Gut Balance and the Immune System

The microbe community that resides in the gut develops and changes over the course of many years. This community protects the host (you) from pathogens and plays a big role in digestion, the creation of nutrients, detoxification, and management of the immune system. As the immune system gets managed, it plays the essential role of keeping the body healthy by providing a vital balance between the elimination of invading pathogens and the maintenance of healthy tissue. Due to these connected discoveries, it is believed that gut health can affect general health. For this reason, seeking gut restoration and balance leads to a stronger immune system, amongst other benefits.

The question becomes: how can one accomplish better gut balance, which in turn leads to a stronger immune system? 

First off, it is important to realize that specific - with regards to a specific organ - energy loss, better known as stress, always challenges our ability to stay balanced. The balanced state is commonly termed “homeostasis.” Achieving homeostasis requires us to take in the proper nutrition, be able to digest it, and eliminate the waste. It can then be said that an imbalanced system means the absence of homeostasis and a lack of proper digestion. This will lead to autointoxication, a state where the undigested particles remain in the system. At the point of autointoxication, the immune system becomes challenged, and when left inept for an extended period of time, symptoms such as fever, redness, swelling, pain and loss of range of motion can arise. These symptoms are always accompanied by visceral dysfunction, or the dysfunction of organs.

As we tackle the inflammation response, we automatically restore homeostasis, and the immune system finds its way back to balance. Hence, in order to allow the body to heal itself, it is essential to eliminate the cause of “stress” and to nourish the stressed tissues.  Current evidence indicates a strong immune system can be built if there is a true understanding of the influence of nutrition, digestion, elimination and gut microbe community in homeostasis. 

If you have a desire to strengthen your immune system today, call our office to schedule a digestive assessment.