Intestinal microbiota. Everything you need to know

• What is the colon microbiota?
• Functions of the gut microbiome?
• What is intestinal dysbiosis?
• What are the symptoms and associated diseases?
• How is it diagnosed and what must include a test to evaluate the intestinal flora?
• How is it treated?

What is the colon microbiota?

The microbiota of the colon represents all the bacteria resident in the intestine and which have a symbiotic relationship with our body. It consists of communities of bacteria, viruses, archaea and fungi with a greater complexity than the human genome possessing 3.3 million unique genes, while the genome has about 23,000 genes.

What are the functions of the microbiome?

The microbiota of the colon plays an essential role in the health of the body through its participation in the achievement of important functions, such as:

• prevention of inflammatory processes
• regulation of metabolism and energy balance,
• the production of vitamins (some essential for maintaining health such as Vitamin K and B12)
• preventing the invasion of pathogenic microorganisms
• improving the function of intestinal cells
• food digestion
• strengthening the immune system
• stimulating intestinal muscle movements to ensure transit and reduce unpleasant symptoms of discomfort and bloating, avoiding intestinal inflammatory processes

What is intestinal dysbiosis?

Changes in the microbiota of the colon both quantitatively and qualitatively in its metabolic activity and its distribution is called intestinal dysbiosis.

An inadequate diet, diets low in fiber, inflammatory processes, autoimmune diseases affecting the intestine such as celiac disease, an alkaline intestinal pH, stressful situations and especially the use of antibiotics for more than 5 days can eliminate the intestinal flora physiological and can cause the alteration or imbalance of our microorganisms, disorganizing our intestinal flora.

This imbalance involves the appearance of digestive disorders but also of chronic and systemic diseases such as:

• inflammatory bowel diseases
• irritable bowel syndrome
• SIBO
• biliary pathologies
• indigestion
• obesity
• metabolic syndrome
• cardiovascular and peripheral vascular diseases
• bronchial asthma and atopies
• neurological disorders
• altering the ability to metabolize some drugs

How is colon dysbiosis diagnosed?

Colon dysbiosis is diagnosed through a microbiome test in fecal matter that determines the quantitative and qualitative assessment of the composition of the entire intestinal microbiome: the existing bacteria, the degree of intestinal permeability, the degree of dysbiosis, the digestion process, and metal toxicity.

What should a full test include?

Microbiota

• Parasites: Blastocystis hominis, Crysptosporidium parvum, Dientamoeba fragiliis, Entamoeba histolytica, Giardia lamblia (o intestinalis), Enterobius vermicularis, Cyclospora cayetanensis, Ascaris lumbricoides, Isospora belli, Strongyloides stercoralis, Trichuris trichiura, Onchocerca y Necator americanus.
• Bacteria Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, Roseburia intestinalis / Eubacterium rectole, Bacillus spp, Lactobacillus spp, Enterococcus spp, Staphylococcus spp, Veillonella spp, Fusobacterium nucleatum, Clostridium from the coccoides group, Clostridium spterium, Bilacillus coccoides group, Clostridium, Bindery colliderium sppcherium spp, Enterobacteria, Pseudomonas spp, Campylobacter spp, Helicobacter spp, Akkermansia muciniphila, Ruminococcus spp and Corynebacterium spp.
• Fungi and yeasts: Candida spp, Candida albicans, Saccharomyces cereviseae and Aspergillus spp.
• Archaea: Archaeas, Methanobrevibacter smithii, Methanosphaera stadtmanae.
• Functional genes: methanogens, acetogens, butyric producers, propionobacteria and sulforeductors.
• Indices: Firmicutes / Bacteroidetes, Bacteroides / Prevotella, Enterobacteria / Enterococcus, Muconutritive Microbiota, Regulatory Microbiota and Proteolytic Microbiota.

Metabolic activity

• SCFA or short-chain fatty acids: beneficial SCFA (acetic, butyric and propionic), putrefactive SCFA (Valérico, Iso-Valérico, Caproic, Iso-Caproic and Iso-Butyric) and SCFA of protein origin.
• Enzymes: alpha glucosidase, beta glucosidase and beta glucuronidase.
• Bile acids: primary (colic and chenodeoxycholic), secondary (deoxycholic, lithocholic and ursodeoxycholic) and bile salts (tauroholic and glycolic).

Intestinal markers

• pH. Acidity indicator of the sample.
• Hidden blood . It indicates intestinal bleeding.
• Helicobacter pylori antigen. It indicates an H. pylori infection.
• Calprotectin . Indicator of non-specific intestinal inflammation.
• beta-defensin. Indicator of inflammation and type of immune system response.
• Lactoferrin . Indicator of inflammation associated with oxidative stress.
• EPX. Indicator of parasitosis and/or allergic condition.
• secretory IgA. Indicator of intestinal infection.
• Gliadin sIgA. Indicator of sensitivity and / or intolerance to gluten.
• Pancreatic elastase. Indicator of the exocrine function of the pancreas.
• Anti-trypsin. Indicator of intestinal permeability due to mucosal damage.
• Zonulin. Indicator of intestinal permeability due to the opening of tight junctions.

Neurotransmitters

• GABA (gamma-aminobutyric)- GABA deficiency is related to increased stress in the body and/or glutamine deficiency. The growth deficiency of certain Bifidobacterium species is related to the lack of production of metabolites with neurotransmitter function.
• Tryptophan – Tryptophan deficiency is linked to a higher metabolic need for it
  amino acid at the dietary level, intestinal dysbiosis of the regulatory microbiota and / or a
  serotonin / melatonin deficiency.
• Glycine, Alanine, Beta-Alanine, Histidine, Histamine, Glutamate, Tyrosine, Phenylalanine, Dopamine, Serotonin

Metals

• TOXIC. Arsenic (Ca), Cadmium (Cd), Mercury (Hg), Thallium (Tl), Lead (Pb) and Uranium (U).
• INDICATORS. Lithium (Li), Beryllium (Be), Aluminum (Al), Titanium (Ti), Nickel (Ni), Tin (Sn), Antimony (Sb), Barium (Ba), Tungsten (W), Platinum (Pt) and Bismuth (Bi).
• NUTRITIONAL. Sodium (Na), Potassium (K), Calcium (Ca), Strontium (Sr), Boron (B), Phosphorus (P), Magnesium (Mg), Iron (Fe), Copper (Cu), Zinc (Zn), Sulfur (S), Selenium (Se), Cobalt (Co), Manganese (Mn), Molybdenum (Mo), Vanadium (V) and Chromium (Cr)

How is it treated?

After the conclusive diagnosis of intestinal dysbiosis has been made, the treatment will fundamentally aim at rebalancing the intestinal flora, but not before "repairing" the inside of the digestive tract, so that, once again, there are the best conditions for the normalization of intestinal permeability , motility, metabolism as well as other functions of the intestine.

A natural way to achieve balance is to take probiotics and prebiotics, which also help not only treat the cause of the problem, but also its consequences, such as stopping diarrhea and preventing the return of damaged gut flora.

The results obtained from the test allow the specific use of antibiotics, prebiotics and/or probiotics for a personalized treatment according to the distribution of the microbiota of each patient.