Since the beginning of the pandemic, we’ve reminded you about some simple steps you should be taking to protect the health of your gut during these coronavirus times. Many things affect your gut microbiome’s balance, from the meals you eat every day to the sleep you get every night. All of these things determine how well your immune system functions.

That critical balance — or the lack of it — and the volume of bacteria in your gut may play a critical role not only in how severe your battle with the novel coronavirus may be, but also in how your immune system responds to it.

The lack of gut bacteria balance

A team of Chinese researchers studied how the gut influences the novel coronavirus’s severity by comparing stool and blood samples from 100 hospitalized patients with a coronavirus diagnosis to 78 healthy patients who took part in a microbiome study before the pandemic began.

Among those coronavirus patients, 41 provided multiple stool samples while hospital-bound, and 27 shared stool samples up to 30 days after they recovered. The gut microbiome differences between healthy patients and those who fought COVID-19 were pretty dramatic.

Accounting for the lack of balance, researchers determined the guts of novel coronavirus patients contained fewer beneficial strains of bacteria that triggered an immune system response.

Also, lower numbers of some gut bacteria, including Bifidobacterium bifidum, were linked to more severe coronavirus infections after taking into account patients’ age and their use of antibiotics.

(Bifidobacterium bifidum is one of 10 strains that make up the potent mix of beneficial  bacteria in EndoMune Advanced Probiotic.)

What’s more, this depletion of bacteria was measured in samples up to 30 days after patients recovered.

The imbalances show up in the blood too!

When COVID-19 infects the human body, the immune system can sometimes go into overdrive, producing inflammatory chemicals called cytokines. If those cytokines become excessive, a destructive “storm” may result, causing the failure of multiple organs, tissue damage, and septic shock.

An examination of blood samples found more instances of these inflammatory cytokines and chemical markers linked to tissue damage in coronavirus patients also experiencing gut bacteria imbalances.

All of these facts led researchers to conclude that the gut microbiome may have more influence on your body’s immune response to the coronavirus, along with its severity and how you’ll recover from it.

What this means for you

Although scientists were unwilling to cite any concrete causes, it’s clear to them there are connections between the microbiome and inflammatory diseases and that boosting the beneficial bacteria in the gut depleted by the novel coronavirus could become a way to lessen its severity.

As you know, many factors play a role in your gut’s health and diversity, from sleep schedules and exercise to your eating habits.

Taking a probiotic is one of the most straightforward steps you can take to protect the health of your gut too. But not any generic probiotic will do…

That’s why it’s important to look for a probiotic with multiple strains of proven beneficial bacteria like those from the Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium families.

EndoMune Advanced Probiotic is uniquely fortified with ten strains of beneficial bacteria from both families along with a very important prebiotic (FOS) to protect your gut 24/7.

References

• BMJ
• Gut
• Reuters
• Fox 7 News