Happy and healthy through life with probiotics

You have a special interest in gut health; where did that come from?
‘In the early nineties I thought I had a chance to win a Nobel Prize by manipulating lactic acid bacteria in the gut in such a way that they could suppress the clinical effects of multiple sclerosis. Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease in which the immune system overreacts and attacks the nerves. We used bacteria from the human gut to re-educate the immune system, which would make it tolerant again. We could show it in mice, rats and monkeys. Unfortunately, it turned out to be more complex in humans; we couldn’t demonstrate any effect.’

How important is the gut microbiota to health?
‘Our intestinal content consists of 1.5 kg of bacteria; 100,000 billion in total number. These bacteria communicate continuously with the rest of the body, and vice versa. So it is of the utmost importance that these bacteria are in balance. In the right balance, 0.5-1% of them consist of potentially pathogenic bacteria, while the rest is harmless. When balanced, your stool is good, your mood is lifted, and you remember fine things. People with irritable bowel syndrome, for example, tend to have negative thoughts remarkably frequently. So they not only suffer from a diseased gut, they are also mentally mismanaged by their gut.
In the past 10 years, when researchers started to apply fecal transplants, the relationship between the composition of the gut microbiota and health became crystal clear. By changing the composition of the microbiota, they were able to demonstrate that the gut microbiota is not only capable of influencing the development of disease, but also of reversing it. A very successful example is type-2 diabetes. As I told you, I didn’t qualify for the Nobel Prize, but this research certainly does.’

A recent publication* shows that lifestyle and environmental factors have a greater influence on the gut microbiota than genes do.
‘Actually, that is no surprise to me. We have known for a long time that unhealthy living and getting ill are strongly linked. Unfortunately we don’t act on it. If you go into the jungle of Africa without a gun and get eaten by a lion everyone will tell you: ‘how could you be so stupid’. If you live an unhealthy life in the Western world and you get ill, we pretend it’s pure bad luck. It is admirable that in Groningen* they are trying so hard to support the relationship between lifestyle and health with scientific evidence. But I strongly doubt this is going to change people’s behaviour.’

Which foods have the most impact on our gut bacteria?
‘I always had a clear opinion about the sugar mafia, but a few years ago I came to think differently. ‘Simple sugars’ are disastrous for the gut. These sugars preferentially stimulate pathogens (harmful bacteria), which live off of them. In general, you should ingest as little junk food as possible to keep your gut in shape. Bad input creates bad output. In other words: ‘garbage in, garbage out’. In contrast, our intestines need the complex sugars. Many of these so-called prebiotics can be found in vegetables such as chicory, asparagus, leeks, parsnips, artichokes, garlic, and onions. In short; eating less added sugar and more vegetables is very healthy for the gut. On the other hand, as I said before, I am aware of the fact that many people find it difficult to change their eating habits or do not have access to healthy food. I think probiotics can be an add-on possibility that can supplement the daily diet to help shape a healthy gut microbiota.’

What do you advise people who want to take probiotics?
‘International Cochrane reviews indicate that you need to ingest a minimum of 4 billion probiotic bacteria daily to be able to manipulate your gut microbiota. Which bacterial strains you choose is of importance, but to a certain extent, since every individual has a very unique gut microbiota composition. So in my opinion, it is best to choose a specific probiotic for a certain goal, for example to relieve IBS symptoms, to reduce the severity of allergy, to influence your mood, or to boost your immune system. You then monitor your symptoms by using a diary and score your complaints on a scale of 1-10. If you experience no improvement after taking a probiotic product for six weeks, then maybe you should try a different probiotic product. In 50% of the cases, people can manage their symptoms in this way.’

Do you manage to live a healthy life yourself?
“Partially. I am 3 kg above my target weight and those kilos are right on my belly, and that bothers me. So I know how hard it is, because even if it’s only three kilos; I can’t get them off. But I am healthier than most people in my age group. I’m heading to the age of 65, and if I make it, according to the statistics, I am more likely to reach the age of 90.”

To get inspiration for your book, you visited very old people in different countries. What did you learn from these people?
‘I never had much of a love of yoga. But since I visited China and Japan, I turn myself upside down for a while every day. Since it improves your balance, you’re less likely to fall, and that increases your life expectancy. But the biggest eye-opener came from a 104-year-old woman in Costa Rica. She told me that she spends an hour every day on her makeup and clothes. She thought this was important because she still wanted to be seen by the men in the village. I myself never expected that this would be so important for healthy ageing. But now I know: the more zest you have for life, the higher your life expectancy.’

Interested to read more inspiring stories? Subscribe to our newsletter!