Is Gut Health the Key to a Calmer Immune System?

written by Canberra Naturopath & PAT Practitioner Fiona Joiner

Gut health seems to be the latest health trend at the moment, and rightly so! We are learning more and more about how a healthy and happy gut supports our overall well being in many different ways. 

As a naturopath, I work with the gut with nearly every single client. I am fascinated with how this kind of work can help alleviate so many symptoms for people and just help them to feel generally better. 

I also love to educate my Positive Association Technique (PAT) clients about gut health, as it’s particularly important for those of us who are susceptible to allergies, sensitivities and intolerances.

My own health journey with endometriosis influenced my decision to become a Naturopath. I was fortunate enough to see a naturopath out of desperation with side effects of medication I was on at the time (I had never heard of a Naturopath before!) She was able to alleviate a lot of my symptoms and put me on the path to good health. 

My own gut health became a major focus for me over the last 10 years and I love seeing the improvements it has made to my life. Primarily, I experience much less hay fever in springtime (none now since my PAT session for pollen!).

The Gut-Immune System Connection

A healthy gut microbiota helps us to digest our food well, detox well, make nutrients for us, regulate the immune system and protect us from pathogens (1).

If you think about the digestive tract and how we are always putting in foreign objects (i.e. food!), it’s quite a vulnerable part of the body and quite exposed. It’s little wonder that the majority of our immune system functions via the gut. 

There’s also a real balancing act that occurs whereby the body can recognise and tolerate its own tissue and the gut microbiota but it’s still able to detect pathogens and mount an immune response if needed. 

To understand how the immune system operates, we also need to know what an antigen is. This is a marker, or a post-it-note if you will, found on the outside of cells which tells your immune system whether or not that cell belongs in the body. So we have cells marked as “self” and others marked as “foreign” (2).

The Innate and Adaptive Immune System

So our immune system is actually a very complex structure and operates via two different branches; the innate and adaptive immune system. 

The Innate Immune System

We have the innate immune system which provides a quick and general response to foreign bodies and injuries. This is our first line of defence against intruders and responds to all intruders in the same way (3).

The innate immune system consists of physical barriers which form an obstacle course designed to slow down or inhibit the entry of intruders into the body. Here we have skin and mucous membranes as well as substances like stomach acid, enzymes and bodily fluids. The gut has a lovely thick mucosal layer lining that’s very important, as we shall see later. 

If foreign bodies get past these physical barriers then there are immune cells like phagocytes which will escalate the problem. Phagocytes will eat the foreign body then put the remains of that foreign body onto the outside of their cell as a signal to the adaptive immune system, kind of like that post-it-note system we mentioned earlier. 

The innate immune system also uses enzymes and natural killer cells to highlight cells as targets for the phagocytes, round up other immune cells where needed and destroy bacteria cell walls and the outer layer of cells infected by viruses. Natural killer cells are kind of like “search and destroy” for any abnormal cells infected by a virus or tumour cells (4).

The Adaptive Immune System

The second branch of the immune system is the adaptive immune system. This branch works in a more targeted and effective way but takes a little longer to mount a response. It contains different types of T Cells (also known as lymphocytes) and B Cells. 

Differentiated T Cells perform their own specific jobs such as destroying infected cells, sending out signals to tell other immune cells to fight infection, and some perform a regulatory role. Regulatory T Cells are important as they can reduce the activity of other T Cells as necessary and can also prevent T Cells from attacking the body’s own healthy cells (5).

The adaptive immune system can also remember foreign bodies that have been encountered before and use an antibody (prepared earlier from the previous exposure) specifically for that invader. Antibodies are made in response to those post-it-notes (antigens) signalling that something doesn’t belong in the body. 

How our Gut Regulates the Immune System

Those Regulatory T Cells I mentioned earlier? Our gut microbiome can regulate these. 

So to put it simply, our microbiome can influence our immune response. Is it going to stimulate that immune response and make our immune system more reactive or is it going to calm that response and help make the immune system more tolerant? (6)

We talked about the mucosal layer in the gut forming part of the innate immune system. This mucus layer has two parts over most of the gastrointestinal tract.

There is an inner layer attached to the epithelial layer (the type of cells lining the digestive tract) which has a protective role and a second layer which acts as a filter to keep pathogenic bacteria away from the epithelial layer and also provide food and housing for commensal bacteria (7).

If the mucosal layer in the gut is not nice and thick, there is a chance for more inflammation and infection because this layer forms part of our innate immune system.

In a happy and healthy gut, this lovely mucosal layer is doing a big part of the work in keeping the balance between tolerating our normal or commensal bacteria and helping to keep pathogenic bacteria at bay. 

Our commensal bacteria live in this mucosal layer, and some of them even eat this mucus as a food source. In a healthy gut, we want to have a nice thick layer not only for immune function but to keep our commensal bacteria healthy. 

How Diet Affects our Gut Health

There are a few other important food sources for our commensal bacteria – fibre and polyphenols. Fibre we are all familiar with, and polyphenols are antioxidants found in foods like green tea, cacao, fruits and vegetables. 

If we have a poor diet which is low in antioxidants and fibre, our poor starving commensal bacteria are missing out on a major food source! This can result in them consuming more of that important mucous layer and numbers may dwindle. 

If that mucous layer is being consumed faster than it is being rebuilt, we can see how that might impact on the level of inflammation in the digestive tract and how our immune system is working. 

As a reward for providing them a lovely mucous layer to live in, our commensal bacteria provide us with a few benefits too. As already mentioned, they can help moderate our immune system response.

Our commensal bacteria also provide us with some metabolites called short chain fatty acids which are produced by the bacterial fermentation of fibre (8).

The Benefits of Short Chain Fatty Acids

You may be familiar with some of the short chain fatty acids like butyrate, acetate and propionate. Acetate can be found in fermented foods like apple cider vinegar but it is also made in the gut by your commensal bacteria. 

These short chain fatty acids confer benefits to our health. They have been found to be anti-inflammatory, promote good intestinal barrier function (as opposed to a gut that may be considered “leaky”) and play a role in our allergy response (9).

There was a study with 1 year olds where the level of short chain fatty acids was measured in the stool. Those who had the highest amount of butyrate and propionate were 50% less sensitive to allergens at the age of 6 years. It has also been found that butyrate helps protect children from developing atopy (allergic conditions that often occur together like eczema, asthma and allergies) (10).

Studies with mice have shown that those fed with short chain fatty acids or those fed a high fibre diet displayed less severe allergic airway disease. Another study with guinea pigs found that allergen induced release of histamine was decreased in lung tissue that had been exposed to butyrate (11).

We can now see that in order to have a well-functioning immune system we need both the innate immune system and the adaptive immune system to be working in a calm and well-organised way.

We also need to have a healthy gut environment to support these two branches and to have a robust level of commensal bacteria to produce those short chain fatty acids that are protective for our health.

Positive Association Technique (PAT) for Gut Health

PAT aims to relieve the symptoms food sensitivities for my clients and help them tolerate a wider variety of food. When the health of the gut has been compromised and we have less immune tolerance and more inflammation, different types of food can become problematic. If there is dysbiosis or an overgrowth of different types of bacteria in the gut, this can also impact on our ability to digest food properly, leading to further issues. 

During a PAT consultation, we use a form of muscle testing, or kinesiology, to assess your reactions to various foods, as well as airborne and chemical substances. We then use a chiropractic tool called an ‘Acustim’ to gently stimulate acupressure points down either side of the spine, while you’re holding onto a sample vial of the food, to help recalibrate your body’s response and relieve the symptoms of the reaction. 

So PAT can be really beneficial in moving someone towards those healthy food goals we hear about like “eating the rainbow” and eating more fibre. As we have seen above, this then better feeds the commensal bacteria which in turn provides us with greater levels of those short chain fatty acids. In turn, this helps reduce our overactive immune response. 

PAT may also help to improve digestive function. I had a brilliant night’s sleep after my very first treatment but I also heard more gurgling along my digestive tract (this is a good thing!). Good digestive function ensures we are able to assimilate the nutrients in the food we eat. Supporting a healthy nervous system also encourages better digestion. 

I would definitely encourage people to explore PAT if they are experiencing a lot of sensitivities and reactions to food and substances in their environment. Firstly to provide some relief! But also to start the healing process so we can get you back to a place of low reactivity and be able to improve your gut health by moving towards a varied and nutritious diet. 

If you feel that you need to work on your gut health then your PAT practitioner is the perfect starting place as we are all qualified naturopaths as well. 

To learn more and see if PAT is right for you;

• Request a Free PAT Information E-PACK HERE

• Call us on 1300 853 023 / 09 479 5997 (NZ) to chat to our friendly staff

• Send us your question HERE

At Home Tips for Promoting Gut Health

Firstly, we want to gently increase the amount of fibre in your diet. If you have a very reactive gut, you should start by increasing fibre rich foods that you know you tolerate.

Foods like fruit and veggies, potatoes (cooked and cooled to increase resistant starch), pumpkin or rice, nuts, lentils, beans, chickpeas, and oats are all good choices. The trick with increasing fibre is to do it really slowly. The main goal is to broaden and vary your diet. 

Drinking a cup of bone broth daily helps nourish and soothe an unhappy gut. It is also nutrient dense and very tasty! 

If you can tolerate fermented foods (those with histamine issues may have to deal with this first – be guided by your practitioner), adding a serve of those daily can be helpful as they are rich in short chain fatty acids, especially acetate. 

An important part of managing any health issue is to look after yourself well, by getting enough sleep and including time for fun and social connection as well.

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Please note that this blog post contains general information only. Always consult your health care professional before changing your diet, starting new supplements or regarding any medical condition.