How much does your gut health impact your overall health? A lot, doctors say

Amina Zafar · CBC News

· Posted: May 31, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 9 minutes ago

You whitethorn beryllium proceeding a batch astir the gut microbiome these days — it's been mentioned everyplace from wellness podcasts to the market aisle. Doctors are tapping into it to effort and dainty immoderate diseases differently.

The gut microbiome is the assemblage of each the bacteria and viruses successful our intestines, including friendlier microbes that beforehand wellness arsenic good arsenic immoderate foes that tin origin illness.

One evolving process is the fecal transplant, wherever a tiny illustration of stool from the colon of a steadfast idiosyncratic is fixed to a recipient for therapeutic purposes. Despite the ick factor, they person been utilized to dainty perchance fatal, recurring bacterial infections for which antibiotics person been little effective.

Now, doctors and researchers are looking to spot whether fecal transplants tin beryllium utilized for different hard-to-treat illnesses.

Avoiding scorched-earth regimen

Health Canada approved fecal transplants for recurrent C. difficile infections successful 2015. Impacting the colon, these infections pb to diarrhea and, if recurring, dehydration that tin wreak havoc connected the body. The extremity with the transplant is to person the steadfast bacteria outcompete the C. difficile and hitch retired the stubborn infection.

Overall, for recurrent C. difficile, fecal transplants were importantly much effective, greater than 85 per cent, compared with little than 50 per cent for antibiotics.

Dr. Nikhil Pai, a pediatric gastroenterologist and subordinate objective prof astatine McMaster University successful Hamilton, said antibiotics tin make a unspeakable cycle.

"What ends up surviving aft this scorched-earth antibiotic regimen are bacteria that cannot lone marque things worse, but tin impact a batch of different things specified arsenic conscionable wide nutrition and metabolism," Pai said.

In adults, a 2023 reappraisal of objective trials published by the respected Cochrane Library concluded fecal transplants whitethorn besides assistance power Crohn's illness and ulcerative colitis, 2 forms of inflammatory bowel illness that harm the gut erstwhile the body's immune strategy mistakenly attacks itself.

WATCH | Debunking myths of fecal transplants: 

Bruce Vallance, a pediatrics prof astatine the University of British Columbia, said inflammatory bowel illness is fundamentally chronic inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract, perchance triggered by the bacteria surviving successful our intestines. It tin hap astatine immoderate age, helium said.

"We're trying to fig retired whether definite microbes are driving the illness and whether we could people those microbes, deplete them and hopefully region them from the intestine truthful there's nary longer immoderate trigger for disease."

Some researchers are besides looking into utilizing fecal transplants for teenage anorexia nervosa, known for its trouble to dainty and precocious decease rate. Research suggests determination is simply a gut-brain connection, and scientists are uncovering determination is an relation betwixt anorexia and imbalances successful the gut microbiome, which could power a person's behaviour. 

Building slimy 'mini guts'

Vallance and his squad are besides studying whether definite microbes that whitethorn thrust Crohn's and colitis tin get done a cardinal mucus furniture successful the intestines.

To that end, he's been moving with doctors astatine BC Children's Hospital to instrumentality fecal samples and biopsies that connection a snapshot of what's going connected successful the quality colon.

Vallance builds "mini guts" — a 3D exemplary of the intestines successful the signifier of a shot — to survey however the microbes function. He's focusing connected increasing bacteria successful the epithelium, oregon gut lining, which contains proteins with sugars connected them that signifier a slimy coating.

"It doesn't look bully and it doesn't dependable nice, but that sticky coating is really truly important successful presumption of however we interact with our gut microbes," Vallance said. It's what creates the obstruction against unsafe bacteria that tin origin diseases similar Crohn's and colitis.

Another proceedings focuses connected abbreviated bowel syndrome successful children who person had parts of their tiny intestine surgically removed. It tin origin an excessive build-up of bacteria, starring to abdominal pain, bloating and diarrhea that's traditionally treated with antibiotics.

There person been different unintentional benefits of the fecal transplant. Pai recalled, while astatine his different presumption astatine Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, treating an autistic kid who had recurrent C. difficile.

"After their treatment, determination were comments from the household that this kid was besides conscionable showing immoderate existent improvements and changes successful their behaviour arsenic good arsenic noted by their teachers successful school," Pai said. "I don't deliberation it's immoderate astonishment that different aspects of him besides got better."

Why we are what we eat

Bringing backmost healthier bacteria besides benefits the assemblage arsenic a whole, Pai said, which could beryllium wherefore the lad saw improvements successful different areas.

"The remark oregon the thought that we are what we devour is precise true," Vallance said.

What we devour and digest is besides individualized, to that grade that everyone's poo is similar a fingerprint — oregon poo print, helium said. "Everybody has their ain unsocial blueprint."

When radical devour a high-fibre fare afloat of vegetables, for instance, much fibre reaches the colon, wherever microbes ferment it and merchandise beneficial factors specified arsenic butyrate, a abbreviated concatenation fatty acid.

Vallance said butyrate tin assistance awesome our immune strategy what to bash and when. But radical with inflammatory bowel illness thin to person overmuch little butyrate, a adjuvant regulator to forestall the immune strategy from overreacting, helium said.

Carrie Daniel MacDougall, an subordinate prof astatine MD Anderson Cancer Center's epidemiology section successful Houston, specializes successful nutrition and the microbiome, including the relation of dietary fibre.

Daniel MacDougall and her squad showed that adding dietary fibre successful the signifier of canned beans changed the gut microbiome of crab patients wrong 8 weeks and is thought to promote beneficial gut bacteria to bash their thing.

Cancer prevention guidelines already stress expanding fibre with full foods similar beans, arsenic good arsenic fruits and vegetables.

"A batch of what we're learning astir the technological mechanisms and the gut microbiome besides has a immense interaction connected nationalist health," Daniel MacDougall said. Gut wellness "has a batch of crossover with different diseases similar bosom disease, inflammatory bowel disease.

"We're each learning from each other's research."