shift our microbiome more
than diet. An important principle and metric of health of
(04:54):
your microbiome is diversity. So how many different kinds of
bacteria do you have in your gut? And the reason
for that is if for some reason, you know, one
of them drops out, there's still others to take up
that essential function. So having many different kinds of bacteria
is important. And so how do you create diversity in
your gut microbiome? It really is by eating a diverse diet,
(05:17):
because you feed your microbes through what we eat. So
if you take something out of your diet, then the
microbes that use that item you took out will then
die off or be reduced in abundance essentially, And so
if you eat different things, you will support the growth
of different bacteria. So it's really I say it's really
that simple. I could even go more nuanced than that
(05:38):
and say that studies have shown that it's really the diversity.
The biggest drivers the diversity of different plants in your diet.
And I'm not talking about becoming a vegetarian. You can
still be an omnivore, but increase the number of plants
in your diet. And studies have shown that like forty
or more different plants that you consume, and that could
be ranging from grains to salid material, to vegetables to fruits.
(06:01):
Those are all considered plants are key for supporting that diversity.
And so if you really sit down think like what
do I eat in a day, you're probably kind of
getting close to that. You could consider maybe tomato, sauce,
even a vegetable, but really, if you someone really sat
down and thought about how many different vegetables make up
my diet, you know, we might get pretty close, and
(06:22):
then some of us may have to, you know, really
do some work. But then there's also fiber, which is
what you hear a lot about in the use and
you hear a lot of us talk about that. But
that's really vitally important as well, and it's a major
problem in America because we don't eat enough fiber in America,
and the guidance is really about twenty five grams of
fiber a day and the average Americans eating like twelve.
(06:43):
And fiber feeds your gut microbiomen specifically the good microbiota
that produce these byproducts that support gut health. So I say,
you know, a diverse diet with a diversity of plant
material and really focusing on making sure you have twenty
five grams of fiber or more in your are really
key for supporting a healthy gout microbiome.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
And how do you typically get twenty five grams of
fiber per day?
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Well, it's a lot easier these days because now you
even see like these, like these sodas that have nine
grams of soluble inulin, you know, fiber in them. So
you know, but you want a diversity of fibers. We
know that is important to you don't want to off
from one source. So it could be a combination of
ranging from like a really healthy salad, you know, with
(07:27):
a bunch of chopped vegetables and maybe some keen wae
and you know, some grain in it, but some a
lot of vegetables, ranging from a really high fiber type
of bread that maybe you make your sandwich with or
toast or something like that in the morning, grains sometimes
in cereals, and then you always can supplement and those
are everywhere, but you can't do it solely through diet.
But you just want to look on the labels, the
(07:48):
food labels. That's really helpful for determining, you know, the
amount of fiber in in your product.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
And speaking of supplementing, how do you feel about supplements,
Which supplements are worth taking to support your gut health?
Speaker 3 (08:01):
Yeah, I mean that's a continually evolving space and a
very interesting space. So we talk about probiotics, probiotics, and
post biotics. Probiotics are what people hear the most about.
Those are the pills, you know, encapsulated bacteria and different amounts,
different kinds, different formulations, and it's really confusing. And you
(08:23):
go to Whole Foods or whatever it may be, and
there's a whole shelf of probiotics. So the concept with
the probiotic is that you take the organism and it
will colonize your gut and that good micro bowl you know,
will stay there. But that's not actually always the case.
Actually that's rarely the case because when you introduce a
foreign organism, they get out competed by your own bugs
(08:45):
very often, so you have to take them every day.
As soon as you stop, they tend to get out competed,
so it's not always a viable long term solution. But
if you're missing the organism in the pill, then it
does have a chance to colonize. But most people don't
know what they have and don't have, so I say,
you know, the best approach would be to take a
(09:05):
test where you sequence your microbiome, see what's missing, and
then select a probiotic based on what's not there.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
How common is it, though, to take these kinds of tests.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Most people don't. Most people will just go to the
store and buy a probiotic based off of not a
whole lot of guidance, unfortunately, But there is a rational
way to take a probiotic if you can maybe do
the testing before him. But in the absence of that,
what is really important are prebiotics, which is essentially something
you eat that feeds a good bacteria. We already have.
(09:35):
Everyone has good bacteria in their gut. You just want
to make more of them, right, and so prebiotics are
typically considered fibers. But certain types of fibers, and we
call them microbial accessible carbohydrates. So something like an insoluble fiber,
maybe a cilium husk or cellulose in the plant wall,
can't be digested by your microbiome. But it's important for
(09:57):
bulk to keep things moving, which is which is for
gut health. But there's things like inulin pectin that are
metabolized by the gut microbiomes. So selecting fibers that feed
those microbes is what's considered a pre biotic. And then
the newest space is post biotics, which is take the probiotics,
take the bugs out of the equation altogether, and consume
(10:20):
the beneficial metabolites directly that they're making. So for this,
you might think about like a kombucha, and so a
fermented food product is a living food that has microbial
fermentation going on in the jar or the drink or whatever,
and it's producing all these beneficial metabolites and you drink
that directly. So that's sort of the new realm, and
(10:40):
we're trying to figure out how do we better capture
and encapsulate and identify which are the best metabolites to
promote gut health. So that's pre pro post biotics for
gut health. If you can do all three, great.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Super interesting and definitely something to try to think about. Yeah,
so how do you integrate this into your lifestyle? What
about exercise?
Speaker 2 (11:01):
For example?
Speaker 3 (11:02):
You know that's a very emerging area. There have been
studies to show that exercise can shift the microbiome, but
it depends on the type of exercise as well. Are
you running a marathon. We know with long distance, strenuous exercise,
your gut definitely undergoes adaptations related to permeability and things
like that. So of course your microbiota will change. What
(11:25):
we don't know is how transient that is, right, and
so lifting weights will that meaningfully alter your gut microbiome
not as much probably as marathon running because of the
stress put on your body. Metabolically is a little bit different,
and so it's really an open area for research. I
would say that collectively what data is out there doesn't
(11:45):
show a negative effect of diet or exercise on the microbiome,
potentially only positive. But really it's an emerging area.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
And of course your microbiome I'm assuming changes over time
across life stages, whether it's pure prety, pregnancy, menopause. So
what's going on there and what's sort of latest research
on this?
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Yeah, this is a fascinating area. The most dynamic phase
of life regarding your microbiome is really the first three
to five years of life, and this is where you
have so much is evolving during this period, so you're
born sterile essentially in your first exposure to microbes is
(12:28):
from mom. And we used to say it was from
mom's vaginal microbiome if you're born vaginally, or skin or
environmental microbiomes if you're born by c section. But if
we go back to the vaginal birth example, it's really
mom's stool and a little bit of mom's vaginal microbiome
that colonizes the baby. And that's all very natural. That's normal,
that's how it's supposed to happen. And so there's a
(12:50):
well studied succession of what microbes come in first and
the next and how that. But the biggest diversification event
is when a baby goes onto foods solid foods six
months and later. Right, you really see a burst of
microbial diversity. Until that point, no matter where in the
world the baby lives or whatever diet the mom is on,
(13:12):
as long as the baby's on breast milk, the microbiomes
look pretty similar. Once they go onto their native diet,
it changes dramatically, and that's a really fascinating area. And
you can think about associations between why allergies are common
in certain parts of the world and not others, And
there's a lot of study into that. So then from
that weening pioitill about puberty. The microbiomes, whether you're a
(13:36):
male or female, will look fairly similar, but then at
puberty there is another divergent point that happens largely you
would the only difference would be sex. Hormones change at
that point. And what we do know, and what's a
really fascinating area again an emerging area, is that microbes
can metabolize hormones, estrogens androgens, progesterone, and the contribution of
(14:01):
that to our metabolism of hormones is still being studied.
But what essentially it does is when a microbe metabolizes
like an estrogen, it can put it back into recirculation,
so it can essentially potentiate that estrogen in the system,
which in some cases could be good and in some
cases you may not want that. But the contribution on
(14:23):
the whole is maybe about seven to ten percent of
recirculation of the hormones. But we're we still don't really know.
These are hard questions to really truly understand, but we
do know microbes can interact with sex hormones directly and
the long term impact of that. If you think now
fast forward in adulthood, we're pretty stable or microbiome is
pretty stable. You might have day to day differences, but
(14:45):
on the whole it's like a straight line. But then
at aging the studies have shown age sixty and later,
but probably starts around menopause, you start to see divergences more.
At that point, you see diversity decrease, you see the
differences between men and women look less. The menomen become
more similar after menopause. So there's definitely something going on
(15:08):
there with sex hormones and the gut microbiome that we
really don't fully understand yet, but it really should be
studied because there could be opportunities for in you know,
in the postmenopause period to your leverage your microbiome for
either you know, helping the bodies estrogen balance or in
cases like of maybe breast cancer where your estrogen sensitive,
(15:30):
you may not want that recycling of estrogen and you
may want to dampen down those microbes. So there's some
really interesting considerations there.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
That's amazing, very interesting field of work for sure.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
So you've already given us a few, but could you
give us maybe three habits that you feel would help
each of us protect our microbiome?
Speaker 2 (15:49):
What would those be? So?
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Number one, which I did mention already, is a diverse diet.
And the reason why I hound on that one a
lot is because we're in an age of extreme diye
dis There's carnivori diets, and there's really austere vegan diets,
and there's people want to plant their flag and some
extreme diet and the reality is none of those are
good for you. The body wants balance, and so does
(16:13):
your gut microbiome. So diversity of foods and that can
be lean, healthy meats or that's not part of your diet.
There's protein is important, but also carbohydrates and fibers. So
a balanced and diverse diet number one most important thing.
Number two, avoid as much processed foods as possible. Things
like food colorantce like red forty, especially emulsifiers and other
(16:38):
like sweeteners into foods like triolos can really alter the
gut microboob and actually promote the emergence of harmful bacteria
in your gut microbiomes. So try to avoid processed foods.
As much as possible, and then think about adding a
pre maybe a pro if you know what you're missing
in your gut microbiome, or a post biotic, really fermented
(16:58):
foods into your diet. Supplementing, I think is a really
good idea. It would do no harm essentially. But if
you want to encourage the good bugs you already have,
eat more fiber. If you want to try to bring
metabolites into your body, eat more fermented foods. So those
would be my three major tips.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Well, doctor Devkota, so great to talk to you.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
It's really interesting research, probably something pretty heavily overlooked by
a lot of people, so I think this will help
a lot of us. Thanks so much for joining us.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Of course, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
What a great conversation. Here are the top takeaways from today. First,
feed your gut with variety. A diverse diet, especially one
with a wide range of plant foods, supports a diverse microbiome,
which is key for resilience and overall health. Second, limit
processed foods and additives. Artificial colors, mulcifiers, and certain sweeteners
(17:56):
can disrupt your microbiome and promote harmful bacteria. Lastly, incorporate
the quote biotics. There are three types. Probiotics feed your
good bacteria. Probiotics can add beneficial strains to your gut microbiome,
and post biotics, often found in fermented foods, deliver the
(18:16):
helpful compounds those bacteria produce.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Have a great day.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, check out the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Today's episode of Here's Something Good on women's health and
longevity was brought to you by p ANDNG, maker of
trusted brands like Tampax Always and Always Discrete, and by Walgreens,
the women's well being destination, supporting every stage
Welcome to hear something good on women's health and longevity.
We are so grateful to our partners P ANDNG, maker
of trusted brands like Tampex Always and Always Discreet, and Walgreens,
the women's well being destination, supporting every stage. Together, we'll
bring you something good each week on women's health and longevity,
and it wouldn't be possible without their support. Each week,
(00:23):
we aspire to bringing the good news on women's health
by talking to renowned scientists and medical experts, and by
sharing health advice that.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Can help you live healthier and happier.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Today, we're speaking with doctor Suzanne Devcota about how the
microbiome plays a central role in overall health, influencing everything
from digestion and immunity to hormones and beyond. We'll explore
what makes a microbiome healthy, how it changes over time,
and the daily habits that best support it. Doctor Suzanne
Devcota is a director of the Cedars Sinai Human Microbiome
(00:55):
Research Institute and Associate Professor of the Division of Gastroentterrology
at Cedars Sinai.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Welcome, doctor Devcoda.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
So let's just start by talking about the basics.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
What is the gut microbiome and why is it so
central to our overall health.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Yeah, the gut microbiome is, you know, we often think
about it as a conglomertive bacteria that live in our gut,
but it actually is more than just bacteria. It's fungi,
it's protozoa in some parts of the world, it's small worms.
It's a lot of micro organisms that live in our gut.
But they live essentially in symbiosis with our human body.
(01:35):
So the microbiome is a different concept than what we
think of as like an infectious disease that might go
through our gi tract. So these are organisms that co
evolved with us since birth that perform essential functions for
our body. In some cases, they produce essential vitamins that
we actually can't make on our own, and so it's
a really beautiful symbiosis and co evolution, and we them nutrition,
(02:01):
We provide them safe harbor, and so it's a win win.
But we actually really rely on them for producing a
lot of byoproducts that we need, but also helping us
digest our food.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
That sounds positives. That's good.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Yeah, yes, So how does the microbiome, talk to the
different systems in our body, immune system, hormones, the brain.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
How does that work?
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Yeah, I mean it really comes down to what is
the role of the gut in all of those systems.
And in my work and not just mine, many others,
we've always sort of had this theory hypothesis that all
systemic disease conditions arise in the gut. And if you
think about it, you know, from our mouth to our
(02:45):
you know, anus, we're excretion. It's we're really a hollow
tube and all external exposures that we take in from
the outside go through that central tube. And so if
you view then what's inhabiting your gut as sort of
bio sensors of your external environment, your gut microbiome becomes
critical for modulating, you know, responses to things you might encounter,
(03:09):
things that we take for granted, like international travel or
maybe we you know, Thanksgiving dinner where we're off our
normal diet and things like that, and our microbes adjust
and help us try to maintain some homeostasis to a degree.
So that's like in the normal healthy state, But the
gut itself has the most numerous immune cells in the
(03:31):
whole body and is the most innervated organ in the
whole body. So it's really a central like grand central
station for immune system and for our hormones and our
nervous system essentially. And so in that regard, if you
think about now, we're also it's also inhabited by you know,
one hundred trillion bacteria that are producing small molecules and
(03:52):
interacting with each of these factors. You know, you can
really go into the nuances of how microbes may interact,
you know, and mature the immune system but also cause
problems if it's not functioning the way it should. But
really it comes down to the gut being the central
node and the most dense population of immune cells and
(04:14):
neurons essentially.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
So super interesting and probably more than most people realize
for sure, I guess the first thing that comes to mind,
of course, is you want to keep healthy. So how
do you maintain a healthy microbiome and what does that
look like and how do you measure it?
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Yeah, that's the you know, that's the holy grail question
that we all are spending our careers trying to study.
What we do know is that diet is so vitally
important to maintaining a healthy gut microbiome other than antibiotics,
there's no other factor that can shift our microbiome more
than diet. An important principle and metric of health of
(04:54):
your microbiome is diversity. So how many different kinds of
bacteria do you have in your gut? And the reason
for that is if for some reason, you know, one
of them drops out, there's still others to take up
that essential function. So having many different kinds of bacteria
is important. And so how do you create diversity in
your gut microbiome? It really is by eating a diverse diet,
(05:17):
because you feed your microbes through what we eat. So
if you take something out of your diet, then the
microbes that use that item you took out will then
die off or be reduced in abundance essentially, And so
if you eat different things, you will support the growth
of different bacteria. So it's really I say it's really
that simple. I could even go more nuanced than that
(05:38):
and say that studies have shown that it's really the diversity.
The biggest drivers the diversity of different plants in your diet.
And I'm not talking about becoming a vegetarian. You can
still be an omnivore, but increase the number of plants
in your diet. And studies have shown that like forty
or more different plants that you consume, and that could
be ranging from grains to salid material, to vegetables to fruits.
(06:01):
Those are all considered plants are key for supporting that diversity.
And so if you really sit down think like what
do I eat in a day, you're probably kind of
getting close to that. You could consider maybe tomato, sauce,
even a vegetable, but really, if you someone really sat
down and thought about how many different vegetables make up
my diet, you know, we might get pretty close, and
(06:22):
then some of us may have to, you know, really
do some work. But then there's also fiber, which is
what you hear a lot about in the use and
you hear a lot of us talk about that. But
that's really vitally important as well, and it's a major
problem in America because we don't eat enough fiber in America,
and the guidance is really about twenty five grams of
fiber a day and the average Americans eating like twelve.
(06:43):
And fiber feeds your gut microbiomen specifically the good microbiota
that produce these byproducts that support gut health. So I say,
you know, a diverse diet with a diversity of plant
material and really focusing on making sure you have twenty
five grams of fiber or more in your are really
key for supporting a healthy gout microbiome.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
And how do you typically get twenty five grams of
fiber per day?
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Well, it's a lot easier these days because now you
even see like these, like these sodas that have nine
grams of soluble inulin, you know, fiber in them. So
you know, but you want a diversity of fibers. We
know that is important to you don't want to off
from one source. So it could be a combination of
ranging from like a really healthy salad, you know, with
(07:27):
a bunch of chopped vegetables and maybe some keen wae
and you know, some grain in it, but some a
lot of vegetables, ranging from a really high fiber type
of bread that maybe you make your sandwich with or
toast or something like that in the morning, grains sometimes
in cereals, and then you always can supplement and those
are everywhere, but you can't do it solely through diet.
But you just want to look on the labels, the
(07:48):
food labels. That's really helpful for determining, you know, the
amount of fiber in in your product.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
And speaking of supplementing, how do you feel about supplements,
Which supplements are worth taking to support your gut health?
Speaker 3 (08:01):
Yeah, I mean that's a continually evolving space and a
very interesting space. So we talk about probiotics, probiotics, and
post biotics. Probiotics are what people hear the most about.
Those are the pills, you know, encapsulated bacteria and different amounts,
different kinds, different formulations, and it's really confusing. And you
(08:23):
go to Whole Foods or whatever it may be, and
there's a whole shelf of probiotics. So the concept with
the probiotic is that you take the organism and it
will colonize your gut and that good micro bowl you know,
will stay there. But that's not actually always the case.
Actually that's rarely the case because when you introduce a
foreign organism, they get out competed by your own bugs
(08:45):
very often, so you have to take them every day.
As soon as you stop, they tend to get out competed,
so it's not always a viable long term solution. But
if you're missing the organism in the pill, then it
does have a chance to colonize. But most people don't
know what they have and don't have, so I say,
you know, the best approach would be to take a
(09:05):
test where you sequence your microbiome, see what's missing, and
then select a probiotic based on what's not there.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
How common is it, though, to take these kinds of tests.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Most people don't. Most people will just go to the
store and buy a probiotic based off of not a
whole lot of guidance, unfortunately, But there is a rational
way to take a probiotic if you can maybe do
the testing before him. But in the absence of that,
what is really important are prebiotics, which is essentially something
you eat that feeds a good bacteria. We already have.
(09:35):
Everyone has good bacteria in their gut. You just want
to make more of them, right, and so prebiotics are
typically considered fibers. But certain types of fibers, and we
call them microbial accessible carbohydrates. So something like an insoluble fiber,
maybe a cilium husk or cellulose in the plant wall,
can't be digested by your microbiome. But it's important for
(09:57):
bulk to keep things moving, which is which is for
gut health. But there's things like inulin pectin that are
metabolized by the gut microbiomes. So selecting fibers that feed
those microbes is what's considered a pre biotic. And then
the newest space is post biotics, which is take the probiotics,
take the bugs out of the equation altogether, and consume
(10:20):
the beneficial metabolites directly that they're making. So for this,
you might think about like a kombucha, and so a
fermented food product is a living food that has microbial
fermentation going on in the jar or the drink or whatever,
and it's producing all these beneficial metabolites and you drink
that directly. So that's sort of the new realm, and
(10:40):
we're trying to figure out how do we better capture
and encapsulate and identify which are the best metabolites to
promote gut health. So that's pre pro post biotics for
gut health. If you can do all three, great.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Super interesting and definitely something to try to think about. Yeah,
so how do you integrate this into your lifestyle? What
about exercise?
Speaker 2 (11:01):
For example?
Speaker 3 (11:02):
You know that's a very emerging area. There have been
studies to show that exercise can shift the microbiome, but
it depends on the type of exercise as well. Are
you running a marathon. We know with long distance, strenuous exercise,
your gut definitely undergoes adaptations related to permeability and things
like that. So of course your microbiota will change. What
(11:25):
we don't know is how transient that is, right, and
so lifting weights will that meaningfully alter your gut microbiome
not as much probably as marathon running because of the
stress put on your body. Metabolically is a little bit different,
and so it's really an open area for research. I
would say that collectively what data is out there doesn't
(11:45):
show a negative effect of diet or exercise on the microbiome,
potentially only positive. But really it's an emerging area.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
And of course your microbiome I'm assuming changes over time
across life stages, whether it's pure prety, pregnancy, menopause. So
what's going on there and what's sort of latest research
on this?
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Yeah, this is a fascinating area. The most dynamic phase
of life regarding your microbiome is really the first three
to five years of life, and this is where you
have so much is evolving during this period, so you're
born sterile essentially in your first exposure to microbes is
(12:28):
from mom. And we used to say it was from
mom's vaginal microbiome if you're born vaginally, or skin or
environmental microbiomes if you're born by c section. But if
we go back to the vaginal birth example, it's really
mom's stool and a little bit of mom's vaginal microbiome
that colonizes the baby. And that's all very natural. That's normal,
that's how it's supposed to happen. And so there's a
(12:50):
well studied succession of what microbes come in first and
the next and how that. But the biggest diversification event
is when a baby goes onto foods solid foods six
months and later. Right, you really see a burst of
microbial diversity. Until that point, no matter where in the
world the baby lives or whatever diet the mom is on,
(13:12):
as long as the baby's on breast milk, the microbiomes
look pretty similar. Once they go onto their native diet,
it changes dramatically, and that's a really fascinating area. And
you can think about associations between why allergies are common
in certain parts of the world and not others, And
there's a lot of study into that. So then from
that weening pioitill about puberty. The microbiomes, whether you're a
(13:36):
male or female, will look fairly similar, but then at
puberty there is another divergent point that happens largely you
would the only difference would be sex. Hormones change at
that point. And what we do know, and what's a
really fascinating area again an emerging area, is that microbes
can metabolize hormones, estrogens androgens, progesterone, and the contribution of
(14:01):
that to our metabolism of hormones is still being studied.
But what essentially it does is when a microbe metabolizes
like an estrogen, it can put it back into recirculation,
so it can essentially potentiate that estrogen in the system,
which in some cases could be good and in some
cases you may not want that. But the contribution on
(14:23):
the whole is maybe about seven to ten percent of
recirculation of the hormones. But we're we still don't really know.
These are hard questions to really truly understand, but we
do know microbes can interact with sex hormones directly and
the long term impact of that. If you think now
fast forward in adulthood, we're pretty stable or microbiome is
pretty stable. You might have day to day differences, but
(14:45):
on the whole it's like a straight line. But then
at aging the studies have shown age sixty and later,
but probably starts around menopause, you start to see divergences more.
At that point, you see diversity decrease, you see the
differences between men and women look less. The menomen become
more similar after menopause. So there's definitely something going on
(15:08):
there with sex hormones and the gut microbiome that we
really don't fully understand yet, but it really should be
studied because there could be opportunities for in you know,
in the postmenopause period to your leverage your microbiome for
either you know, helping the bodies estrogen balance or in
cases like of maybe breast cancer where your estrogen sensitive,
(15:30):
you may not want that recycling of estrogen and you
may want to dampen down those microbes. So there's some
really interesting considerations there.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
That's amazing, very interesting field of work for sure.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
So you've already given us a few, but could you
give us maybe three habits that you feel would help
each of us protect our microbiome?
Speaker 2 (15:49):
What would those be? So?
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Number one, which I did mention already, is a diverse diet.
And the reason why I hound on that one a
lot is because we're in an age of extreme diye
dis There's carnivori diets, and there's really austere vegan diets,
and there's people want to plant their flag and some
extreme diet and the reality is none of those are
good for you. The body wants balance, and so does
(16:13):
your gut microbiome. So diversity of foods and that can
be lean, healthy meats or that's not part of your diet.
There's protein is important, but also carbohydrates and fibers. So
a balanced and diverse diet number one most important thing.
Number two, avoid as much processed foods as possible. Things
like food colorantce like red forty, especially emulsifiers and other
(16:38):
like sweeteners into foods like triolos can really alter the
gut microboob and actually promote the emergence of harmful bacteria
in your gut microbiomes. So try to avoid processed foods.
As much as possible, and then think about adding a
pre maybe a pro if you know what you're missing
in your gut microbiome, or a post biotic, really fermented
(16:58):
foods into your diet. Supplementing, I think is a really
good idea. It would do no harm essentially. But if
you want to encourage the good bugs you already have,
eat more fiber. If you want to try to bring
metabolites into your body, eat more fermented foods. So those
would be my three major tips.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Well, doctor Devkota, so great to talk to you.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
It's really interesting research, probably something pretty heavily overlooked by
a lot of people, so I think this will help
a lot of us. Thanks so much for joining us.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Of course, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
What a great conversation. Here are the top takeaways from today. First,
feed your gut with variety. A diverse diet, especially one
with a wide range of plant foods, supports a diverse microbiome,
which is key for resilience and overall health. Second, limit
processed foods and additives. Artificial colors, mulcifiers, and certain sweeteners
(17:56):
can disrupt your microbiome and promote harmful bacteria. Lastly, incorporate
the quote biotics. There are three types. Probiotics feed your
good bacteria. Probiotics can add beneficial strains to your gut microbiome,
and post biotics, often found in fermented foods, deliver the
(18:16):
helpful compounds those bacteria produce.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Have a great day.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, check out the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Today's episode of Here's Something Good on women's health and
longevity was brought to you by p ANDNG, maker of
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