Your gut microbiome is essential in maintaining a healthy immune system, low systemic inflammation, insulin sensitivity, psychoemotional balance, neurocognitive health, nutrient absorption, metabolism and elimination of toxic compounds, barrier protection from deleterious organisms and proteins and many other crucial functions.
A recent Harvard Medical School study reported that probiotics have been shown to be effective in the treatment or prevention of:
- Diarrhea
- Irritable bowel syndrome
- Ulcerative colitis
- Crohn’s disease
- H. pylori (the cause of ulcers)
- Vaginal infections
- Urinary tract infections
- Recurrence of bladder cancer
- Infection of the digestive tract caused by Clostridium difficile
- Eczema
One of the most fascinating recent discoveries in oncology is the important finding that intestinal microbiome health and diversity is critical in the effectiveness of immunotherapy drugs. Since a robustly functioning immune system is required for our body to be able to prevent and fight cancer, we need to do everything we can to encourage this innate physiology.
Did you know that fecal transplants from healthy individuals into cancer patients with low microbiome diversity has been shown to improve the effectiveness of immunotherapy?
While stool transplants may not become a mainstream therapeutic approach, taking a customized probiotic capsule that improves the diversity of organisms in an individuals’ gut certainly will. This would need to be based on the understanding of what organisms and in what amount constitutes a “normal” or “healthy” gut microbiome.
Advances in next generation sequencing has enabled researchers at University of California San Diego (go Tritans!) to compile a robust microbiome analysis of thousands of individuals, comparing their organisms against their health and lifestyle variables. Read more about the American Gut Project.
Probiotic Concerns:
The AGA Center for Gut Microbiome Research and Education has noted that consuming a one-size-fits-all probiotic is not by itself a means to improving our microbiome diversity. Furthermore, some studies show that taking a one-size-fits-all probiotic may decrease the effectivensss of immunotherapy and impair normal gut recolonization of its microbiome after antibiotic therapy.
Technical issues with probiotics include poor product quality (they often don’t contain the organisms they claim to contain, have low viability of organisms, contain contaminants) or are quickly destroyed by the acid in your stomach.
Your Microbiome is Dependent on Numerous Factors:
- Getting adequate and regular sleep (6-8 hours)
- Managing the impact of daily chronic stress
- Consuming a minimally processed, whole food, plant predominant, low glycemic, organic diet
- Exercise
- Maintaining low visceral fat and high lean muscle mass
- Minimizing explore to drugs that impair gut microbiome diversity
- Consuming foods that are rich in probiotic organisms (fermented foods)
- Genetics and epigenetics (modulated from the factors, above)
Dr. Lawenda’s Favorite Probiotic:
Ideally, you would take a probiotic that increases your gut microbiome diversity based on frequent testing of changes in your organisms over time. The goal is to try to create a microbiome balance in your gut that matches that of the most healthy individuals.
A San Diego-based company, Sun Genomics, has created such a product (Fioré) and it is commercially available.
They produce individualized probiotics for each customer based on their microbiome test results. These unique probiotic formulations include organisms that help create a diverse microbiome, as established by the healthy microbiome profiles identified in the American Gut Project.
Importantly, by retesting your microbiome every 3-months, Sun Genomics is able to continuously reformulate a unique mixture of organisms to help you achieve the desired diversity.
Rigorous quality control and probiotic encapsulation technology help ensure the delivery of all the microorganisms into the gut.
One-on-one phone consultations with their science advisor helps further customize the probiotic for you based on other symptoms you may be experiencing. For example, organisms that have been shown in studies to help address various health issues (i.e. acne, weight gain, fatigue, etc.) can be added to your probiotic.
Included in your purchase is the microbiome collection kit, next generation whole genome DNA sequencing of your gut microbiome, microbiome profile analysis, scientific consultation with a Sun Genomics advisor and a 3-month supply of customized probiotic.
Use This Discount Code To Save $25 Off Your Purchase of Fioré Probiotics
Sun Genomics is offering my patients a $25-off discount when they use the following discount code in their purchase: BL25
Click here to purchase your Fioré kit and probiotics
*This is an affiliate link and discount code offer (your purchase through this link saves you $25 and Sun Genomics sends me a small commission which I apply 100% to the development and maintenance expenses of the IntegrativeOncology-Essentials website, blog and IOE Program).
