By Sara Russell, Ph.D., FNTP
A largely overlooked area of health is the balance of our gut microbiota. Important throughout life, it is crucial during preconception and pregnancy. In fact, rebalancing the gut microbiota at this stage of life leads to a healthier pregnancy and a healthier baby! I feel very fortunate to work on the microbiota before the child is even conceived.
What are probiotic microorganisms, and why does it matter?
The human digestive system is a chimera. It’s one part us, one trillion parts them. We supply the long, hollow tube that begins at our mouth and coils for a dozen meters or so inside our abdominal cavity until it ends at the rear. The microbial world populates the tube with enough bacteria and fungi to outnumber our own cells ten to one. (Kate Shanahan and Luke Shanahan, Deep Nutrition p. 144)
You’ve probably read an article or two about the importance of probiotic microorganisms in our bodies and the damage wreaked by imbalances (if you haven’t, check out this article by Michael Pollan). These microorganisms are most concentrated in our intestines, where we have about 3-5 pounds of them but are present throughout our bodies: on our skin, in our sinuses, saliva, etc.
The mix of microorganisms in a woman’s gut is essentially identical to her vaginal flora. The mom passes this on to her baby during vaginal birth.
During late pregnancy, a woman’s vaginal microbiota changes in preparation for birth. More specifically, there is a large increase in Bifidus infantis. This is a probiotic strain that helps babies digest breast milk and assimilate nutrients. It also promotes a healthy immune system.
Benefits of a balanced gut microbiota
Among the most important benefits of a balanced microbiota are:
- Efficient breakdown of food
- Higher availability of vitamins
- Improved neurotransmitter balance
- Protection of intestinal lining
- Immunity: probiotic microorganisms keep our immune system strong and protect us from autoimmune disorders
- Lower risk of a positive group B strep test in late pregnancy
When you balance your microbiota, your baby receives the same benefits, particularly if you deliver vaginally.
The consequences of imbalance
An imbalance in our microbiota (caused by exposure to antibiotics, use of hormonal contraceptives, and unbalanced diet) leads to a number of problems, including:
- Digestive dysfunction, including the poor breakdown of food, constipation and leaky gut syndrome
- Nutritional deficiencies
- Immune dysfunction
When unfriendly microorganisms gain the upper hand, as Candida albicans often do after a round of antibiotics or overindulgence in sugars and starches, they steal the nutrients that are supposed to sustain us and repay us by producing toxins that make us feel sick, clumsy and fatigued. And to add insult to injury, these pathogens send signals to our brain telling us to eat their favorite foods so that they will reproduce more quickly! That’s why people with an imbalanced microbiota often crave sugars and starches, and those with a very unbalanced microbiota tend to be picky eaters.
Degeneration after generation?
Babies in the womb inherit their mother’s microbiota at or shortly after birth, as they pass through the vaginal canal, or in the case of a C-section baby, through exposure to breast milk (if available). C-section babies who are not breastfed inherit the microbiota on their primary caregivers’ skin. While C-section births can and do save lives, they are associated with a higher incidence of chronic and autoimmune illnesses.
With the increasing consumption of sugars and starches and the increasing exposure to antibiotics and hormonal contraceptive methods, it is common for the microbiota to become more unbalanced generation after generation. This leads to a rise in colic, asthma, allergies, reflux and autoimmune disorders in the younger generations. Balancing gut flora before conception and throughout pregnancy helps reverse this trend.
Restoring balance
Of course, there is a lot we can do to improve the balance of our own microbiota along with that of our children and the generations yet to come. The solutions, of course, are as complex as the problem, but here are a few starting points:
- Eat nutrient-dense and properly prepared whole foods that nourish and sustain your body and the beneficial microorganisms.
- Eat a balanced diet, with most of the carbohydrates coming from non-starchy vegetables in a variety of colors. Make sure that your diet includes high-quality proteins, accompanied by the fats they come with in nature.
- Learn to make probiotic foods such as sauerkraut, crème fraîche, kefir and kombucha. One of my greatest heroes is the fermentation revivalist Sandor Ellix Katz. His books The Art of Fermentation and Wild Fermentation contain a wealth of information and recipes.
- Eat foods that feed a diverse and healthy mix of microbes: kiwifruit, chicory root, dandelion root, onions, leeks, garlic and asparagus, gluten-free oats, legumes, Jerusalem artichoke, tigernut, purple potatoes, apples, bananas, yacon powder, and raisins