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Role and benefits of the gut microbiota
We have coexisted with our microbiota since the dawn of time. Or is it the other way around?
If it is unbalanced or not diverse enough, our health immediately pays the price: inflammation, weight gain, weakened immunity, digestive and sleep disorders, and even anxiety…
In the body, there are different microbiotas : on the skin, in the mouth, in the vagina, in the lungs… The gut microbiota is the most ‘populated’ of them.
More and more studies highlight this collection of microorganisms (bacteria, yeasts, fungi) that populate our intestines, also called our second brain.
According to INSERM, there would be nearly 160 species of bacteria, for an average of 10 trillion microorganisms in adults.
Read also | Best probiotics: our buying guide
The guest: Martine Cotinat
To discuss our friend the microbiota, today we are talking with a passionate and engaging gastroenterologist, Martine Cotinat, who has just published a short and very interesting book on the subject, “I Rebalance My Microbiota”.
Published by Thierry Souccar, it offers a 4-week program to heal the body from the inside.
Martine Cotinat is not just a doctor. She holds degrees in nutrition, micro-nutrition, and phyto-aromatherapy. She is the author of numerous books, a speaker, and a nutrition educator.
Her current passion is permaculture, and so I refer her to the eleventh episode of our podcast, on permaculture cooking (the eleventh episode of our podcast, on permaculture cooking), or how to adapt the principles of permaculture in the kitchen.
Questions
- How, as a doctor, did you become interested in the microbiota?
- What is the microbiota? To link with our previous issue, you told me when preparing this interview that the apple had a microbiota?
- In what way does the microbiota play an important role in our health?
- What are the latest studies on this topic?
- In your book, you propose four weeks to relearn how to properly nourish our microbiota. Can you briefly tell us again about these four steps?
- What would be the 5 or 10 foods most beneficial for the microbiota?
- And conversely, which foods should be avoided?
- And regarding types of cooking? (do you also talk about putting certain foods in the fridge after cooking?)
- What about fermentation?
- And chronobiology?
- What is the use of probiotic dietary supplements? (effectiveness, types of strains to prioritize, effectiveness VS “natural” probiotics like kombucha)
- Aside from nutrition, what other habits, in terms of lifestyle, would help restore or maintain the microbiota?
- Could you share one or two recipes to thank our microbiota?
Resources to learn more
- I Rebalance My Microbiota, Thierry Souccar Editions
- Intestinal microbiota (intestinal flora): a serious lead to understanding the origin of many diseases, Inserm
