Bacteria in the gut and mouth could shed light on your stroke risk.
Hippocrates is often credited with saying that all disease begins in the gut.
If he did say it, he was way ahead of his time.
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But did you know that the gut isnt the only place in your body with a microbiome?
Your skin has its own microbiome.So does your mouth.
Even the act of chewing your food is part of the digestive process.
Your mouths microbiome is similar to your guts, and the two microbiomes influence each other.
(Thats called a bidirectional relationship.)
When one is imbalanced, theres a good chance the other is, too.
This means that theres a connection between your microbiome and these conditions, as well.
But theres another condition that doesnt seem to garner quite as much attention: stroke.
The Microbiome-Stroke Connection
Your microbiome is loaded with trillions of both beneficial and potentially harmful bacteria.
How Was the Study Conducted and What Did It Find?
There were 250 total Japanese participants in this study with an average age of 70.
About 40% of them were female.
The 250 participants were split into two groupsthe test group and the control group.
Specifically:
How Does This Apply to Real Life?
and that it could be used to calculate stroke risk.
He feels that targeting the harmful bacteria might be able to prevent strokes.
Maintaining healthy oral hygiene habits can help.
Brush at least twice a day and floss at least once daily.
Drink plenty of water to help keep your mouth clean, andavoid beverages with added sugar.
venture to get to the dentist for regular cleanings and checkups every six months.
Beyond oral health, other health habits are also all connected to inflammation and chronic disease.
Its also important to get and maintain healthy gut and oral microbiomes.
This involves eating plenty offermented foods, including yogurt, kefir, kimchi, sauerkraut, miso and tempeh.
These foods add probiotics, which are beneficial bacteria, to your mouth and gut.
Because probiotics are living organisms, they need to eat to thrive and reproduce.
This is where prebiotics come in.
Prebiotics arefibers that probiotics love noshingon.
Theyre found in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds and legumes.
The good news is that you could pretty quickly improve your gut health.
This dietitian-approved weeklongGut-Healthy Anti-Inflammatory Meal Planwill show you howand you’ve got the option to get started today.
This is because different areas of the world have different strains of bacteria.
Do this by eating plenty of fermented foods and prebiotic foods.
Engaging in healthy habits will also help support your microbiome and reduce inflammation and your risk of disease.
Smythe P, Wilkinson H.The skin microbiome: current landscape and future opportunities.International Journal of Molecular Sciences.
- doi:10.3390/ijms24043950
Banerjee A, Mohapatra S, McCullough L.Stroke and the microbiome.Stroke.
