Concerned About Foodborne Illnesses? An MD’s Tips For Building A Resilient Gut
With foodborne illnesses and parasites making headlines, many of us are obsessively thinking about our digestive health (and trying to avoid explosive diarrhea). While you can’t control every potential microbial exposure, you can build up your body’s defenses against them.
“Think of your microbiome as one of your body's first lines of defense,” says Frank Lipman, M.D., integrative physician and longevity expert. “It's a diverse, well-balanced community of bacteria that helps crowd out harmful microbes, supports the intestinal barrier, and produces compounds that make it more difficult for pathogens to gain a foothold.”
According to Lipman, the health of your gut microbiome may influence how your body responds when you encounter harmful microbes. “When someone has a resilient, diverse gut ecosystem, they may be exposed to the same contaminated food as someone else yet experience milder symptoms or recover much more quickly,” he explains.
That doesn’t mean a healthy gut makes you immune to foodborne illness. But it may impact how hard an infection hits if you are exposed.
Why your gut plays such an important role in immune health
“The gut is really the command center of the immune system,” says Lipman. “About 70% of the body's immune cells1 are found in and around the gastrointestinal tract.”
Lipman explains that a healthy microbiome helps train immune cells to respond appropriately. The gut microbiome should be “strong enough to fight off acute threats like foodborne pathogens, but regulated enough that it's not constantly inflamed, which drives susceptibility to chronic illness.”
He also notes that diverse gut bacteria produce short-chain fatty acids, which help support the intestinal lining. “These compounds nourish the gut lining, keeping it intact so toxins and pathogens can't easily slip into the bloodstream,” he says.
In other words, gut resilience isn’t something you build only when you’re sick. “Resilience isn't a one-time event; it's built daily by how well you feed and protect your microbial community,” says Lipman.
5 ways to support a more resilient gut
So what can you do to help support your microbiome? Lipman recommends focusing on a few foundational habits.
- Prioritize fiber-rich, diverse plant foods: “Prioritize fiber-rich, diverse plant foods to feed beneficial bacteria,” says Lipman. A wide variety of plant foods provides different types of fiber that support the growth and activity of beneficial gut microbes.
- Include fermented foods regularly: Lipman recommends eating fermented foods daily. Foods like yogurt, kefir, kimchi, sauerkraut, and miso can be part of a balanced diet that supports microbial diversity.
- Practice good food safety habits: Even a resilient gut can’t replace basic food safety practices. Lipman recommends habits like proper washing and cooking to help reduce exposure to harmful pathogens.
- Limit ultra-processed foods and unnecessary sugar: Lipman also recommends minimizing ultra-processed foods and unnecessary sugar, which he says “feed the wrong bacteria” and may not support a balanced gut ecosystem.
- Stay hydrated and manage stress: Hydration and stress management are also part of supporting gut health. “Cortisol directly impacts gut integrity,” says Dr. Lipman, making stress management an important piece of maintaining a resilient gut.
The takeaway
“Exposure matters, of course, but so does the health of the internal ecosystem that's responding to it,” says Lipman. The current Cyclospora outbreak has not officially been identified. However, many experts recommend skipping bagged salad greens, fresh cilantro (and basil), raw snow peas, raspberries, green onions, and scallions for the time being. Wash all produce well, and opt for commercially frozen fruits and veggies.
By consistently prioritizing fiber-rich foods, fermented foods, stress management, hydration, and other gut-supportive habits, you can help create the conditions for a more resilient microbiome.