Your Gut Is Running the Show – Even When You Do Not Realise It
Your gut is not just a digestive organ. It is home to trillions of microorganisms that collectively influence your immunity, mood, weight, hormones, skin, and even your risk for chronic disease. The gut microbiome is arguably the most important organ system that most people know nothing about.
At our practice in Zürich Seefeld, gut health assessment and optimisation is central to my functional medicine approach – because so many chronic conditions have their roots in the gut.
What Is the Gut Microbiome?
Your gut hosts approximately 38 trillion microorganisms – bacteria, fungi, viruses, and archaea – that collectively weigh about 1-2 kilograms. This complex ecosystem performs vital functions: breaking down dietary fibre into short-chain fatty acids that nourish your colon, producing vitamins (K, B12, biotin, folate), training and regulating your immune system, maintaining the gut barrier, producing neurotransmitters (95% of serotonin is made in the gut), metabolising hormones and medications, and protecting against pathogenic organisms.
Signs of Poor Gut Health
Gut dysfunction does not always manifest as digestive symptoms. Warning signs include digestive issues (bloating, gas, constipation, diarrhoea, reflux), food intolerances, frequent infections, skin problems (acne, eczema, rosacea), mood disturbances (anxiety, depression), brain fog, autoimmune conditions, weight resistance, fatigue, and joint pain. If you have chronic symptoms affecting any of these areas, the gut is worth investigating.
What Damages Gut Health?
Antibiotic overuse: While sometimes necessary, antibiotics indiscriminately kill beneficial bacteria alongside pathogens, reducing microbial diversity.
Poor diet: Low fibre, high sugar, processed foods, and excessive alcohol deprive beneficial bacteria of fuel and promote pathogenic overgrowth.
Chronic stress: Alters gut motility, reduces beneficial bacteria, increases intestinal permeability, and shifts the microbiome toward a more inflammatory profile.
Medications: PPIs, NSAIDs, oral contraceptives, and metformin all affect the microbiome in various ways.
Infections: Acute gastroenteritis, parasites, and pathogenic bacterial overgrowth can cause lasting changes.
Environmental toxins: Pesticides, heavy metals, and food additives affect microbial composition.
Our Diagnostic Approach
I use comprehensive stool analysis to assess microbiome diversity and composition, digestive function markers (elastase, bile acids), inflammatory markers (calprotectin, secretory IgA), intestinal permeability indicators, and screening for parasites and pathogenic organisms. Hydrogen and methane breath tests evaluate for SIBO. Blood markers (zonulin, food-specific antibodies) may complement stool findings.
What We Do: Rebuilding Your Gut From the Ground Up
Remove triggers: Identifying and eliminating problematic foods, addressing infections, treating SIBO, and reducing unnecessary medications.
Replace digestive support: Enzymes, bile acids, or HCl supplementation where testing reveals deficiency.
Reinoculate: Targeted probiotics based on your specific microbiome results, not generic formulations. Specific strains for specific conditions.
Repair the gut barrier: L-glutamine, zinc carnosine, butyrate, collagen, and vitamin D to support intestinal lining integrity.
Rebalance: Prebiotic fibres, diverse plant-based foods, and lifestyle modifications (stress reduction, exercise, sleep) to support a thriving, diverse microbiome long-term.
Conclusion
Your gut health influences far more than digestion. It is the foundation upon which overall health is built. If you have chronic symptoms that have not responded to conventional treatment, investigating your gut may provide the answers you have been looking for. Book a gut health assessment at our practice in Zürich Seefeld.
