How Your Gut Regulates Hunger: One Answer is the Gut Bacteria

Feeling hungry? Ever think about what is going on in your gut producing those feelings. It’s a hormone made by the stomach, but it is highly regulated by the overall physiology of your gut, including your gut bacteria, and everything you do to make that bacteria happy will make you healthier.

Bugs in your gut i.e. your microbiome are one factor that contributes to whether you will be normal weight or obese.

These gut microbiome bacteria act as an endocrine organ. The millions of individual bacteria form a complex network that can sense whether you are deficient in certain nutrients, whether you feel full, and whether the energy intake is sufficient.

Once you eat this superorgansim of bacteria help to process and metabolize your food.

During food processing your good bacteria help to keep any harmful pathogenic bacteria from activating.

The bacteria also help us to synthesize vitamins, and more importantly it regulates your body weight. How your food is processed will determine if you have an energy supply or if the food is going to be processed into fat.

About 30% of weight gain in those who are obese is genetically determined. However, healthy weight is more likely to occur in those who have a healthy Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio with lower Firmicutes species relative to the Bacteriodetes.

Healthier eating, lower cholesterol, more exercise all will help to improve of gut microbiota and help with the gut barrier by reducing intestinal inflammation. This then improves the ability of the gut to be an effective barrier to toxins that increase overall inflammation.

For those who want to further enhance the health of their gut bacteria we suggest in addition to prebiotics and probiotics, and some of these have also helped with weight management as well as they can set up even better gut microbiome.

At Women’s Health Practice there are many ways we can help you normalize this as a risk factor for weight gain, come for an appointment.