70% of global adult population suffer from chronic digestive issues be it constipation, bloating, diarrhea & even serious conditions such as Crohn’s disease & Ulcerative Colitis.1 million people suffer from Ulcerative Colitis globally & it has lot to do with imbalance in our gut microbiome- more of bacteroidetes & less of firmicutes. Let us discuss the mechanism of gut inflammation that causes Ulcerative colitis.
Our gut is a composition of various gases including hydrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, nitrogen in various concentrations. Hydrogen & methane are two combustible gases forming part of normal colon. Our gut metabolises the food we eat & converts into various metabolites- both non-gaseous & gaseous. Short Chain Fatty acids released from fermentation of dietary fibre & microbiota accessible carbohydrates (MAC) are non-gaseous, provides 70% of energy to our gut & improve our metabolism & required nutrients for our body to thrive. On the other hand, our gut also release gases such as Hydrogen & Carbon Dioxide which are said to be harmful if released in excess. These gases when produced in required proportion are released through flatulence (80%) & Breathing (20%). It is when our dietary composition & choices makes our gut microbiome release excess hydrogen causes digestive issues & chronic diseases such as IBD, constipation, Diarrhea, Crohn’s diseases & Ulcerative Colitis.
This excess hydrogen is either taken up by Archaea (capable of producing methane &/or sulphate reducing bacteria (SRB) depending upon composition of our gut microbiome. The growth & activeness of these both set of microorganisms depends upon our dietary choices & also impact our colonial transit time.
A high protein diet is linked with excess hydrogen production & leads to release of methane gas depending upon the existence of Archaea in our gut.
However if we consume a lot of foods high in sulphate such as Broccoli, Cabbage, Brussel Sprouts, dried fruits, nuts such as almonds & hazelnuts & even additives & preservatives, you may be making SRB active in your gut.
Sulphate reduction & methanogenesis are mutually exclusive events in our large intestine & depends upon availability of sulphur/consumption of foods high in sulphur.
Let us discuss Sulphate reducing bacteria(SRB) in detail. SRBs are present in the gastrointestinal tract of humans. They can influence our gut environment since they are not only reducing the Sulphate & converting into Hydrogen Sulphide but also competing with other microbes for nutrients. These bacteria can actually cause system wide inflammation & damaged intestinal mucosa.
When we consume a lot of cruciferous vegetables, dried fruits, Sausages, nuts, fatty foods, cow’s milk, Cheese, Eggs( these three milk products have 80 mg/100 g of sulfate) & even processed foods, it changes our gut microbiome composition & leads to intestinal dysbiosis, resulting in irritable bowel disease, cancer & diabetes.
Most of the sulphate in our body comes from food preservatives used in production of bread, wine, meat & dried fruits.
These SRB utilizes excess Hydrogen released when we consume these foods & converts Sulphate in Hydrogen Sulphide. In reduction of sulphate, lactate, pyruvate, malate, succinate and acetate donates electrons which are used to convert sulphate into hydrogen sulphide.
High amount of Hydrogen Sulphide (H2S) is associated with formation of Ulcerative Colitis. Hydrogen Sulphide concentrations in healthy individuals vary from 0.3 to 3.4 mmol/l. Ulcerative Colitis is classified into proctitis, distal colitis and pancolitis (the whole colon). Symptoms are abdominal cramping, stool loosening and diarrhea. When the disease is more progressive, affected individuals lose weight, feel fatigued, appetite loss, rectal bleeding, fever and anemia. The reason people feel fatigued & loss of energy is because our colonocytes get 70% of energy from Butyrate & H2S prohibits Butyrate oxidation.
When you are suffering from Diarrhea & possibly Ulcerative colitis, your stool will be very watery & probably gut transit time will be very fast devoting you to essential nutrients & leading to malabsorption of nutrients.
Balancing your gut microbiome with dietary intervention based on your unique biology can help you modulate release of harmful cases & make SRB less active, thereby eliminating the risk of Ulcerative Colitis. You need to focus on including food in your meal plate that increase the release of short chain fatty acids & reduce release of Hydrogen since excess hydrogen is either converted into methane & leads to IBD-C & /or colon cancer or into hydrogen sulphide & can leads to IBS-D &/ or Ulcerative Colitis. If you are suffering from frequent bloating, constipation & even having watery stool, probably standard & fad diets are playing a spoil sport. Hop on for a free discovery call here to learn how you can personalise your nutrition choices based on your unique biology to eliminate inflammation.
Sources: https://biomedres.us/pdfs/BJSTR.MS.ID.000606.pdf
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2090123220300527
