“All disease begins in the gut.” You’ve heard us scream this more than Chicken Little yelled, “The sky is falling!” As microbiome studies continue to gain more funding, we are learning just how much levity “All disease begins in the gut” really holds. In fact, here are 10 common conditions tied to gut health.

Anxiety

Riding with the all the gut health cliches today, the gut is known as the second brain. That’s because there are many nerve fibers at the end of the brain stem that dips into the gut. These fibers act as messengers to the mind. When your gut health is out of control, your microbiome will send stress signals to the brain.

When we are under stress, our adrenal glands secrete a hormone known as cortisol. The more stress we feel, the more cortisol our body creates. Therefore, if  poor stomach health becomes chronic, cortisol will take over the system, causing chronic stress.

Naturally, this stress will manifest as anxiety. A way for your body to stop anxious thoughts and behaviors is with the neurotransmitter, serotonin. However, studies find that up to 90% of the serotonin in our system comes from our gut. So, if the microbiome is too unhealthy for good bacteria to flourish, you can believe it’s not producing serotonin either.

Insomnia

Another pivotal hormone we need is melatonin. Melatonin keeps our sleep cycle on track. This hormone is the reason why our eyes get heavy watching TV on the couch an hour before bed.  Our pineal gland secretes this hormone like clockwork everyday.

However, there’s no room for melatonin in the system when cortisol has run amok.  Excess cortisol can keep you up at night. This lack of sleep will cause you to feel stressed during the day. The result is yet another sleepless night. Get the picture?

Eventually, bedtime itself will breed more anxiety. You will become frustrated with the sleep struggle and grow to dread the night. Insomnia and anxiety wash each others’ hands and they all may stem from poor gut health.

Infertility

Cortisol’s role in ruining your life isn’t over. If poor gut health remains untreated, one of the lasting effects is infertility. That’s because excess cortisol doesn’t leave much room for any other hormones. This includes estrogen and testosterone.

Men are more sensitive to infertility when it comes to gut health related issues because excess cortisol transforms into adipose fat. Excess fat eventually gets converted into estrogen. Obviously, if a man has too much estrogen, it’s lowering all the qualities that makes them a man such as potent sperm.

Not to mention, when your gut health is comprised, all of your foods aren’t being broken down properly. Therefore, they tend to build up and pool around your gut. This creates a blockage that doesn’t allow oxygenated red blood cells to reach the nether regions. In turn, this may have a negative impact on sexual arousal, potency of sperm, and erectile dysfunction.

Obesity

Thought cortisol was done? Think again! Remember how we said excess cortisol turns to fat which converts into estrogen?  Yeah, back to that “excess fat.” Combining the excess fat to the fact that food is starting to become backlogged due to an unhealthy gut all leads to obesity.

While poor gut health opens the floodgates for these conditions, obesity opens the floodgates for even more. That’s because obesity is tied to so many debilitating conditions such as:

• Infertility

• Depression

• Type 2 Diabetes

• Cardiovascular Disease

• Colon Cancer

Obesity doesn’t happen overnight. If you notice fat gathering around your midsection, please take a gut health test and get on a personalized probiotic supplement to address the underlying issues.

Acid Reflux

With your gut sealed off by undigested fibers, it turns your microbiome into a bubbly witch’s cauldron. When your gut health is comprised, the environment becomes too acidic.

As the acid levels continue to rise, it begins to percolate, causing acid reflux.

Not only will you feel stomach pain, but you may also experience:

• A Burning Itch in the Throat

• Gassy Burps

• Hiccups

• Heartburn

• Indigestion

Acid reflux is your body’s response to poor gut health and may  cause a lot of discomfort. The best thing to do is to try to balance the foods in your diet to create a healthier microbiome.

Leaky Gut Syndrome

With all these toxins stewing about in your system, it can prove to hazardous for your gut to handle. Therefore, it may cause a break in the lining. In turn, the toxins that are waiting to led out of your system can enter your bloodstream. This is Leaky Gut Syndrome.

Undigested proteins can interact with your healthy oxygenated cells and corrupt them. This may cause a myriad of side effects that may impact everything from mental health to skin health to stomach discomfort.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)

Studies have found the law-grade inflammations located throughout the colon and small intestines are the culprits behind Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS).

IBS rears its ugly head in three forms:

• Diarrhea

• Constipation

• Pain

These happen because poor gut health alters the gut motility. Whenever we have to use the restroom, our muscles in the sphincter contract so we can push out toxins. Depending on the bacteria in your gut, these contractions may happen too often or too slow, causing cases of IBS.

Hemorrhoids

Hemorrhoids are swollen veins. While you can’t see nor generally feel internal hemorrhoids (although blood in your stool is an indication they may be there), external hemorrhoids can be quite painful.

Whenever you have to use the bathroom more often, such as in case of IBS, hemorrhoids becomes more common.

That’s because the swollen veins are more irritated by the force of going to the bathroom and the vigorous rubbing of toilet paper. All of this is a snowball effect of poor gut health.

Autoimmune Diseases

As your microbiome changes from poor gut health, it begins to alter other parts of your body. Highly acidic levels can destroy important neurological cells. In turn, this may cause an autoimmune disease.

An autoimmune disease happens when healthy cells in your immune system begin to attack other healthy cells. There are many types of Autoimmune Diseases out there. Some of the most common include:

• Rheumatoid Arthiritis

• Parkinson’s Disease

• Lupus

• Celiac Disease

• Thyroiditis

• Vitiligo

Studies have shown that a gut health imbalance (dysbiosis) causes the body to be predisposed to autoimmune diseases.

Skin Conditions

As you may have noticed vitiligo on the autoimmune disease list, there are also many skin conditions that spur much in thanks to gut health.

Anytime you see a rash, bump, or blotchy redness, there is something brewing underneath. That’s because like your gut, your skin has its own microbiome.

Skin conditions are your body’s way of saying there’s a war going on inside. There is either an allergen synthetic ingredient, or foreign substance in your system causing this problem. If a skin condition is chronic, figure out what you’re eating that may be triggering this issue. After all, there is a dark side of wheat, which is why we have seen a rise in gluten sensitivities over the years.