In this Episode of The Human Upgrade™...
…we get into the gut. If you’ve listened to my podcast before you probably know how much the gut is a culprit in disease. I’ve invited experts on the show to explain how without the right balance of good bacteria in your gut, you can have inflammation, poor immune response, GI distress and much more.
Your gut lining is like a fence, explains Colleen Cutcliffe, Ph.D. It needs maintenance and attention, because that “fence” is what guards your gut from bad bacteria and toxins. Without it, you lose a strong defense system.
That’s where Akkermansia comes in. This bacterial strain naturally found in the gastrointestinal tract helps regulate the mucus lining of the gut, while also fine-tuning immune responses.
Only in recent years have people understood (and acted on) the gut microbiome’s role in wellness or disease. Dr. Cutcliffe shares the research behind Akkermansia and why this probiotic is changing the gut health game.
“People who are healthy have a ton of Akkermansia, and there are a variety of different disease states where people were low or entirely missing it,” she says. During our conversation, you’ll find out why. You’ll also learn how and when to take Akkermansia, as well as other great probiotics practices that will boost the state of your microbiome.
“The probiotic is the actual bacterial strain.
The prebiotic is the food for the probiotic. And the postbiotic is what the bacteria produce.”
Colleen Cutcliffe, Ph.D.
Dr. Cutcliffe co-founded Pendulum Therapeutics. In the probiotics world, she’s a big deal. The company’s Glucose Control product was the first microbiome intervention for people with Type 2 Diabetes. Clinical studies shows that it reduces post-meal glucose response. Find out more about that on episode #767.
“When you think about the gut bacteria and its role in glucose control, it’s just a big opportunity to bring back these bugs that we’ve always had and lost along the way, in order to help us metabolize sugars,” Colleen says.
I’m looking forward to a world where we know what every bacteria does in our guts. We know what it eats. We know what it does in relation to all the other bacteria in our guts. And we can actually custom engineer ones to make whatever substances we want.
SPECIAL OFFER FOR THE HUMAN UPGRADE LISTENERS
Go to https://pendulumlife.com and use promo code DAVEVIP to get an exclusive discount.
Enjoy the show!
LISTEN: “Follow” or “subscribe” to The Human Upgrade™ with Dave Asprey on your favorite podcast platform.
REVIEW: Go to Apple Podcasts at daveasprey.com/apple and leave a (hopefully) 5-star rating and a creative review.
FEEDBACK: Got a comment, idea or question for the podcast? Submit via this form!
SOCIAL: Follow @thehumanupgradepodcast on Instagram and Facebook.
JOIN: Learn directly from Dave Asprey alongside others in a membership group: https://ourupgradecollective.com.
- Our Partners
- Links & Resources
- Key Notes
Cardiovascular Health:
https://arterosil.com/dave20/, get a 3-pack and save up to 30% plus free shipping
Health Upgrades with Custom Lab Testing and Your Data:
https://get-base.com/DAVE, use code DAVE to get 20% off your first month of membership
Website: pendulumlife.com/
Instagram: instagram.com/pendulumlifeco/
Facebook: facebook.com/PendulumLife/
Twitter: twitter.com/Pendulum_Co
Previously on Bulletproof Radio: How Hacking Your Gut Bacteria Can Regulate Your Blood Sugar – Colleen Cutcliffe, Ph.D., with Dave Asprey – #767
- What got you from your glucose control formula into looking at Akkermansia? – 4:45
- Some of the really big pharma companies are starting to invest in clinical trials, where they’re using diabetes drugs to try to treat Alzheimer’s disease. – 5:24
- Are you more likely to have leaky gut if you don’t have Akkermansia? – 9:10
- The biggest challenge is, you have to grow these things in the ways that I described, where it’s anaerobic and you’re compensating for the lack of a mucin layer in your manufacturing plant. – 12:46
- In the case of Pendulum glucose control, the prebiotic is inulin, the probiotics are all the strains that are in the capsule, and the postbiotic is the butyrate that gets produced by those strains. – 20:29
- Butyrate has studies that show when you eat it directly, and it’s a post biotic, you mentioned it earlier, it has anti-inflammatory effects in the brain. – 25:32
- If someone has higher zonulin levels, they’re much more likely to have leaky gut, regardless of their Akkermansia levels? – 28:07
- In our clinical trial that was published in BMJ, we showed that the efficacy of Pendulum glucose control was on top of Metformin. So, if you’re on Metformin and you take Pendulum glucose control, it lowers your A1C even further. – 30:43
- What’s your favorite tests for Akkermansia? – 34:59
- I think what we’re going to find is that it’s not just about the regulation of this mucin layer, but it’s actually about these receptors and their localization and their concentrations, because those are the signaling things. – 38:01
- If my Akkermansia goes way up, I know I’ve got healthy Akkermansia. What am I going to feel? – 42:35
- But the truth is that you’ve got one criminal and you’ve got 99… 9,999 great people. So, we’re trying to figure out, how do we maintain that ecosystem and population of diverse, beneficial microbes, while eliminating that criminal, but being much more sophisticated about it. – 49:35
- When you change your diet, when you travel, when your circadian rhythm is different, day is night, night is day, we go through these time changes. All of those things, aging, menopause, menstrual cycles, all of these things are constantly changing our microbiome. – 51:33
