Gut Health: Why it Matters
May 19, 2017
Hosted by Susan Downs, MD
[Download MP3] [itunes] [Bookmark Episode]
Guest Information
Episode Description
The gut is at the root of many diseases. A balanced, diverse microbiome (gut bacteria) is essential for health. Reduced microbiome diversity has been linked to increased gut permeability, autoimmune, metabolic and inflammatory diseases, diabetes (types 1 and 2), obesity, Alzheimer’s, MS, autism, colorectal cancer, inflammatory bowel disease. When the gut microbiota is altered or disrupted, it is referred to as “dysbiosis,” which results in the gut becoming inflamed and permeable (“leaky gut”). A leaky gut allows substances to pass through the walls of the gut into the blood stream. This leads to inflammation and oxidative stress - triggers for chronic diseases. A permeable gut also can start an autoimmune response because antibodies are formed against the food proteins that pass through the wall of the gut. Gut health is intricately connected to brain health. You will learn about gut health and how it effects overall health.
Occupy Health
Friday at 11 AM Pacific Time on VoiceAmerica Empowerment Channel
Occupy Health provides leading edge health information to allow you to take proactive steps towards optimal health. We help you look under the hood to find the underlying contributing causes to illness. We also interview health and functional medicine experts to provide answers to questions and to arm you with questions for your health provider. Tune in to Occupy Health, broadcasting every Friday at 11 AM Pacific Time on the VoiceAmerica Health and Wellness Channel.
Susan Downs, MD
Dr. Susan is boarded in Integrative Medicine and in Psychiatry, is a certified IFM practitioner and certified in the American Academy of Antiaging Medicine. She works at the University of California, San Francisco and is on the Psychiatry Consultant Registry (UK). She has Masters Degrees in engineering from MIT and Stanford and a Masters in Public Health from Loma Linda Medical Center.
Based between San Francisco and Bloomsbury (London), she is the president of the cutting edge, Silicon Valley Health Institute (SVHI), has worked in ten countries and studied many healing modalities. Previously, she worked for the NHS in the UK, was an assistant professor at INSEAD (European School for Business Administration), and was a foreign service officer managing alternative energy projects in Asia. She is also a film-maker with two multi award winning films on health. Her interests include medicine, economics, spirituality and making the world a better place.
