How to Prevent Gut Infections
Whether you’re hoping to prevent gut infections like helicobacter pylori, dysbiosis, Candida or parasite infections or you’ve already gone through an eradication protocol after a GI MAP stool test and you want to ensure that nothing repopulates in the future, there are some keys ways to prevent gut infections to optimize your gut health.
First, please note that we all have pathogens in the gut. They are not inherently dangerous and having them present does not mean that you will experience symptoms associated with overgrowth. It’s only when an overgrowth of these dysbiotic microbes takes over the population of the gut and begins causing symptoms that it is cause for concern.
Second, it’s important to understand that it’s impossible to avoid exposure to some pathogens but this does not mean that overgrowths are inevitable. Exposure is a normal part of everyday life, and fortunately our bodies are designed to withstand these exposures. We have innate defenses to protect us and keep pathogens from the outside world from proliferating within our inner terrain.
Here are the best five things you can do to prevent gut infections.
Support digestive function
Proper digestive secretions are the number one way we can prevent pathogens from over-growing in our microbiome. There are three main digestive secretions to focus on:
Hydrochloric acid (HCl) is the number one factor in preventing infections in the GI tract. Stomach acid has a pH between 1-5 and 3, which is highly acidic, as is our primary defense for neutralizing pathogens that we come in contact with food, such as protozoan parasites in sushi, bacteria on fruit, ETC. The acidity of the stomach is strong enough to burn through teeth and bones, so by supporting proper stomach acidity, we can ensure that any food-borne pathogens do not survive past the making contact with stomach acid. However, when stomach acid is low, pathogens are left unchecked and are able to make their way into the digestive tract. We recommend utilizing a low-dose HCl supplement taken with meals to promote stomach acid if needed and in addition to the stomach acid promoting techniques we’ll discuss below.
Digestive and pancreatic enzymes are responsible for the chemical digestion of foods in addition to stomach acid and play a key role in the digestion of carbohydrates in particular. Without proper digestion, carbohydrates ferment in the GI tract and dysbiotic bacteria can begin to grow. We recommend utilizing broad-spectrum digestive enzymes and supporting pancreatic enzymes when indicated symptomatically or when Elastase-1 is low on a GI MAP.
Bile production is the third branch of digestive function and is responsible for the breakdown of fatty acids in the digestive system. Promoting liver health and therefore bile production ensures that undigested fatty acids do not travel into the colon where they can rancidify, creating toxicity and ultimately symptoms such as constipation. You can support
Reduce stress factors for reduced HCl
Knowing that HCl is a crucial factor for neutralizing the pathogens we come into contact with via food, reducing factors for the downregulation of of HCl can be beneficial for reducing the factors in your life that create an opportunity for low stomach acid to occur and therefore prevent an opportunity for a gut infection to take place.
Stress and living in a primarily sympathetic state alters the body’s ability to produce stomach acid. Keep in mind that the sympathetic state is our “fight or flight” state and anything we can do to reduce the CNS (central nervous system) from residing in this state long-term is beneficial for digestive health. When the CNS is in a sympathetic state, stomach acid is reduced, digestive enzymes and other gastric secretions decreased, bile is not released from the biliary tract, gastrointestinal motility slows, and digestion as a whole suffers. To reduce overall time in the sympathetic state, include meditation, deep breathing exercise, boundary setting, yoga, EFT tapping, cold therapy immersion, and Parasympathetic essential oils into your regimen.
In addition to reducing overall stress loads, consider reducing stress and promoting a parasympathetic nervous system particularly around meals. Here’s are a few easy things to do as you sit down for a meal to get parasympathetic and promote proper stomach acid production:
Take 5 deep, diaphragmatic breaths before eating
Smell your food
Chew food thoroughly
Slow down when eating
EFT tapping (here’s how to do it)
Eat undistracted from TV, phone, computer, and other electronic devices
Overconsumption of alcohol and processed carbohydrates can also negatively impact stomach acid levels creating digestive dysfunction and a propensity of gut infections. Food sensitivities may also put stress on the body and can impact HCl production in addition to impacting intestinal permeability.
Avoid antibiotic use when possible
Antibiotics are a life-saving medicine that is often over-utilized. Antibiotics kill bacteria by nature, and are prescribed on average to 80% of adults at least once per year, but are not without risks to the composition of the microbiome.
Antibiotics are extremely efficient at their purpose of killing harmful bacteria but beneficial bacteria in the microbiome also become collateral damage in the process. Antibiotics also create an opportunity for yeasts present in the GI tract to overgrow by reducing the beneficial bacteria that serve as a natural regulator for yeast levels in the GI tract. The use of antibiotics increases the risk of a yeast overgrowth by 25-35% each time they are utilized.
The CDC estimates that up to one-third to one-half of antibiotic prescriptions are unnecessary, and antibiotic use is not without risks. Utilizing natural, food-based antimicrobial agents can be a safer solution when considering the need for an antibiotic as a first line of defense, such as garlic, coconut oil, ginger, pineapple, turmeric, and honey. Please note that this is not medical advice and that antibiotics serve an important purpose in life-saving medicine but are not without risks.
Support beneficial bacteria to crowd out pathogens
The microbiome in the GI tract has limited real estate space and competes for space. When beneficial bacteria are plentiful in the GI tract, there is less space for harmful pathogens to take up residence. When beneficial bacteria levels are low, there is a propensity of harmful microbes to take up that real estate and begin to overgrow. We recommend utilizing a spore- or soil-based probiotic to introduce native probiotics rather than transient probiotics which require replenishing every 2-3 days, which is what the majority of probiotics on the market contain. Our go-to probiotics are Microbiome Lab’s MegaSporeBiotic, CellCore’s CT-Spore, and Designs for Health’s ProbioMed, many of which can be purchased through our online supplement dispensary.
Assess environmental risk factors
When possible, make safe decisions on food quality and storage safety to avoid the possibility of consuming food-borne pathogens. When traveling, consider extra digestive support in the form of HCl and digestive enzymes and utilize anti-pathogenic agents when you know that coming in contact with pathogens may be inevitable, such as when water sources may be compromised when traveling abroad. My go-to antimicrobials while traveling include Ayush Herbs’ AP Traveler and Designs for Health’s GI Microb-X, both of which are available via our online dispensary. I do not recommend utilizing bismuth (aka Pepto Bismol) while traveling to prevent traveler’s diarrhea. While this may be beneficial for symptoms, it also reduces stomach acid levels and the purge of diarrhea, although unpleasant, is our body’s natural defense for removing pathogens from the body quickly in the event of food poisoning or pathogen exposure. When we remove the body’s natural ability to do this, pathogen overgrowth may actually be worse than if we had experienced traveler’s diarrhea.
If you’re concerned about gut pathogens already residing in the gut, we recommend a GI MAP stool test to determine exactly what may be present in order to address it effectively. You can learn more about working with us here or joining our Gut Check Program starting in April.
If you’re looking for clinical grade supplements, you can create a free account on FullScript here to access our recommended functional digestive supports, antimicrobials and probiotics.