Heart Health and the Gut- What's the connection?

You’ve heard health care providers speak about good nutrition and how eating well, lowering cholesterol and decreasing blood sugar are beneficial for your health.  What you may not know is that the billions of bacteria living in your gut affect your heart and blood vessel health.

How is that possible?  Eating foods high in beneficial prebiotic fiber (from some vegetables, whole grains, and fruits) feed the beneficial bacteria in your digestive system.  Those bacteria munching on the fiber secrete short-chain fatty acids and other compounds that create a strong barrier in your intestines so that bad stuff can’t get through or absorbed into your blood circulation.   Those compounds also push out bad bacteria and make it unfriendly for opportunistic yeast to grow.

Fiber in foods also reduces spikes in blood sugar, making it easier on your body to regulate insulin (which high levels over time cause damage to blood vessels).  Fiber also slows down the absorption of cholesterol that you eat.  Cholesterol deposits on the inside of blood vessels cause damage and narrowing, making it harder for blood to flow through them. 

With me so far?  Great!

It makes sense that if you eat adequate amounts of fiber and other prebiotics, you can even out blood sugar, reduce cholesterol levels, and reduce your risk for heart disease, stroke and diabetes, even if you have a family history.

Foods high in beneficial prebiotic fiber are great for you.  Remember to start low and go slow whenever adding additional fiber to your diet.      

Want to learn more about beneficial fiber? Click the link below.

 https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/19-best-prebiotic-foods.

Next time- Probiotics!