Ixcela

Tina Donvito, Reader’s Digest

A number of illnesses have been traced to the health of the gut. Tina Donvito of Reader’s Digest writes about how the gut microbiome may be the key to living a healthier life and preventing disease. The author quotes Ixcela CEO and biochemist Erika Angle, PhD.

“Studies are linking dysbiosis—the wrong types of bacterial species in the gut—with autoimmune conditions like multiple sclerosis as well as neurodegenerative diseases,” says biochemist Erika Angle, PhD, CEO of the gut microbiome testing company Ixcela."

The article discusses several other health problems, including infection, lupus, childhood trauma, and depression, and their links to gut health.

Responding to signals from us and the outside environment, the gut microbes produce substances that affect our health throughout our body, [pediatric gastroenterologist Geoffrey A. Preidis, MD, PhD] Dr. Preidis says. “Only recently have we begun to understand just how important the microbiome is to human health and well-being,” he says.

The article also touches on how prebiotics may help cancer patients and addresses the question, “Is the gut our disease control center?” Although there is still a lot to research and understand about the gut, what we eat and how we live affects our gut microbiome, and that can affect many aspects of our well-being. A healthy diet and lifestyle that supports gut health may be the key to treating—and preventing—illness.