• For better digestion, start with what’s on your plate: Diet plays an outsized role in shaping digestive health and comfort.
• That said, the highly interconnected nature of the digestive system means that there are plenty of lifestyle habits that can help improve digestion, as well…
• Regulating sleep, reducing stress, walking after meals, taking a probiotic, and checking before flushing can all make a difference. 

Diet is considered the primary modifiable factor in digestive health. What goes in dictates what comes out—and what happens along the way.

But eating plenty of fiber and fermented foods isn’t the only way to support the mechanical and microbial engine that is your GI system. Consider these additional strategies for supporting digestive health beyond food, from regulating your sleep timing to exploring your local park:

1. Aim to go to bed and wake up at the same time.

Prioritizing a consistent sleep schedule (going to bed and waking up at the same time each day) isn’t just good sleep hygiene—it’s a powerful cue for your gut. 

Many organ systems in your body run on a daily circadian clock, shifting outputs gradually throughout a roughly 24-hour cycle. (Your blood pressure, for example, tends to dip during the night and be highest in the late afternoon.)¹ Your digestion is no different: The various stops along your digestive highway—from your stomach to your colon—depend on a strong circadian rhythm to function reliably.²

For example, early research suggests that circadian rhythm disruption is associated with an imbalance of the gut microbiome—which could pave the way to digestive discomforts (think: gas, bloating, and uncomfortable bathroom visits).³ Going to bed and waking up at the same time helps synchronize your internal circadian clock with external light-dark cycles, which benefits your gut health.

2. Take a probiotic with targeted strains for digestive health.

Regularly taking a probiotic can help fortify your gut with beneficial bacteria not commonly found in food. DS-01^® Daily Synbiotic is scientifically validated to deliver live and active bacterial strains to the gut microbiome, where they can interact with your resident microbes to confer health benefits to their host (that’s you!).* 

EXPLORE FURTHER: Med-Lock vs. Other Probiotics for Gut Health: Why Science and Quality Matter

The microorganisms in DS-01^® have been scientifically validated to support gut-barrier integrity, provide relief from intermittent constipation, and help ease occasional bloating.*^4,5 Think: Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus strains that help strengthen the gut barrier so it can offer protection against pathogens and pro-inflammatory molecules.

The formula pays off in results you can feel (and see). As one Med-Lock member, Lilliana, notes, “I really started to notice a difference in my regularity and bloating about 3 or 4 weeks into [taking DS-01^®], while I was on a girl’s trip… My energy levels were fantastic, my regularity was great, and everything just felt good.”

3. Build out your stress-management toolkit.

When your body perceives it’s in danger—whether from an actual threat or just a nerve-wracking work presentation—it shifts into fight or flight mode, triggering a cascade of physiological changes that downregulate digestion via the gut-brain axis. 

During the stress response, blood flow is redirected away from the gut, digestive activity is reduced, and your transit time may slow to a halt.^6,7 In essence, your digestive system hits pause so your body can deal with the perceived emergency. Over time, this can increase one’s risk of GI conditions and discomforts. 

But here’s the encouraging part: the gut-brain axis is bidirectional, so relieving stress can also have positive impacts on the gut. Something as simple as taking slow, deep breaths has been shown to quickly quell the stress response, potentially benefiting digestive health.⁸ And there’s compelling evidence that stress-reducing exercises like yoga, when practiced regularly over time, can ease GI symptoms.⁹

Beyond the tried-and-true practices like yoga, breathwork, and meditation, you can play around to find a stress management toolkit that works for you. (Check out some ideas from our Science Communications team below!)

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4. Take a 10-15-minute walk outside after meals.

Taking a walk outside after eating is a one-two punch for digestion: Walking for 10-15 minutes after meals can help move food through the digestive system more efficiently, staving off gas and bloating.^10,11 Doing so out in your local park or green space may deliver even more benefits, since engaging with nature has been shown to increase diversity (a key element of resilience) in the gut microbiome.¹² 

Beyond exposing us to a tapestry of commensal bacteria, spending time in natural environments is known to reduce psychological stress, further supporting gut health. It’s all connected!¹³

5. Always look before you flush.

You get a report card on your digestion at least three times a week (and some people get one up to three times a day). It’s sitting in your toilet bowl. 

Your stool can deliver valuable insights into how food is—or isn’t—moving through your digestive tract. Reference this guide to decoding your poop and identify what its shape, size, color, smell, and even buoyancy says about your digestive health, as well as how to take targeted action as needed.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):

What helps digestion immediately after eating?

Going for a brief 10-15 minute walk can help kickstart the digestive process on a strong note. Walking can cause your abdominal muscles to contract, moving food through your digestive system and accelerating gastric emptying.¹⁰ And the internet doesn’t call them “fart walks” for nothing: There’s some evidence that a post-meal walk can reduce gas and bloating, too.¹¹

Is having good digestion genetic?

Some elements of digestive health are genetic. For example, your genes can influence your levels of certain digestive enzymes and help lay the foundations of your gut microbiota composition.^14,15 Genetic factors also play a role in your susceptibility to certain digestive diseases.¹⁶

That said, other elements of digestive health are within your control. Eating a gut-healthy diet, taking a high-quality probiotic, and following the aforementioned lifestyle practices—consistent sleep, physical activity, and stress management—all positively impact digestion, regardless of your starting point.

If you’ve made changes to improve digestive health and are still experiencing unexplained discomfort, schedule a visit with a doctor who can run clinical tests to rule out underlying issues.

The Key Insight

Regulating sleep, reducing stress, walking after eating, taking a probiotic, and looking before you flush are all ways to build digestive health and all that comes with it: Regular and comfortable bowel movements, minimal gas and bloating, steady energy levels, and stable and reliable hunger cues. 

The post 5 Ways to Improve Digestion (That Have Nothing to Do With Food) appeared first on Med-Lock.

Med-Lock is honored to have him as our Chief Medical Officer. Needless to say, when Dr. Kassam talks, we listen. And when he shared his top protocols for determining probiotic efficacy, you can bet we took diligent notes. Here are the four “D’s” of his approach to analyzing a probiotic:

The Med-Lock Digest:

• The most effective probiotics for broad-spectrum benefits offer a diverse array of strains, utilize targeted delivery, include prebiotics to fuel microbial growth and function, and are backed by rigorous testing.
• Many products on the market fall short in at least one of these areas. They don’t survive digestion, lack microbial diversity, or make unsupported claims about their formulas. 
• Formulated with 24 diverse strains, a reliable ViaCap® delivery system, and a potent prebiotic from Indian pomegranate, DS-01® Daily Synbiotic is different. The synbiotic has been validated across four randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials for gut and whole-body health outcomes.*

1. Diversity

Diverse environments tend to be more resilient. This is true whether you’re talking about a forest, a backyard garden, or the wonderfully wild landscape of the gut. Diversity ensures that if one species is lost or disrupted, others can step in to fill its role.

In the gut microbiome, Dr. Kassam explains, having a diverse array of bacterial strains is vital for resistance against pathogens, and loss of microbial diversity (dysbiosis) can be associated with compromised immunity.^1,2 Most probiotics are only formulated with a handful of bacterial strains, affecting their functionality and resilience.

It’s also worth noting that within each species of bacteria, there can be hundreds or even thousands of specific strains, each with its own effects. Some probiotic companies only disclose the species they use and not the strains, leaving customers without a key piece of information.

The Med-Lock Difference:

DS-01® Daily Synbiotic is formulated with, count ‘em, 24 different strains of bacteria that you won’t commonly find in yogurt or fermented foods and drinks. 

These bacteria span a wide genomic diversity (35,000 unique microbial genes) and include strains that have been scientifically shown to promote a range of whole body benefits, from easing bloating and intermittent constipation to promoting gut barrier integrity and a strong immune system.*^3,4,5

EXPLORE FURTHER: So, You Just Started DS-01®. Now What?

This is one reason why many people who take DS-01^® notice a variety of positive changes (beyond gut health). “When I take the Med-Lock probiotic, I can tell that it’s working. I can feel it. My skin feels better. I don’t feel bloated. I am going more regularly. The other probiotic that I was on, I didn’t experience that,” says one Med-Lock member, George.*

“Now that I’m on  DS-01^®, I feel so light,” says Med-Lock member, Megan. “I feel like I have more energy… I’m able to go do all the things that I want to do.”*

2. Delivery

Imagine you’ve just mailed a birthday package to your best friend, filled with a heartfelt note and a gift you’re sure they’re going to love. But the post office delivers it to the wrong address, and your friend never gets it. 

That’s basically what goes down when a probiotic isn’t properly formulated to withstand the journey through your digestive tract. Even the best strains aren’t worth much if they don’t get where they’re supposed to go, Dr. Kassam explains. 

As live organisms, probiotic bacteria are sensitive to factors like heat, oxygen, light, and moisture. En route to your colon, these good bugs must travel through your stomach: a highly acidic environment that kills most microorganisms. Some research shows that just 20–40% of probiotic bacteria survive the journey, depending on the strain, delivery method, etc.⁶

The Med-Lock Difference:

DS-01® is designed to ensure it makes it to its final destination intact. Its unique delivery system, the ViaCap®, contains an outer capsule that protects against oxygen, moisture, heat, and acidity to keep the microbial matter inside safe from disruptions. This outer capsule begins to dissolve once it makes it through the stomach and into the small intestine, transporting bacterial strains to the colon, where most of your gut microbiota reside.

EXPLORE FURTHER: Following the Journey of Your Food: From Eating to Excreting

Using a fermentation model that simulates all the compartments of the GI tract (SHIME®), we’ve demonstrated that the ViaCap® is able to withstand the harsh conditions of the stomach and protect the probiotic organisms on the way to their target site, ensuring a smooth delivery for your precious cargo. 

3. Do-Gooders

Prebiotics are non-living substrates that nourish gut bacteria and allow them to grow and thrive. These prebiotics—or “do-gooders” as Dr. Kassam calls them for the sake of this mnemonic—feed probiotics so they can do their job effectively. In the process of digesting prebiotics, probiotics also produce secondary compounds like short-chain fatty acids, which have whole-body benefits of their own (stimulating the production of dopamine, supporting a healthy inflammatory response, and promoting a strong gut barrier, to name a few.)^7,8,9,10 

EXPLORE FURTHER: Prebiotics 101

In essence, taking a probiotic that doesn’t contain a prebiotic is a bit like using a phone without a charger. There’s no guarantee it will have power when you need it most. 

The Med-Lock Difference:

DS-01^® is a symbiotic; a combination of probiotic bacteria and prebiotic substrates derived from the fruit and skin of Indian pomegranate.*¹¹

4. Data

Unlike pharmaceuticals, probiotic supplements don’t need to be rigorously tested on humans before they hit the market. This creates a fast track for rapid innovation and development, but it also opens the door for some products that are built on shaky (or non-existent) science.

As Dr. Kassam explains, “Most probiotic companies don’t do clinical trials and they very rarely interrogate the deep biology of why a probiotic works.” As of 2024, only about 16.7% of the 100,000+ supplements on the market had undergone clinical trials.^12,13

Instead, companies will make claims based on studies that have previously been conducted on the individual strains in their product. This is less than ideal for a few reasons. For starters, there’s no guarantee that these studies were conducted in humans. They could have been done on animals or cell cultures. Second, strain-level testing is not indicative of how a product works on the whole. There’s the possibility that its ingredients won’t confer the same benefits when combined, or that their impacts will differ from person to person.

The Med-Lock Difference:

If other companies study their products under a magnifying glass, we look at ours using the equivalent of the world’s best microscope. We conduct deep genomic sequencing, randomized controlled trials, and detailed safety testing on  DS-01^®. And we’re committed to continuing to test the product against new claims, so we can say with certainty what it is and isn’t scientifically validated to do.

EXPLORE FURTHER: How Med-Lock Is Setting a New Standard for Probiotics Research

So far, we’ve conducted four randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials on  DS-01^® in humans, demonstrating how the synbiotic impacts a wide range of health metrics, down to deep biomarkers like urolithin A and butyrate. This testing has revealed that DS-01^®: 

• Supports comfortable and regular bowel movements in people who experience occasional digestive discomforts.*¹⁴
• Promotes gastrointestinal resilience and supports healthy gut barrier function following temporary disruptors.*⁴
• Increases the production of butyrate (a key short-chain fatty acid for immunity and metabolic health) in individuals with low baseline butyrate levels.*
• Increases the production of urolithin A—a metabolite that supports cellular repair and regulates key biological processes associated with longevity.*

The Key Insight

Every time you read about the “trendy” new probiotic to hit the market, remember the four D’s: Diversity, Delivery, Do-Gooders, and Data. We formulated DS-01® Daily Synbiotic to tick off all of these boxes and then some. The result is a clinically validated, scientifically grounded, and intentionally designed synbiotic that delivers real impacts people don’t want to go without. 

“I can’t see a time when I won’t be taking DS-01®, at least for the foreseeable future,” says Med-Lock member Melissa. “Experiencing the benefits that it’s offered my body has really been life-changing.”

The post A GI Physician’s Top 4 Tips for Choosing a Quality Probiotic appeared first on Med-Lock.

• Everyone sweats, but how much you produce depends on factors like your age, environment, and emotional state.
• Sweat-related body odor develops when the bacteria of your skin microbiome metabolize sweat and create fragrant compounds in the process.
• Switching up your antiperspirant use and bathing routine can help support your skin microbiome while keeping BO in check.

What compound is constantly protecting you from pathogens, regulating your body temperature, and keeping your skin moisturized? Yep, sweat does all this and more—all while nourishing your all-important skin microbiome.  

Let’s dig deep into the science of sweat (and its associated scents) and learn why the stuff we spend so much time hiding is actually liquid gold. 

What’s in Your Sweat?

Sweat is 99% water, but it also contains small amounts of electrolytes, including sodium and chloride (ions that create that salty taste and play a crucial role in fluid balance) and potassium (which supports normal cell function). Traces of metabolic waste products, lactate, glucose, minerals, amino acids, and antimicrobial peptides can also be found in each droplet.^1,2,3

Most of this sweat escapes your body via roughly two to four million eccrine sweat glands.² This is the main type of sweat gland that’s active starting at birth and is largely responsible for thermoregulation.^2,4 (As sweat evaporates from the skin’s surface, it releases heat to reduce your body temperature.)⁵ Fun fact: Your body is always secreting sweat. It may just be too little to notice until the body starts to heat up and sweat gland activity increases.⁶

Beyond helping us cool down, sweat contains antimicrobial peptides that fend off pathogens on its way out, reducing the risk of skin infections.² It also helps maintain the acid mantle (a thin protective layer of the skin’s surface that limits the growth of harmful microorganisms) and keeps skin moisturized and hydrated.^2,7

In general, the parts of your body that have the highest concentration of sweat glands tend to be the sweatiest. The palms of your hands and soles of your feet are packed with eccrine sweat glands (roughly 250 to 700 glands per square centimeter). The head, forearms, and back also have a high proportion of sweat glands and are common perspiration producers too.^2,4,6,8 

The Bacteria Behind BO

Sweat is often associated with strong stenches that make your nose wrinkle. But in reality, sweat itself doesn’t smell.⁹ What gives? 

Your skin microbiome has a lot to do with it. Reminder: The skin microbiome is the collection of more than 600 species of bacteria, fungi, and viruses that reside on and in the three main layers of human skin (epidermis, dermis, and hypodermis). As you break a sweat, some of these bacteria break down the components of the perspiration. In the process, these microbes produce smelly volatile organic compounds (VOCs) like volatile fatty acids and thioalcohols.^10,11 Hello, body odor.

One common bacterium behind BO is Corynebacterium, which produces certain smelly volatile fatty acids as it metabolizes sweat.^9,11 The more of this bacterium living on your skin, the more body odor you’ll likely have.¹⁰ Meanwhile, the Staphylococcus epidermidis living on your feet can degrade the leucine in your sweat into the foul compound isovaleric acid.¹² And the Staphylococcus hominis in your armpits produces pungent sulfur-containing thioalcohols.¹³ 

Your sweat tends to smell when it pools out of apocrine sweat glands—a second type of sweat gland located in areas such as the armpits, chest, face, scalp, and genitals. These glands become active during puberty and are associated with hair follicles, home to sebaceous glands that secrete oily sebum.² 

Interestingly, the skin microbiome can also affect your sweat’s color, though this is rare. In the case of the condition chromhidrosis or pseudochromhidrosis, sweat can become yellow, green, blue, or black due to a build-up of a pigment in the sweat glands, potentially triggered by certain drugs that alter the microflora on the skin surface.^14,15 

Why Some People Sweat More Than Others

No two people produce the same amount of sweat. Your personal output in any given moment depends on your sweat glands, the temperature and humidity of your environment, your activity level, hormones, health conditions, medications, and more. 

Age and weight may also influence your sweat production. Older adults have been found to produce less sweat per gland than younger adults, and folks with higher body mass may have higher sweat rates.² Then there’s genetics. For example, a mutation of the ABCC11 gene, common in East Asian populations, causes sweat to remain trapped inside cells where bacteria can’t break it down. People with this mutation have little or no body odor.¹⁶

Your emotional state can make or break your sweat and smell status, too. During times of emotional stress (such as anxiety, fear, or excitement), the body activates the sympathetic nervous system, which in turn stimulates apocrine sweat glands.⁸ Upon activation, apocrine glands secrete a thick, milky fluid rich in proteins and lipids.² This secretion, while initially odorless, can develop a noticeable, distinct smell upon interaction with skin bacteria.

There’s a dose-response relationship between stress intensity and stress sweating, so the greater the stress, the greater the sweat.¹⁷ No wonder the blazer you wore to a job interview needs a dry cleaning.

Since the composition of the skin microbiome is such a strong driver of body odor, some researchers are now investigating whether applying probiotics (non-odor-causing bacteria) to the skin can help subdue stench. An armpit bacterial transplantation—which removed the armpit microbiome from a person with BO and replaced it with bacteria from the armpit microbiome of a donor without BO—has even been completed, though this procedure still needs to be validated before it goes mainstream.¹⁰

Don’t Sweat It

Sweating is a normal and essential bodily function, and it’s nothing to be ashamed of. That said, there are a few ways to help support your skin microbiome that may also keep perspiration and BO in check.

Cleanse well, but not too often. 

Cleaning the skin is a balancing act. Doing so too often can strip the skin of lipids and moisture, potentially leading to irritation, skin barrier impairments, and microbiome disturbances.¹⁸ But prolonged periods without showering can allow populations of bacteria, fungi, and other microbes to grow and skin cells to build up—an accumulation that may lead to body odor and skin conditions like acne and (more rare) dermatitis neglecta.¹⁹ 

Your game plan: Shower after sweating to shed any compounds that can contribute to bacterial overgrowth and acne. Make sure to use a gentle, non-antimicrobial cleanser and avoid water that’s too hot in order to maintain the skin’s natural oils and prevent disruptions of the skin microbiome.

Don’t go overboard on antiperspirants or deodorants. 

Antiperspirants minimize your sweat production (and, in turn, smells) by plugging sweat glands with ingredients like aluminum chloride. Deodorants use fragrance to offset your body odor. Often, these two products also contain antimicrobials that shift the skin microbiome and curb the growth of stink-inducing bacteria.²⁰ 

That said, overusing deodorants and antiperspirants may lower the microbial density of the skin microbiome, opening up space for new (and potentially pathogenic or odor-producing) bacterial species to take hold.^8,21 Apply these products sparingly, and chat with your healthcare provider or dermatologist if you’re looking for specific recommendations.

Chat with your healthcare provider. 

Some folks may experience excessive sweating due to the overstimulation of certain receptors on eccrine glands, a disorder known as hyperhidrosis. The condition affects roughly 3% of the US population. If you’re sweating excessively from the eccrine glands (usually the palms, soles, face, and head), and your symptoms have lasted longer than six months, speak with your healthcare provider for a personalized treatment plan.²² 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

• How do you keep your skin microbiome healthy? In general, using gentle, non-antimicrobial cleansers, minimizing stress, spending time outdoors, and eating a plant-rich diet can support the health of your skin microbiome. For more details, check out our Skin Microbiome 101 guide.
• Why causes BO to be stronger than usual? Body odor may smell stronger if your skin microbiome contains more of the specific bacteria that break sweat down into smelly volatile organic compounds. 
• Does sweating improve skin health? Yes! Eccrine sweat glands secrete moisturizing compounds (like lactate, urea, sodium, and potassium) that help maintain skin hydration, as well as antimicrobial peptides that fight skin infections and control skin flora.³ 

The Key Insight

Perspiration is nothing to sweat about: It has many benefits for your health. Your sweat (and associated smells) are a reminder of your body’s incredible ability to self-regulate. So let’s add sweating to the ranks of farting and pooping and make it something to celebrate rather than hide.

The post The Science of Sweat, Smells, and the Skin Microbiome appeared first on Med-Lock.

• Seasonal allergies can have many causes. Genetics, age, environment, and microbiome health can all affect the severity of symptoms.
• Are your allergies getting worse? It could be due to a mix of internal and external factors (hello, global warming). The microbiome of your gut, nose, and lungs may also play a sneaky role. 

Once spring hits and seasonal allergies flare, you might blame your scratchy eyes and stuffy nose on your neighborhood’s oak trees and ragweed. But your outdoor environment is just one part of the equation. Your ecosystems within—that is, your gut, nasal, and lung microbiomes—influence seasonal sniffles too. 

Here’s how the microbiomes of your body might affect your allergy risk and what you can do to ease symptoms. Plus, why climate change’s impacts on allergies are nothing to sneeze at.

Why You Suffer From Seasonal Allergies

Seasonal allergies (allergic rhinitis) occur when your immune system overreacts to airborne allergens, often pollen from trees, grasses, and weeds. 

When inhaled, these pollen particles land on the mucous membranes of the nose, eyes, and throat. Some people’s immune systems mistakenly identify them as harmful invaders and release immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies to fight them off.¹

These antibodies are safe for the body in low amounts. But, after repetitive exposure, they cause a cascade of uncomfortable localized symptoms, including sneezing, runny nose, itchy eyes, and congestion.

Some people breeze through allergy season without a sniffle, thanks to their genetics. Their upbringing likely plays a role, too. The hygiene hypothesis suggests that exposure to certain microorganisms early in life can help prevent allergies later. Exhibit A: Living in a farm environment during childhood has been shown to protect against allergy development.^2,3,4,5

Age also matters, to an extent. Seasonal allergies often kick in during childhood.⁶ However, shifts in environment, immune function, and microbial health can also trigger allergies later in life.^7,8

How the Microbiome Influences Allergies 

Seasonal allergies aren’t just about pollen. The microbiomes of the body—particularly in the gut, nasal passages, and lungs—may play a role in their progression.

Gut Microbiome

The gut microbiome and its compendium of bacteria, viruses, and fungi play a supporting role in your body’s immune responses. These microbiota are in constant communication with your immune system through a variety of pathways. 

When in a state of balance, the gut microbiome helps to prevent overreactions to harmless substances like pollen. It does so by balancing the activities of certain immune cells (Th1 and Th2), regulating the production and breakdown of histamines, and facilitating “cross-talk” between your intestinal and immune cells.^9,10,11 

The gut microbiome also acts as a security system for the rest of your body. When functioning properly, it maintains a tight intestinal barrier that prevents harmful substances from leaving the gut and entering the bloodstream. When compromised, the gut barrier may allow more irritants to pass through, potentially triggering an immune response and exacerbating allergies.¹² ​

Certain gut bacteria also produce short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) like butyrate and acetate, which can help provide energy to immune cells, contribute to intestinal barrier integrity, and reduce inflammation associated with allergic reactions.¹³

It is now widely accepted that when your gut microbial communities are in a state of imbalance (dysbiosis), it can make you more susceptible to allergic reactions (as well as other conditions like autoimmune disorders, asthma, and inflammatory bowel disease).^13,14

Nasal Microbiome

Your nasal passageways are home to more than just snot. They’re teeming with bacteria that form a barrier from the germs, pollution, and other irritants you might breathe in daily. 

In times of health, nasal microbiota outcompete pathogens and keep them from traveling deeper into the respiratory tract.¹⁸ However, certain bacteria in the nose may be linked to increased nasal inflammation and allergy risk.¹⁹

One 2024 study found that children with allergic rhinitis tended to have higher levels of Staphylococcus bacteria in their nasal microbiomes than non-allergic kids.²⁰ Adults with allergies have also been shown to have greater amounts of Staphylococcus bacteria in their noses.²¹ 

These are early findings, and more research is needed before we can definitively say that any type(s) of nasal bacteria directly influence allergy symptoms.

Lung Microbiome

The lungs used to be considered “sterile” (free of microorganisms) in healthy states. However, unlocks in microbiome sequencing have revealed that the lungs do contain bacteria, viruses, and fungi, just in lower quantities than other organs.²² 

Your airways house bacteria like Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, and Proteobacteria, which can affect health and disease risk. Namely, an increase in Proteobacteria in the lungs has been associated with allergies.^22,23

The lung microbiome tends to share characteristics with the oral microbiome, as material “migrates” from one to the other.²² Preliminary research also shows that the lung microbiome may share immunological functions with the gut.²³

Aerobiome

The air you breathe carries its own invisible hitchhikers. The aerobiome is made of bacteria, fungi, viruses, spores, and—you guessed it—pollen that it picks up from soil, vegetation, bodies of water, and human activities. The exact makeup of the aerobiome depends on factors like land use, vegetation cover, and pollution levels.^24,25,26 

Areas with diverse vegetation tend to have a more varied aerobiome, impacting the types and quantities of allergens present. In the spring, allergenic pollen released from plants like grasses and oak, maple, and birch trees can make up a major component of the aerobiome—hence why a trip to the park may set off your symptoms.²⁷ 

Air pollution can influence the structure and function of the aerobiome, too. According to fascinating ongoing research, airborne pollutants like particulate matter (PM) and nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) can make pollen more “allergenic,” or likely to cause an allergic reaction.²⁸

These pollutants—which can be emitted by gas cars, power plants, and even wildfires—alter the chemical composition of pollen grains, damaging their surface and causing them to release more pesky allergens into the air. 

Why Your Allergies Are Getting Worse

If your allergies have been worse than usual lately, you’re not alone. It’s tough to track if seasonal allergies are getting more severe across the board since most symptoms don’t result in emergency room visits or medical care.²⁹ 

However, there is a consensus that climate change is making allergy season last longer. With spring temperatures rising due to human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, some plants are producing pollen earlier in the year. Meanwhile, fall temperatures are also warmer, extending the length of the growing season for plants like ragweed.³⁰ Between 1995 and 2021, ragweed pollen season across the U.S. and Canada lasted 1–3.5 weeks longer on average.³¹

At the same time, rising carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere are also fueling allergens. Higher levels of CO₂ emissions and air pollutants can increase pollen production in plants, specifically ragweed and grasses.³² Many climate models predict that pollen production will continue to increase as the planet warms—potentially doubling by the end of this century.³³

5 Tips for Allergy Relief

While there is no “cure” for seasonal allergies, there are ways to ease symptoms—some of which tap directly into your body’s microbial defenses. Follow these tips to keep sniffles to a minimum this (seemingly infinite) allergy season and beyond:

1. Minimize your exposure. 

Allergy symptoms tend to be worse on dry, windy days when pollen levels are high and subside when rainy weather washes pollen out of the air. Check your area’s pollen forecast and, on high-pollen days, stay indoors and keep your windows shut. If you’re spending time outside, shower and change your clothes once home to prevent prolonged exposure. Using a HEPA filter in your home and car may also help reduce the amount of allergens you’re exposed to.^30,34 

2. Tend to your gut microbiome with probiotics. 

Reminder: A healthy gut microbiome can help regulate immune responses and reduce allergy severity. You can start to build gut diversity and resilience by eating a variety of fiber-rich plant foods. Research suggests that foods containing the flavonoid quercetin (such as onions, apples, grapes, and berries) may be especially effective at minimizing allergy symptoms.^35,36

Probiotics can also be a part of your game plan. Certain probiotic bacteria appear to regulate immune response and curb the production of inflammatory cytokines—signaling molecules produced by cells of the immune system that promote inflammation.³⁷ In turn, they’ve been shown to significantly reduce nasal symptoms and improve quality of life during peak hay fever season, per a 2016 systematic review and meta-analysis.³⁸ 

For example, certain Lactobacillus strains have been found to decrease allergic rhinitis symptoms such as congestion, itching, and sneezing.³⁹

3. Keep stress in check. 

Not only can chronic stress directly aggravate allergic conditions, but it can also disrupt the gut via the gut-brain axis, a two-way telephone line between the gut and nervous system.⁴⁰ And, as shown, imbalances in the gut ecosystem can further exacerbate allergies. Bake in self-care practices like diaphragmatic breathing, yoga, and journaling.

4. Try nasal irrigation. 

After being outdoors on high-pollen days, consider using a nasal irrigation device to help flush irritating allergens from nasal passageways with saline water. Make sure to use water that’s distilled, sterile, or previously boiled.⁴¹

5. Chat with your doctor.

Depending on your symptoms and individual needs, your healthcare provider may recommend an over-the-counter or prescription medication for allergies. 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

• How can I get rid of allergies? You can’t, but you can ease their symptoms by protecting your gut microbiome with probiotics and fiber-rich foods, reducing the amount of time you spend around your triggers, keeping your nasal passageways clear, and consulting your doctor if needed. 
• Are allergies genetic? Yes, to an extent. People with a family history of allergies have a higher risk of developing them. That said, your specific triggers may shift depending on your environment.⁴² 
• What causes allergies? Allergies are complex. Genetics, age, and the environment you grew up in vs. the environment you now spend time in can all affect your risk. Imbalances in the gut, lung, and nasal microbiomes may also contribute to allergies, though we need more research before we can say exactly how. And a final PSA: Climate change is making allergy season longer, and it will likely continue to do so as long as greenhouse gases continue to accumulate in the atmosphere. 

The Key Insight

It’s not in your head: Allergy season is getting longer and more severe due in part to climate change and air pollution. The microbiomes of your body can help support your immune system wage defense against pesky pollutants. Tend to your microbial health and support efforts to combat climate change to help ease symptoms now and down the road.

The post How to Get Your Microbiome Ready for Allergy Season appeared first on Med-Lock.

• Our gut microbiome seems to lose some beneficial bacteria as we age, which may make us more susceptible to disease.
• Researchers are now exploring whether supporting gut diversity through diet, lifestyle, and targeted interventions like probiotics could help us live longer, healthier lives.

While we tend to obsess over the visible signs of aging, most of its impacts are unseen. Some are downright microscopic. 

“As part of the aging process, we know that there are many things in our body that change—and the microbiome is no different,” says Eran Segal Ph.D, a computational and systems biology researcher at the Weizmann Institute of Science and member of Med-Lock’s Scientific Board. 

Dr. Segal’s Human Phenotype Project studies these changes with unparalleled precision. Over the next 25 years, this large-scale study will track the health data of more than 10,000 individuals (ages 40–70). Dr. Segal and his collaborators take a “multi-omics” approach, meaning they collect participants’ genetic, metabolic, and immune markers and sequence their microbiomes to form a complete picture of how their entire body—down to its resident bacteria, fungi, and other microscopic organisms—ages over time. 

Using this expansive dataset, they can make distinctions between a person’s chronological age (how much time has passed since their birth; how old their body actually is) and their biological age (how much physiological function they have lost; how old their body acts like it is).¹ Fascinatingly enough, the gut microbiome seems to be a key mediator between the two.

How the Gut Microbiome Changes With Age

As our bodies undergo senescence (the biological process that contributes to growing old), our cells accumulate DNA damage, our metabolic rate decreases, our blood vessels lose elasticity, and our immune system weakens.^2,3,4,5

The community of microorganisms in our guts evolves, too. The exact “microbiome signature” of aging is still a mystery, but compared to younger individuals, older adults seem to lose some bacterial diversity or experience shifts in microbiome composition, with certain beneficial species becoming less abundant.^5,6 

Without these beneficial bacteria, the gut has fewer built-in defenses and is more susceptible to being overtaken by harmful species. The ensuing state of imbalance (dysbiosis) is associated with various age-related issues, including increased inflammation, reduced immune function, and higher disease susceptibility.⁵ 

Dr. Segal and his collaborators use this signature of aging to predict a person’s chronological age by looking at the gut microbiome. 

“The predictions are not perfect,” he caveats, “meaning that for some people, the model thinks that their chronological age is older than their real age.” In cases like these, the microbiome is in a sense aging faster than the rest of the body.

Why would this happen? Some older people experience drastic decreases in their appetite and intestinal function, which could be one cause.⁷ This reduces their ability to absorb nutrients from their food and cuts off an essential fuel source for beneficial bacteria in the gut.

Sex differences could also play a role. In one recently published study, Dr. Segal and his team focused on pre-menopausal and post-menopausal women of the same chronological age. Their findings revealed that those who had undergone menopause had a significantly older biological age, suggesting that hormonal shifts may accelerate certain parts of the aging process.⁸

Environment matters too.^5,9 One study found that those who lived in a long-term residential care facility tended to have less microbial diversity than those who resided in a neighborhood community.¹⁰ 

Clearly, no two microbiomes age exactly the same way. Like wrinkles, grey hairs, and laugh lines, microbial shifts are personal and likely caused by many factors. 

This leaves Dr. Segal and other microbiology researchers with a potentially groundbreaking question: Does having a “younger” microbiome increase one’s longevity, and lower their risk of dying from age-related disease?

Inside the Guts of “Super-Agers”

Getting older doesn’t always need to mean getting sicker, as shown by research on “super-agers,” or people who reach old age while remaining physically and mentally fit.

Early research on centenarians shows they may actually have more bacterial diversity in the gut than younger adults, replete with a highly personalized array of species.^11,12 This suggests that the microbiome continues to evolve as we age, ideally becoming more unique to us with each passing decade.

Bacteria that often decrease in the elderly, such as strains of Christensenella (associated with metabolic health) have been found in higher amounts in semi-supercentenarians (105–109-year-olds). Bifidobacterium (important for digestion and immune support) and Akkermansia (linked to gut barrier health and lower inflammation) also seem to be relatively abundant in those who reach very old age.^5,13,14

These shared bacterial fingerprints suggest that specific microbes, or the balance of specific microbes, might have anti-aging properties. But we need more research to be sure.¹³

What This Means for Your Longevity

To recap, we know that the gut microbiome changes as we age. Some of these changes are associated with health and longevity; others with disease.

However, it’s not clear whether microbial shifts are causes of age-related declines or merely consequences of them.

“I think the key question is between correlation and causality,” Dr. Segal says. “The fact that we see changes… a skeptic could say ‘Sure—but those are a byproduct of the aging process and if you were to alter the microbiome it would not have an effect.’ I think it’s a fair criticism.”

To untangle cause and effect, researchers like Dr. Segal are starting to adjust participants’ microbiomes to take on “younger” qualities and then studying how these changes impact their risk of developing age-related issues. 

“It still remains to be seen and proven that such an intervention will also improve overall health,” Dr. Segal says. However, decades of work in the microbiology field make him suspect it will. 

He points to the fact that certain bacteria in the gut make metabolites (such as short-chain fatty acids) that get circulated in the bloodstream and help regulate inflammation.¹⁵ It stands to reason, then, that adjusting the production of these metabolites would also impact the inflammatory response—a key pacemaker of aging. 

“By altering the microbiome and making it ‘younger,’ we can probably affect the circulating metabolites of people to more resemble somebody who’s younger—and that might have health benefits,” Dr. Segal says. 

This could have massive implications for human health and longevity. “In the future, we may be able to ‘treat’ our microbiomes in a personalized, targeted way to promote healthier aging and potentially extend lifespan,” says Jennie O’Grady, a Senior SciComms Specialist at Med-Lock.

Such treatments could include diet modifications, fecal transplants, and probiotic supplements that contain bacteria that typically decline with age, such as Bifidobacteria.

Your Healthy Aging Gameplan

In the not-too-distant future, you may be able to pop into your GP for an influx of anti-aging bacteria. In the meantime, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has found that the following five key habits can add healthy years to one’s life.¹⁶ It’s no surprise that many of them are also known to promote a more diverse and resilient gut microbiome too:

1. Maintain a healthy diet: Get the daily recommended amounts of vegetables, fruit, nuts, whole grains, polyunsaturated fatty acids, and omega-3 fatty acids. Limit red and processed meats, beverages with added sugar, trans fat, and sodium. 
2. Get regular physical activity: The NIH recommends at least 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity a day, or 3.5 hours a week.
3. Watch your alcohol consumption: Low-risk alcohol consumption is typically defined as one drink or less per day for women or two drinks or less per day for men.¹⁶
4. Don’t smoke: That encompasses cigarettes, pipes, and cigars.
5. Maintain a healthy body weight:  The NIH defines “low-risk” body weight as a BMI in the 18.5 to 24.9 kg/m2 range.

Each one of these five healthy lifestyle factors significantly lowers the risk of total death, death from cancer, and death from heart disease according to NIH research. 

Naturally, some aspects of lifespan are beyond our control. Genetics play a role in how long we live (but research suggests they account for only about 25% of the equation), as does the environment we reside in and the healthcare we have access to.¹⁷ 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How does the gut microbiome change with age?

The latest microbiome sequencing research tells us that as we get older, our gut microbiomes may become less diverse and less abundant in certain beneficial bacteria. But this isn’t the case for everyone: Some centenarians have more bacterial diversity in the gut than younger adults. 

How does the microbiome affect aging? 

Researchers are still trying to figure that out. It’s possible that maintaining a more diverse microbiome high in certain species can actively reduce the risk of age-related issues and diseases, but they can’t say that for certain just yet.

What gut bacteria is associated with longevity? 

The longest-lived people among us tend to have diverse microbiomes that are high in bacteria such as Akkermansia, Bifidobacterium, and Christensenella. It’s unclear if these microbes are a driver of longevity or a result of it. 

The Key Insight

Aging may be inevitable, but how we age could be more flexible than we think. The gut microbiome is emerging as a potential player in longevity—one we can nurture through diet, lifestyle, and targeted interventions like supplements.

While researchers work to untangle correlation from causation, one thing is clear: caring for the microbiome might just be one of the most promising ways to care for our future selves.

The post The Microbiome’s (Contested) Role in Longevity appeared first on Med-Lock.

Here, our SciCare team () digs into the science behind daily probiotic use, including why sticking to the same strains every day isn’t just okay—it’s essential for long-term results.

SciCare is our team of experts who answer all your science, health, and product-related questions. Have a question of your own? Email scicare@med-lock.com.

Do your probiotics colonize the gut?

There’s not much scientific evidence to support the claim that the bacterial strains in probiotics permanently “colonize” or “live in” the gut—or that colonization is necessary for benefits to occur.¹ 

Instead, these strains are transient, meaning they work as they travel through your digestive tract.² Along this hours-long journey, they interact with your resident microbes (particularly in your colon) on their way out of the body. These interactions are what lead to benefits including regularity, ease of bloating, and immune support. 

Once they’ve done their job, probiotic strains don’t linger for too long; most will stop appearing in stool just one to four weeks after consumption ends.¹

Think of probiotics as travelers moving through an airport. They cooperate with TSA and gate agents (think: your local cells and microbes) and help them do their jobs better, munch away on energizing snacks (that’d be prebiotics), and hop on a plane with a one-way ticket to their final destination (aka your toilet bowl).

These travelers will continue to have a positive impact on your gut microbiome (and, in turn, whole-body health) only when they are continuously used.

If gut bacteria diversity is the goal, shouldn’t I be cycling my probiotics?

The gut microbiome is a complex ecosystem sprawling with trillions of microbial cells.³ In general, the more types of bacteria that dwell in this community, the stronger and more resilient it will be.

Most of your bacterial diversity accumulates very early in life. You receive your first big shipment of microbes from your mother during childbirth (either via the vaginal canal or the skin in cesarean births) through a process known as med-locking.⁴ From there, you may also pick up new strains as you breastfeed, have skin to skin contact, begin to eat solid foods, and interact with the microbes in your environment. By the time you’re around 3 years old, your gut microbiota begin to stabilize and become less prone to massive shifts.⁵ 

EXPLORE FURTHER: How Does the Infant Microbiome Develop?

We now know that taking probiotics doesn’t tend to directly and meaningfully add new species to your relatively fixed, or “steady-state” microbial environment. This means that cycling your probiotics (taking a new one every few weeks or months) won’t necessarily lead to a more diverse microbiome. 

Can my body become dependent on DS-01^®?

Nope! Taking certain non-essential supplements can cause the body to stop producing these substances on their own. However, you don’t naturally produce your own probiotics, so there’s no risk of becoming dependent on them. 

Do I have to keep taking DS-01^® forever?

We designed DS-01^® as an ongoing daily protocol, but how long you decide to take it is entirely up to you. Just remember: Since probiotics are transient, once you stop taking them, their bacteria (and their beneficial interactions) won’t remain in your system.

In the case of DS-01^®, these benefits come from 24 probiotic strains not commonly found in yogurt, supplements, or fermented foods and beverages. These strains have been clinically and scientifically validated to:

• Support production of compounds like short-chain fatty acids, which are associated with a balanced immune response and gut health.^6,7*
• Support multiple markers of gastrointestinal health, including regularity and bowel movement frequency, stool quality and consistency, and digestive discomforts like bloating.⁸*
• Promote a healthy gut environment through the maintenance of tight junctions.⁹*

Do probiotics “stop working” after you take them for a long time?

While we recommend continuous, daily use of DS-01^® Daily Synbiotic, we recognize that everybody is unique and your personal experience with the product may change over time. 

After all, many other factors (e.g., lifestyle, genetics, environment) can influence gut health and function—probiotic supplementation is just one piece of the puzzle. It’s also worth noting that some of the ways that DS-01^® interacts with the microbiome don’t always lead to noticeable changes (though that doesn’t mean the product isn’t working).

If you’re no longer satisfied with the effects you’re experiencing, you might try a “wash-out” period. For example, you could pause DS-01^® for a month, then try reintroducing it again. During this period, you can evaluate how other changes to your routine affect markers of digestive health, like poop frequency, bloat level, etc. 

The Key Insight

The bacterial strains in DS-01^® Daily Synbiotic promote whole-body health benefits thanks to their interactions with local cells and microbes in the digestive tract.* Since probiotics don’t colonize the gut (and your body won’t become dependent on them), they are safe and effective to take long-term.

We receive and answer questions like these every day. Stay tuned for more SciCare roundups on Cultured and if you have any questions of your own, email us at scicare@med-lock.com.

The post Ask SciCare: Should I Be “Cycling” My Probiotics?  appeared first on Med-Lock.

• Humans constantly exchange microbes with each other. Transfers occur every time we shake hands, hug, or just sit in the same train.
• The bacteria, viruses, and fungi we share can go on to shape our microbiomes in both positive and negative ways.
• Our microbiomes tend to be most similar to the people we spend the most time with—from family members and romantic partners to roommates and coworkers.

When you come into contact with another person, you swap more than just pleasantries and gossip. You share microbes—bacteria, viruses, and fungi that are invisible to the naked eye.¹

Picture that your body is home to the world’s largest lending library, with trillions of books being checked in and out at all times. Roommates, friends, neighbors, and fellow commuters constantly leave you with new and potentially transformative titles to sift through. Your health, like any great archive, is a community effort. The microscopic lifeforms you pick up from others can help shape the various microbiomes of your body—from your gut to your lungs—and form a blueprint of how you navigate the world. 

Let’s explore how your microbiome tells the story of your relationships—from the fleeting to the forever.

The Benefits and Risks of Microbial Transfer

People who physically spend more time together tend to have more similar microbiome compositions, demonstrating that close interactions facilitate the transfer of microorganisms.^2,3

Microbial swaps happen every time we shake hands, hug, kiss, sneeze, or talk closely to another person—either through direct skin-to-skin contact or airborne transfer.⁴ When we touch surfaces in public spaces (door handles, grocery carts, etc.), we can also indirectly pick up microbes that others leave behind.⁵ Most of these microbes do not colonize or persist in our systems long-term, though some can.

Most of us are already aware of the potential negative consequences of these exchanges: Bacteria, viruses, and fungi that cause disease (germs) can spread from one person to another through direct and indirect contact. Horizontal gene transfer (any spread of genes that don’t pass through a parent to their offspring) is also a primary driver of antibiotic resistance.⁶

However, the vast majority of the microbes we get from other people are harmless, and some are beneficial, as demonstrated in these examples:

• Microbial transfer can enhance bacterial diversity in the gut: Some microbiomes of the body—most notably, the gut—function best when they contain many different species of bacteria. This makes sense when you consider the library analogy again: The more types of books you have on your shelves, the more likely you are to find one you want to read at any given moment. Bacterial diversity in the gut imparts you with a wider array of traits you can leverage to maintain a strong, resilient internal environment, and it’s often linked to improved digestion, immune system function, and metabolic capabilities.⁷ “Maintaining healthy social connections may play a crucial role in supporting a balanced and diverse gut microbiome,” explains Jennie O’Grady, a Senior SciComms Specialist at Med-Lock. This is yet another reason that loneliness and social isolation can be so insidious to health: When we keep to ourselves, we miss out on the microbial offerings of others. 
• Microbial transfer can help protect us from disease: In some cases, the addition of commensal bacteria in a diverse microbiome can outcompete pathogens for space and nutrients, preventing them from establishing themselves in the body and spreading disease.⁸ Exposure to diverse microbes also plays a crucial role in training and regulating the immune system.⁹ Different bacteria have distinct molecular patterns that are recognized by immune cells through pattern recognition receptors.¹⁰ The more these cells are trained to differentiate harmless from harmful foreign microbes, the better they’ll become at attacking the bad guys and letting the good guys through.

The Ties That Microbially Bind You

Here are just a few examples of relationships that have scientifically validated impacts on the microbiome. 

Roommates

Research shows that the more time you spend with someone, the more bacteria you share. It’s no surprise that people living under the same roof often have very similar microbial profiles, with an average of 12 to 32% of bacterial strains in the gut and mouth in common.¹¹

Even cohabitants who don’t cross paths much still exhibit similarities, likely due to the indirect exchange of microbes in their environment. We shed millions of microbial cells from our skin, gut, and respiratory tracts per hour, leaving an invisible mark on doorknobs, blankets, utensils, and anything else we touch.^4,12 

Even the most diligent of cleaning routines can’t wipe these microbial fingerprints away entirely, so it’s no wonder that you and your roommate seem to always get sick at the same time. 

Neighbors

“People who live in the same village tend to have more similar strains of gut bacteria compared to people from different villages, even if they are not from the same household,” Dr. O’Grady explains.¹¹ This is likely because neighbors tend to not only come in contact with each other but also share certain resources like water and food. They are also exposed to the same environments, and they can have microbial exchanges in shared spaces like parks and grocery stores. 

In one detailed microbiome sequencing of 1,787 adults within 18 isolated villages in Honduras, researchers concluded that these communities exhibited “social niches,” with neighbors who spent the most time together possessing the most similar bacterial species and strains. The most social members of the villages also tended to have microbiomes that were representative of their communities as a whole.¹³

Friends (and Friends-of-Friends)

Every time you grab dinner or go on a walk with a friend, you exchange microbes. Research shows that acquaintances who greet each other with a handshake or hug tend to have increased microbial exchange and kisses on the cheek have the highest strain-sharing rate. Your gut microbiome might not only reflect your friends but also their friends, with second-degree social connections influencing strain sharing as well.¹³

Romantic Partners 

Romance unlocks entirely new ways to exchange microbes . Just consider that approximately 80 million bacteria are transferred per 10-second smooch, according to research on hetero- and homosexual couples. This minging of microbes from the tongue, hard palate, soft palate, cheeks, and lips may serve an evolutionary purpose: Chemical cues from a person’s mouth (including those produced by bacteria) may subconsciously clue you into their mating potential.¹⁴ Sex is another bacterial smorgasbord for the oral, vaginal, penile, and even gut microbiomes.

Couples who live together tend to have more shared microbial profiles. Although, married couples who report being “somewhat close” to each other have less similar gut microbiomes than those who feel they are “very close,” indicating that the quality of the bond matters too.^3,15

Parents

No relationship is as microbially meaningful as the one between a mother and child—particularly during the first year of life. Mothers pass on microbes to their offspring during childbirth (either via the vaginal canal or the skin in cesarean births) and then through skin-to-skin contact and breastfeeding, establishing the infant’s microbiome.^11,16

While our microbial landscapes change and evolve as we get older, we never completely “outgrow” this initial exposure. Some research shows that the average 30-year-old retains 14% of their mother’s original bacterial strains, and the most highly persistent strains are still present by the time we hit our eighties.¹¹ 

Fathers/parents who did not give birth can also share microbial similarities with their children—though they are likely the result of spending time together and/or living under the same roof. Families with dogs may share even more skin microbiota (with the furry friend acting as a microbial transporter of sorts) and pet ownership in general is associated with greater skin microbiome diversity.^15,17

Siblings 

Biological siblings usually have more similar gut microbiomes than unrelated individuals—likely due to the presence of strains passed down by a shared mother and shared early-life environments. Living with an older sibling—especially during early childhood—can also significantly influence the diversity and relative abundance of bacteria in the respiratory and gut microbiomes.¹⁸ Cohabitating twins and siblings who are close in age seem to have even more strains in common (though this number tends to go down the longer they live apart).^11,19

Coworkers and Co-commuters

Like roommates, coworkers who share an office can frequently transmit microbes to each other via high-touch surfaces.^5,20 Keyboards and bathroom faucet handles seem to have particularly high bacterial counts in the work microbiome.²¹ 

Your commute is another source of microbial exposure, especially if you take public transit. Based on samples of the Mexico City Metro (Sistema de Transporte Colectivo), we know that surfaces like handrails, seats, horizontal and vertical poles, hanging grips, and walls within train cars all harbor microbial communities, and commuters’ skin microbiomes tend to have more microbial diversity and species richness following a ride. Even if these surfaces are frequently cleaned, research shows that certain microbial communities can reestablish within minutes.²² 

The subway microbiome seems to shift in response to the weather, seasons, and even the time of day, offering a glimpse into transportation systems’ history.^23,24 For example, researchers found marine-associated bacteria in a NYC subway station that had flooded during Hurricane Sandy years earlier.²⁵

Microbiome Care Is Community Care

Research demonstrates the (many) ways we share microbes every day—from when we wake up and turn on the coffee machine to when we take a train home from work and spend the evening catching up with family. This means that taking care of your own microbiome is also a way to take care of those around you.

Here are just a few ways to foster balance for the sake of your microbiome, your health, and your loved ones:

• Promote gut diversity by eating a wide range of nutrient-rich foods, and prioritizing fiber, prebiotics, monounsaturated fats, and fermented ingredients.
• Spend time outside every day, seeking out microbially diverse greenspaces whenever you can. 
• Foster meaningful social relationships and prioritize in-person meetups.
• Take (or gift!) DS-01^® Daily Synbiotic for gut and whole-body benefits. The two-in-one probiotic and prebiotic formula delivers 24 clinically and scientifically studied probiotic strains to promote gut health that’s worth sharing.*
• Opt for gentler products over antibacterial cleaners and bleaches so you don’t wipe out the “good” bacteria from your home environment.

EXPLORE FURTHER: Routines Over Resolutions: 12 Healthy Habits for Your Microbiome

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How is our microbiome shaped by family, friends, and neighbors?

People who spend more time together tend to have more similar microbiomes due to frequent microbial exchanges through physical contact, airborne transmission, and shared surfaces and environments. While this facilitates the spread of pathogens in some cases, it can promote beneficial diversity in others. 

What can people do to maintain a diverse and balanced microbiome?

To promote diversity in the gut microbiome, consume fiber-rich foods, minimize disruptors like alcohol and stress, drink plenty of water, and get regular physical activity. (But a quick PSA: Not all microbiomes of the body benefit from diversity. The vaginal microbiome, for example, functions best when dominated by a single bacterial genus, lactobacillus.)

The Key Insight

Your microbiome isn’t just yours—it’s a living archive of handshakes and hugs, shared meals and subway rides. While not every microbial exchange is a welcome one (looking at you, flu season), the vast majority are harmless—or even beneficial. So, the next time you gather with friends or loved ones, take comfort in knowing that you’re not just making memories. You’re making microbiomes.

The post How Your Relationships Influence Your Microbiome appeared first on Med-Lock.

The Med-Lock Digest:

• Some sodas claim to support gut health due to reduced sugar and added prebiotic fiber.
• By and large, these are healthier options than normal sodas. But the amount of prebiotics in a can may not be enough to lead to health benefits.
• These sodas can be a part of a well-rounded diet, but you should rely on whole foods and supplements to hit your prebiotic goals. 

Gone are the days when soda was synonymous with cavities and blood sugar spikes. Healthified versions are now being formulated with protein, adaptogens, and today’s focus: prebiotics. 

Prebiotic sodas are often marketed as gut-friendly alternatives to classic pop. But can soda ever really be “good” for you or your microbiome? 

The Claim: “Drinking soda with added prebiotics can boost your gut health.”

These days, most soda aisles contain options with added prebiotic fibers (often sourced from chicory root, agave, or Jerusalem artichoke). Prebiotics act as fuel for certain microbes in your gut, and they can help support beneficial gut bacteria like bifidobacteria and lactobacilli in some cases. 

Formulated to scratch the same itch as regular soda, prebiotic-infused sodas are often lower in calories and sugar. Popular brands contain 5 grams of sugar and 50 calories or less per 12-oz can (compared to the 39 grams of sugar and 150 calories found in traditional pop).¹

People have been drinking these alternatives up ever since they hit the scene around 2015. However, the market for them recently hit new heights: Google searches for “prebiotic soda” and “healthy soda” have steadily climbed over the last five years, and in 2023, the global probiotic and prebiotic soda market was valued at more than $443 million.² (For context, the global market for kale chips—a classic “healthified” snack—was $181.6 million in 2023.³) One prebiotic soda brand is fresh off a star-studded commercial campaign, while another was just named one of Time’s 100 most influential companies.⁴

The hype may be fueled by the drinks’ nostalgic flavors (classic cola, root beer, and banana cream, to name a few) and an increasing public interest in reducing sugar intake (particularly from beverages) and improving gut health and digestion.^5,6

The Context: These sodas may not contain enough prebiotics for benefits.

Here’s something you won’t necessarily find on soda can labels: the expert consensus definition of a prebiotic, set by the International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP).⁷ It clarifies that a prebiotic is “a substrate that is selectively utilized by host microorganisms conferring a health benefit.” 

Put simply, to qualify as a prebiotic, a compound must be selectively used by certain gut microbes in a way that benefits the host’s (that’s you!) health. Prebiotics primarily support beneficial bacteria, and their overall impact on the microbiome should contribute to well-being, rather than promoting the growth of harmful microbes.

To recap, in order for an ingredient to be classified as a prebiotic, there needs to be a scientific demonstration of three qualities:⁷

• It’s resistant to digestion in the upper GI tract. It should reach the colon intact, without being broken down by stomach acid or digestive enzymes.
• It’s fermented by intestinal microflora. Once in the colon, a prebiotic should be fermented by gut bacteria, producing beneficial byproducts, like SCFAs.
• It’s selectively utilized. It should stimulate the growth and/or activity of specific intestinal bacteria that are associated with positive health outcomes, such as bifidobacteria and lactobacilli. It should not significantly feed harmful bacteria or pathogens.

According to ISAPP, it takes the regular, repeated intake of at least 3 grams of prebiotics per day to confer positive health benefits to a host. A daily dose of at least 5 grams is typically recommended to see an effect in adults.¹¹

Here’s where assessing whether a soda contains enough prebiotics to be effective gets tricky: You won’t find prebiotic content listed on a nutrition label. It gets lumped into a product’s fiber content. And while most prebiotics are fibers, not all fibers are prebiotics. 

Most of the popular prebiotic sodas on the market contain 2-9 grams of fiber per can.

Generally speaking, if a product’s fiber comes from sources such as inulin, fructooligosaccharides (FOS), or galactooligosaccharides (GOS), it’s likely primarily prebiotics. However, if the fiber source is unspecified or includes non-prebiotic fibers, the prebiotic count may be significantly less than what’s listed, potentially below the 3-gram threshold set by ISAPP.

Another factor to consider when assessing a soda’s impact on the gut: its sugar and sweetener content.

Healthier sodas contain around 5 grams of added sugar on average.; 10% percent of the FDA’s recommended daily value (based on a 2,000-calorie diet).¹² This is a pretty modest amount if you’re only drinking one serving a day, though it can add up once you crack open multiple cans.

It’s important to keep sugar in check because too much of it can harm your gut health by reducing gut barrier integrity and contributing to dysbiosis.^13,14 It’s been linked with an increase in the abundance of Proteobacteria (a phylum of bacteria that contains many pathogenic species) in the gut and a decrease in Bacteroides (which is linked with maintaining gut health and producing beneficial metabolites). Added sugar can also promote an inflammatory profile in the gut over time.¹⁴ Alternative sweeteners, in particular, may negatively affect the composition and functioning of the gut microbiome, and the gut bacteria’s ability to break down dietary fiber and produce beneficial short-chain fatty acids.^15,16

The Cultured Check: Sip on, but don’t stop there.

If you enjoy drinking a prebiotic-packed soda every once in a while, there’s no reason to stop. 

The trendy beverages are a source of prebiotic fiber, which can help beneficial bacteria produce byproducts like SCFAs and ultimately create a stronger, more resilient microbiome (when consumed regularly and in adequate amounts). They also contain eight times less added sugar than a traditional soda, and—perhaps most importantly—taste pretty darn good. We also appreciate that they help spotlight the critically important microbial community living in your gut.

That said, sipping prebiotic sodas is unlikely to make a meaningful difference in your gut health. The amount of prebiotics in a can may not be enough to lead to health benefits, and the added sugar may pile up, depending on how many servings you consume and what the rest of your diet looks like. 

Your best bet for a healthier gut is to focus on regularly eating whole, plant-based foods—specifically a diverse range of fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, grains, and fermented options—to keep your microbiome balanced and less vulnerable to opportunistic pathogens. 

While the best way to get fiber is through the diet, the best way to get verifiable prebiotic benefits is through supplementation. Taking a science-backed synbiotic (a combination probiotic-prebiotic) ensures you’re receiving clinically validated amounts of the organisms your microbiome needs to thrive on a consistent, daily basis.

Med-Lock’s fast-acting synbiotic, DS-01®
Daily Synbiotic, is formulated with 24 clinically studied probiotic strains and a prebiotic component (derived from the fruit and skin of Indian pomegranate) to further support comfortable and regular bowel movements in people who experience occasional digestive discomforts.* 

DS-01®
Daily Synbiotic contains ingredients that have been shown to do the following in just two weeks:

• Reduce intermittent constipation*
• Reduce abdominal bloating*
• Allow for easier, more comfortable bowel movements*

The Key Insight

When included in a well-rounded diet, prebiotic sodas can be a tasty, satisfying treat. However, a strong, resilient microbiome isn’t built on bubbles alone.

The post Cultured Check: Are Prebiotic Sodas Actually Doing Anything For Your Gut? appeared first on Med-Lock.

Meet your skin microbiome. This unseen shield defends the largest organ of your body from UV rays, pathogens, and toxic substances. It safeguards your internal organs, prevents dehydration, and even helps dictate your immune response. And yes, it impacts your skin’s texture, tone, and appearance, too. 

Here’s your game plan for building a strong, resilient, and balanced skin microbiome—no intensive facials or pricey regimens required.

What Is the Skin Microbiome?

The skin microbiome is the collection of microorganisms that reside on and in the three main layers of human skin (epidermis, dermis, and hypodermis).^1,2 

More than 600 species of microbes have been identified in this ecosystem, including 174 new-to-science species of bacteria as well as a cadre of mostly harmless fungi and viruses.³ 

The skin microbiome forms an invisible shield between you and your environment, preventing harmful substances and chemicals from penetrating your body. 

If you were to map out your entire skin microbiome from head to toe, you’d find a highly varied topography. Regions of dry skin, such as the forearms and palms, tend to have greater microbial diversity than more oily (or “sebaceous”) areas like the face and back.^4,5 Under a microscope, these sites can be “likely as ecologically dissimilar as rainforests are to deserts,” researchers say.⁴

The skin’s thickness, lipid content, and density of hair follicles and glands can all affect the types of microbes that are able to survive on it.

Outside of major changes such as puberty, the composition of the skin microbiome tends to remain generally stable.⁶ However, the degree of stability varies depending on the body part. The skin on your foot, forearm, and behind your knee, for example, tends to be more diverse and likely to change over time.^4,6 

How the Skin Microbiome Impacts Whole-Body Health

You can think of skin microbes as boots-on-the-ground soldiers protecting you from intruders and sounding the alarm whenever potential threats approach. Here are just a few reasons this microbial landscape is so essential:

1. It helps fight infection and manage inflammation: Beneficial microbes can create a slightly acidic skin environment that is not conducive to the growth of many pathogenic bacteria.⁵ They can also produce or trigger the release of antimicrobial peptides that further inhibit harmful species’ growth.^5,7 Furthermore, your skin microbes are lucky enough to have a direct communication line to your immune cells. This means that once they come in contact with a potential threat, they’re able to help modulate how your immune system reacts to it.⁸ Commensal (good) bacteria can signal immune cells to maintain a balanced response, reducing inflammation and preventing overactions that can lead to skin conditions (more on those below).
2. It speeds up wound recovery: When disruptions do occur on the body’s surface, a resilient skin microbiome can help us recover from them. Some species of bacteria, such as Lactobacillus reuteri, may expedite wound healing by modulating the immune response, reducing inflammation, and promoting tissue repair.^9,10
3. It helps prevent UV damage: Other beneficial bacteria promote skin resilience and produce antioxidants that fend off damage from UV radiation.¹¹ 
4. It can improve skin hydration and appearance: The skin microbiome also interacts with your sebaceous glands to regulate oil (aka sebum) production and skin pH. Hello, hydrated complexion.^5,12,13 
5. It may play a role in skin cancer prevention: Certain strains of Staphylococcus epidermidis bacteria may even be protective against skin cancer.¹⁴ Based on mice studies, this microbe seems to produce a molecule that can inhibit melanoma and other cancer cells while sparing benign cells. Though more research needs to be done, it is thought that about 20% of people carry this cancer-protective strain of S. epidermidis.

Signs of a Disrupted Skin Microbiome

When the balance of beneficial and harmful microbes on your skin is disrupted, your skin microbiome enters a state of dysbiosis. This impacts the skin’s ability to maintain a strong and resilient barrier.¹⁵ 

The changes associated with dysbiosis can potentially trigger or worsen skin issues like the following:

• Acne: While the exact causes and development of acne are not fully understood, there is evidence that microbes play a role in the condition. Microbial communities on your skin interact with sebaceous glands to regulate oil production and support hydration. When this balance is disrupted, acne can happen. One key player is Cutibacterium acnes, a bacterium that primarily lives within hair follicles and relies on sebum as a primary nutrient source.^5,12 More sebum equals more food, potentially leading to an overgrowth of C. acnes—certain strains of which can contribute to acne and trigger inflammation.¹⁶ That said, acne is often caused by a mix of genetic, immune, and environmental factors, in addition to microbial ones.¹⁷ (For example, as many of us are painfully aware, during puberty, sex hormones trigger the development of the sebaceous glands which can lead to breakouts.¹⁶)
• Atopic Dermatitis (AD): Atopic dermatitis (aka eczema) is linked with overall declines in microbial diversity on the skin and a notable increase in Staphylococcus aureus. This overgrowth of S. aureus overwhelms commensal microbiota and can, in turn, exacerbate inflammation and skin damage. (In general, the less microbial diversity, the more severe the AD symptoms.)¹⁸
• Psoriasis: Psoriasis vulgaris typically affects drier spots of skin, such as the elbows and knees. Although research is mixed, some studies suggest that dysbiosis of the skin microbiome may play a role in the chronic condition.¹⁸ Specifically, areas with psoriatic lesions may have a different balance of certain bacteria compared to skin that is not inflamed.¹⁹ 
• Rosacea: Microscopic mites like Demodex folliculorum are usually found at the base of the eyelashes. Despite their sinister-sounding name, they’re usually harmless. However, in folks with rosacea, these tiny bugs seem to collect on facial skin.²⁰ In high numbers, D. folliculorum mites can harbor bacteria that can trigger inflammation and redness.²¹ The presence of certain microorganisms, including Staphylococcus epidermidis and Cutibacterium acnes, has also been linked to rosacea, potentially due to their activation of the innate immune system.²²

One important caveat: While research has shown that changes in the microbiome are associated with certain skin conditions, we don’t yet know the precise role of each microorganism in skin health, or how to treat these conditions via the skin microbiome.²³

How Can I Tell If Mine Is in Good Shape?

Skin microbiome testing is one way to learn more about your microbial makeup. Though convenient, at-home testing kits may not provide a complete, accurate representation of the entire skin microbiome.

Your skin microbiome is a diverse ecological landscape, so if you take samples only from the surface of one or two areas, your results won’t reflect a complete view of the microbiome. (That’s like saying an animal as unique as a manatee can be found in waters across the U.S. just because you saw one in Florida.) 

The collection process is also flawed: The skin has a relatively low microbial load compared to other parts of your body, so it’s tough to get enough DNA for analysis.²⁴ Results can vary depending on the type of tool used (say, a swab vs. a sticky tape or a scraping tool), and there’s a risk of contamination when you gather and send in your sample. 

Testing services also lack a universally accepted standard for skin microbiome analysis. This means your results could vary from service to service.²⁵

Even if your results do accurately reflect your skin microbiome, there’s not enough scientific research yet to credibly link certain microbes with certain skincare tips or treatment plans. 

With this in mind, how can you tell if your skin microbiome is functioning as it should? For starters, you can get to know your baseline: What does your skin usually feel and look like? When you become acquainted with your personal “normal” (which is different for everybody), you’ll be able to pick up on when something’s off. 

That said, having smooth, hydrated, and less sensitive skin tends to be a sign your skin microbiome is in good shape. When yours veers out of balance (due to harsh skincare products, diet, stress, or other factors outlined below), you might notice issues like dryness, redness, irritation, or conditions like eczema. 

How to Support the Skin Microbiome

Supporting your skin microbiome is all about prioritizing practices that nurture its diversity and resilience. This doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive; just do your best to stick with the routines below.

Do: 

• Use gentle, low-pH products. Your skincare and cosmetics products shouldn’t disrupt the natural pH of the skin (roughly 4.5 to 5.5).²⁶ Many popular cleansers, soaps, and texturizers tend to have an alkaline pH ranging from 7 to 8, which can throw off the skin’s microbial balance. Instead, look for unscented, low-pH products (less than 5) that don’t contain antimicrobial preservatives. They’ll be less likely to disrupt microbial diversity—and they may actually positively impact the microbiome by reducing certain potentially pathogenic microbial populations.²⁷  
• Eat a balanced, plant-rich diet. Your gut-skin axis is a two-way telephone line between the gut microbiome and the integumentary system (the scientific term for your body’s outer layer, consisting of your skin, hair, nails, and some glands). Thanks to this axis, consuming plenty of fruits, veggies, and probiotics can help promote skin health and potentially ease acne and certain skin diseases (e.g., eczema and atopic dermatitis).^28,29
• Get outside. The ecosystem surrounding you influences the ecosystem within you. Researchers speculate that the microbiomes throughout your body (including on your skin) “pick up” some of the beneficial microbes you encounter in the outdoors—even through simple acts like touching or breathing in nature.³⁰ While the long-term microbiome benefits of this exposure are still being explored, getting outdoors has plenty of validated whole-body benefits too.

Don’t:

• Over-cleanse. Excessively washing your skin, especially with harsh cleansers, can strip it of its natural oils and beneficial microbes, disrupting the skin barrier and affecting pH. If you’re experiencing irritation, dryness, or tightness, that could be a sign of over-washing or using the wrong products for your skin.³¹ Chat with your healthcare provider or dermatologist for specific recommendations. 
• Sit in the sun without sunscreen. Excessive UV exposure can cause acute and chronic skin damage, including inflammation, premature aging, and increased cancer risk. UV radiation also disrupts the skin microbiome, potentially leading to dysbiosis and compromised skin barrier function.³² 
• Accept chronic stress as “normal”: Stress activates the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, increasing the production of cortisol and other stress hormones. This hormonal response can cause inflammation and immune dysregulation, which may exacerbate skin conditions like psoriasis, eczema, and acne. Stress might also lead you to pick up not-so-healthy habits, like neglecting your skincare routines or eating a poor diet, that further disrupt the skin microbiome.^33,34

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

• Why is the skin microbiome important? Though invisible to the naked eye, the skin microbiome plays a crucial role in many major bodily functions, including wound healing, maintaining skin hydration and integrity, and supporting immunity.
• How can I improve my skin microbiome? Don’t overthink it. Using gentle, lower pH skincare products, prioritizing time outdoors, and fueling yourself with fruits, veggies, and probiotic-rich foods can help you achieve a balanced, diverse skin microbiome without overhauling your routine.
• What disrupts the skin microbiome? Stress, excessive UV exposure, harsh antimicrobial skincare products, and over-cleansing can all cause disruptions to the skin microbiome. Due to the gut-skin axis, dysbiosis in the gut can cause negative changes to the skin microbiome.
• What foods help the skin microbiome? Fruits, vegetables, fiber-rich foods, and probiotic ingredients can enrich and regulate the gut microbiome, potentially supporting the skin microbiome too.

The Key Insight

Beauty isn’t just skin deep. The skin microbiome—with its vast impacts on your gut, mind, and immune system—proves it. Protect yours by using gentle, low-pH skincare products, prioritizing time outdoors, and fueling up on plants and probiotics to help your skin function (and look) its best.

The post Skin Microbiome 101 appeared first on Med-Lock.

Yesterday, I watched a video of a woman chowing down on a tub of butter and a T-bone steak. Between bites, she faced the camera to say something to any vegans who might be watching: their food choices were poisoning them. The comment section was, to put it mildly, heated. The whole thing encapsulated just how dogmatic, extreme, and polarized our nutrition landscape has become. 

Perhaps it’s no surprise that the Mediterranean diet has gained popularity as a kind of safe middle ground. It just snagged the top slot on the U.S. News & World Report Best Diets of the Year list for the seventh year in a row, and social media now houses over 40 million videos of Mediterranean-inspired meals and tips. 

How did this regional way of eating become so globally ubiquitous, and is it actually as great as the internet makes it sound? Join us as we cut into the research on the Mediterranean diet and its impact on gut health, tradition, and culture.

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The Claim: “The Mediterranean Diet Is the Top Eating Plan for Overall Health”

There are some discrepancies in how the Mediterranean diet is defined, but it tends to be high in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, herbs, and monounsaturated fats like olive oil.¹ It includes some animal protein but is low in sugar, red meat, highly processed foods, and most alcohol (other than red wine). 

The diet is said to mimic traditional foods favored by countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea (though upwards of 20 countries across three continents and 29,000 miles of coastline fit this bill, and they all have their own regional cuisines). 

American researcher Ancel Keys is credited with making the Mediterranean the mecca of “healthy” eating globally.² From 1958 to 1970, Keys traveled to seven countries—Finland, Holland, Italy, the United States, Greece, Japan, and Yugoslavia—to observe their traditional diets. He monitored ~11,000 people in these countries to determine how their eating habits might impact their cardiovascular disease risk.

You can probably guess the results of his Seven Countries Study: Residents of Italy and Greece seemed to run a lower risk of cardiovascular mortality, and Keys deduced that it was because of their diets (especially the types of fats they ate).³ 

Though it was cutting-edge at the time, by today’s standards, Keys’ research was far from perfect. For starters, he only studied men. “In those days, we did not consider involving women because of the great rarity of cardiac events among them, and the invasiveness of our field examinations.” Henry Blackburn, MD, another scientist on the project, writes in a retrospective on the research.⁴ Blackburn also recalls that the study’s geographical areas and participants were chosen in part “for reasons of convenience.”

Limitations aside, Keys’ research kicked off a wave of interest in the Mediterranean diet and its potential impacts on health and longevity.

The Context: The Best Diet Is What’s Best for Your Microbes

There has been no shortage of research on the benefits of the Mediterranean diet in the decades since—particularly for cardiovascular health.

“No other dietary pattern has undergone such a comprehensive, repeated, and international assessment of its cardiovascular effects…The MedDiet has successfully passed all the needed tests and it approaches the gold standard for cardiovascular health,” reads one review by the American Heart Association.⁵ Components of the eating plan are also thought to be protective from metabolic syndrome and cancer.^6,7

The MedDiet’s impact on these massive diseases can be traced back to a much smaller domain: the gut microbiome. As gastroenterologist and Med-Lock Scientific Board Member Emeran Mayer, MD says, “The best diet is what’s best for your microbes.” The microscopic ecosystem in your gut can influence everything from immune function to mood to metabolism, after all. 

The Mediterranean diet scores high marks for its microbial impact thanks to its fiber, vitamin, and antioxidant content. Here’s why:

• The Mediterranean diet can be up to twice as high in some forms of fiber as the stereotypical Western diet.⁸ The MedDiet’s emphasis on whole grains, legumes, vegetables, and fruits gives gut bacteria plenty of complex carbohydrates to feed on. (Learn more about why fiber is such a feast for your microbes here.) In the process of breaking down these plant fibers, bacteria produce short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) such as butyrate, acetate, and propionate. These byproducts help suppress the growth of pathogenic bacteria in the gut, reduce inflammation, and strengthen the intestinal barrier.^9,10 
• The Mediterranean diet is high in plants and omega-3s that contain antioxidants like vitamins A and C, carotenoids, and glutathione.¹¹ These also have an anti-inflammatory effect and help maintain a strong and protective gut barrier.¹² They’ve been shown to combat chronic inflammation in the gut, potentially offering protection from disorders such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).¹³
• Some Mediterranean diet staples, like onions and garlic, are sources of prebiotics. These prebiotic substrates “feed” beneficial bacteria, further promoting the production of gut-strengthening SCFAs and warding off harmful pathogens.¹⁴ 

The Cultured Check: Food and Culture Are Personal

The verdict is in: The Mediterranean diet is one nutrition approach we can get behind due to its emphasis on fiber, whole foods, and omega-3s. We also appreciate that it isn’t as restrictive as other fad diets that cut out entire food groups your gut bacteria depend on (looking at you, low-FODMAP.) Its emphasis on plants also lowers its associated greenhouse gas emissions.¹⁵ 

However, as mentioned earlier, there is no one way to eat like you’re in the Mediterranean. Research reflects this: One literature review notes that previous studies on the “Mediterranean diet” have asked participants to eat anywhere from 15.7 to 80 mL/day of olive oil, 5.5 to 60.5 g/day of legumes, and 210 to 682 g/day of vegetables; over a five-fold difference in some cases.¹

If you’re interested in trying it out, we recommend streamlining these numbers and aiming to fill your plate with at least 70% plants instead (unless you have a particular deficiency or health condition) for the sake of your microbiome.

These don’t need to be limited to olives, San Marzano tomatoes, or other foods you’d find in the fields of Naples either. Different plants contain unique types of fiber and prebiotics that nourish different species of gut bacteria, so variety is key.¹⁶ 

While other regional ingredients are not as frequently studied as those from the Mediterranean, that isn’t necessarily a reflection of their nutritional value. Some researchers note that this discrepancy could be the result of racial biases in nutrition research and the glorification of white vs. nonwhite cultural diets.¹⁷

So instead of following some “universal” (and let’s face it, whitewashed) version of the Mediterranean diet, allow yourself to make it your own. Apply its emphasis on fiber, whole grains, and healthy fats to your own culture and regional cuisine. 

For maximum microbial benefits, we’d also recommend adding some fermented foods and probiotics to the mix.

Finally, it’s important to remember that diet is about more than nutrition. Positive social interactions, stress-relieving activities, exercise, and time in nature also play important roles in supporting your microbiome. Let’s not forget the origin of the word “diet”: The Greek word diaita, or “way of life.”

The Key Insight

The Mediterranean diet has proven benefits for the gut (and beyond), and it’s a refreshingly adaptable nutrition philosophy in an otherwise dogmatic landscape. If you’re looking to use food to feel better in the new year, incorporating more of its staples like fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, grains, and omega-3s will likely help. 

That said, the MedDiet as it exists on Instagram and TikTok isn’t right for everyone. Instead of sticking to foods that are native to a particular region of the world, you’re better off working with the ingredients that you have access to and enjoy. Food is synonymous with culture, and a world where everyone eats the same things sounds pretty dreadful. Instead of using food to take a trip to Italy, let’s treat it as a journey to our own backyards.

The post Cultured Check: Should We All Be Following the Mediterranean Diet? appeared first on Med-Lock.