Relationship Goals: Your Gut Microbiome and Immune Function – Kiran Krishnan, Ph.D., with Dave Asprey – #864

IN THIS EPISODE OF BULLETPROOF RADIO…

Research microbiologist Kiran Krishnan, Ph.D., explores the world of microorganisms inside your body. He studies the human microbiome and knows just how much inflammation damages your gut and how your immune system fixes it.

He’s particularly adept at explaining practical ways to apply the latest science he’s uncovering.

His expertise lies in the newest frontier in microbiology—gut commensal spore bacteria. He partners with Just Thrive Health on prebiotics, probiotics and other gut health product development.

When he was on the show previously, we got into probiotics and immune health. (Don’t miss those! Support Immune Health in Two Steps: Modulate Gut Bacteria & Neutralize Inflammation – #677 and Armor-Plated Immortal Probiotics from Space – #629. This time, he makes connections between your microbiome and immune function.

“The inflammatory response is the biggest driver of gut related damage that occurs,” Kiran says. “You can also eat foods that are absolutely toxigenic to your microbiome.”

The good news? Up to 80 percent of your immune system lies in your digestive tract, Kiran explains. “Your immune system is there, ready and waiting to help with the situation.”

In this episode, you’ll learn that lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is the unknown villain of virtually everything. Kiran says it causes damage to the brain, contributes to metabolic disease, drives Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and is the No. 1 driver of diabetes (to name a few).

“LPS is the most pervasive toxin we have to deal with and it’s an endotoxin, which is a key because we can’t get away from it,” Kiran says.

Kiran has a strict research background in the fields of molecular medicine and microbiology. For nearly 20 years, he’s conducted dozens of human clinical trials in human nutrition through his research organization: Clinical Research Organization.

His recently published leaky gut study showed reversal of gut enteropathy within 30 days. He’s now involved with a longer, more extensive leaky gut trial.

His current research also includes nine other ongoing human clinical trials. Some test the effect of gut commensal spore probiotics on conditions like Thyroid/Hashimoto’s, Irritable Bowel Syndrome and liver failure.

Listening to this extensive interview, you’ll find out cool stuff, like what faecalibacterium prausnitzii is and how it helps you.

“We all have all kinds of damage occurring in our large bowel all the time,” Kiran says. “But if you have faecalibacterium, it’s constantly repairing it. If you don’t have faecalibacterium, at some point, the damage overcomes the repair and you start getting significant inflammation in lining which then puts you at risk for things like inflammatory bowel disease. Right, so we’re constantly battling this state of damage, oxidative stress, inflammation, and all that, and then repair recovery and so on. And then as it turns out, microbes are so important for that repair and recovery phase.”

You’ll also gain new perspective of your own body biomes and the broader world:  “I’ve always referred to the human system as a walking, talking rainforest,” Kiran says. “We are a holo-biome which is a super organism. We are an organism made up of a collective of organisms that together in a certain balance will function and work. But we are also in constant osmosis with the ecosystem, and we’re designed to be that way.”

Another positive for your gut and immune health is the vast number of microbial genes in your system.

“We have such limited amount of genetic capability as a species,” Kiran says. “We barely have enough genetic material as an earthworm does, and so we’re not that cool or sophisticated. What makes us as sophisticated as we are, is the two and a half million or so microbial genes in our system. And so, being able to outsource functionality to microbes is a big part of being human. There are sets of organisms that we have outsourced through the course of evolution, the ability to modulate and monitor the rest of the microbiome. We’re finding that when you start putting in these microbes back into your system, you really start getting the positive changes. They start refereeing the ecosystem and making things more balance and improved.”

Enjoy! And get more resources at Dave.Asprey/podcasts. Got a comment, idea or question for the podcast? Submit via this form.