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Your Health Could Depend on What’s In Your Gut

06Jun
Green KeyHealthcare

Nutritionists have long told us “You are what you eat,” an adage embodied in the food pyramid every child learns in school. Now, out of the Netherlands comes evidence that what’s in our gut has a connection to a variety of illnesses including osteoarthritis, heart disease and diabetes.

Presenting the findings of a broad study of 422,417 unrelated adults of British ancestry, author Dr. Hilde Groot of University Medical Centre Groningen in the Netherlands, said the bacteria and other microorganisms found in the human digestive tract – the gut microbiome — influence our health.

Speaking at the virtual meeting last month of the European Society of Cardiology, Groot said, “Our study indicates that microbiota might have an important role in maintaining health and could help us develop novel treatments.”

Higher levels of 11 types of bacteria were associated with a total of 28 health and disease outcomes. These included chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), atopy (a genetic tendency to develop allergic diseases like asthma and eczema), frequency of alcohol intake, high blood pressure and high blood lipids.

A number of previous studies have found a relationship between the gut microbiome and individual diseases. Medicine has sometimes turned to fecal transplants to rebuild colonies of helpful bacteria wiped out by heavy antibiotic use.

The Netherlands study is the first one to investigate multiple diseases and other traits in a single group of individuals.

Rather than attempt to measure the make-up of each study subject’s microbiome, the researchers used genetic data from the UK Biobank as a proxy. They also collected information on a wide range of diseases and other characteristics including body mass index and blood pressure.

“Considering that the results were observed in one cohort, this cautiously supports the notion that microbiota and the substances they produce (called metabolites) provide links between numerous diseases and conditions,” said Groot.

She cautioned however that “More research is needed to validate our findings.”

“Follow-up studies are required to study causality before giving concrete advice to the public and health professionals. This study provides clues where to go.”

Photo by Louis Hansel @shotsoflouis on Unsplash

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Those are the ones we see and hear about daily. Yet there is another group of professionals laboring behind the scenes, often remotely, whose vital work goes unsung. These are the case managers — nurses or social workers in most cases — who, explains Wil Shelton, “coordinate with physicians, nurses, mental health and insurance companies, and family and friends of the patient, their client.”

His wife is one.

“Case managers are in a battle behind the scenes, huddling daily to plan for the next six months. But mostly these men and women are alone, hunched over computers in trenches of their bedrooms or living rooms, making frantic phone calls, staying focused on the needs of patients even when their families need them, too.”

In just one week, Shelton says, his wife helped cancer patients unable to see their oncologist because offices are closed. She worked with the family of a 2-year-old asthma patient discharged home because his doctor’s office, too, was closed. Then there were the terminally ill patients who contracted COVIC-19 and had to be isolated from family when, he notes sadly, “time with them matters most.”

That doesn’t even include the administrative tasks like finding an empty bed, handling records, tracking patients and hunting down busier-than-ever doctors and nurses.

“All of these situations bring tears, confusion, fear, and loss — all of which my wife, and case managers like her, are supposed to alleviate from a remote location with little support and in the middle of a system plagued by glitches and breakdowns,” says Shelton.

“Please,” he ends his post, speaking to all of us, “Be kind to your case worker. He or she is making a great sacrifice to ensure the best outcome for you.”

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Now that you’re back at a workstation, reality is setting in. What do you need to get your team on board and rowing together?

In a word, it’s leadership. And that has far less to do with your coding skills than your ability to communicate, motivate and collaborate. Your team will look to you for guidance in setting priorities, advocating for them up the food chain, and working with them to solve problems.

“In today’s world,” says The Ohio State Engineer Magazine, “It is essential for an engineer to possess strong communication skills; it is the biggest determiner of success in the modern engineer’s professional career.” This goes double for project leads and managers.

Clear communication starts with knowing the details of the project, defining the end goals clearly, assigning roles and setting expectations. Clarity is essential, so even when you see nodding heads, don’t assume everyone understands. Ask for discussion. A diplomatic way of ensuring your team understands what needs to be done is ask if the process and goals are realistic; does anyone see any potential problems. Invite pushback on the timeline.

Besides uncovering misunderstandings or communication gaps, you’ll demonstrate your openness to disagreement and differing points of view. Creating an environment of psychological safety is the single most important component of team success, according to Google, which exhaustively studied team leadership.

A Slack blog post describes how a team lead creates psychological safety:

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  3. Avoid finger pointing – Constructive feedback is helpful. But blaming does nothing good. When problems arise — and they always do — focus on how to solve them. Involving the team in finding solutions is often a smart way to find creative ways to resolve problems.
  4. Be humble – When you make a mistake, admit it. When you’ve been short with someone, apologize. Say “please” and “thank you” often.

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