To Improve Your Gut Microbiome, Spend More Time in Nature

Germs in us The gut can have a profound effect on our health, but research shows that those around us in our environment—known as the natural environmental microbiome—can also have a big impact. This suggests that we should all spend more time communing with nature, both outdoors and indoors.

I was first introduced to this emerging field of science by Professor Gretchen Dailey of Stanford University. He cites a Finnish research project that showed how letting kindergarten-aged children play in a yard that contained “dirt” from the forest floor had a significant positive effect on their gut microbiome. Seventy young children participated, all living in an urban environment and spending most of their day in different daycare centers around Finland. The difference between them was that this daycare center had three different types of outdoor spaces.

The first type was a fairly standard outdoor playground, consisting of concrete, gravel and some plastic matting. The second was the type typically found in daycare environments that are already nature-based, with grass, soil, and planted areas for children to play. These two served as a control against which to compare the third experimental site, which was covered with concrete and gravel sections of the forest floor and soil from native coniferous forests.

Children were encouraged to play in only one of the three types of yards per day during the 28 days of the experiment (note that some kindergartens have multiple play areas). Before and after playing, the children’s skin and gut microbiota were measured using genetic sequencing of bacteria taken from skin swabs and stool samples, along with changes in T cells and cytokines in their blood. These cells and proteins play an important role in autoimmunity and the prevention of autoimmune diseases; Their levels are often used as an indication of how well the immune system is working.

Significant results emerged. Children who played in experimental playgrounds showed a greater increase in the diversity of microbiota on their skin and in their gut than children who played in urban and nature-based areas. Importantly, these were the “good” types of microbiota—those associated with health benefits. The children also had significant increases in immune markers, indicating they had acquired improved immunoregulatory pathways – indicating a reduced risk of immune-mediated diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease and rheumatoid arthritis.

The importance of this study cannot be overstated. This suggests that even short-term exposure to nature’s microbial diversity has the potential to radically alter the diversity of microbiota on our skin and in our gut. Additionally, it suggests that altered gut microbiota can modulate the function of our immune system.

A healthy microbiome is made, not born

Everyone has one The unique community of microbes in their gut – a person’s ethnicity, the food they eat, antibiotic use, body size and the amount of exercise they all have a distinct signature on their gut microbial diversity. The role of this microbiota community is significant. Our organs can only synthesize 11 of the 20 essential amino acids we need, so the rest, including the 13 essential vitamins, are recovered and synthesized by our gut microbes.

And these microbial communities don’t just help our gut extract nutrients from food. Microbes produce some of the most important compounds for our health, including immuno-suppressive, anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory compounds. They appear to be involved in our immune system, central nervous system function and related health outcomes, so that clear links have been found between specific gut microbiota – the so-called “sick” microbiome – and certain illnesses. Individuals with a distinct gut microbial signature include those with irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, celiac disease and colorectal cancer as well as non-intestinal disorders such as obesity and type 2 diabetes.