Modern people generally live in a state of sub-health, and the high-fat, high-salt, high-sugar, and high-oil modern delicacies have changed the lives of modern people. The reasons are usually explained as a fast-paced modern lifestyle, overuse of drugs, lack of exercise, excess nutrition, etc. Such explanations are too broad, and while discussing these issues, we need a more concrete approach to solving them. The “Human Microbiome Project” launched in 2007 provides such an approach – the human microbiome.
The human body is actually a superorganism composed of human cells and a large group of microorganisms living together symbiotically, with human cells accounting for 10% of the total cell count in the superorganism and human genes making up 1% of the total gene count. It can be said that any slight change in the health status of the human body involves microorganisms. Over 90% of the human microbiome resides in the gut. Ensuring a reasonable structure of the gut microbiome ensures one's own health. Around 2020, scientific understanding of the gut microbiome made frequent breakthroughs. We can now re-explain many issues from the perspective of the gut microbiome.
Did you know? Our gut microbiome is shrinking.
What is the problem with the modern lifestyle? There is no difference between the cellular structure of a modern person's body and that of our ancestors in primitive tribes, yet there is a significant difference in the physical condition of modern people compared to ancient people. The microorganisms in the superorganism (broadly defined human body) often face danger in a modern environment.
For example, textbooks say that the normal body temperature of a healthy person should be 37°C. But how many people today reach 37°C? During the COVID-19 pandemic from late 2019 until now, people around the world have frequently had their temperatures taken, leading to big data showing that the average body temperature of modern people is just above 36°C.
Body temperature is composed of two parts. One part is the heat produced by the body's own metabolism, and the other part is the heat produced by the metabolism of the body's microbiome. Why has the body temperature of modern people decreased? Because the gut microbiome of modern people has generally shrunk, leading to insufficient heat production.
There are three reasons for the shrinkage of the gut microbiome:
1. Antiseptics. Modern people overuse antibiotics. In intensive farming and animal husbandry, antiseptics are widely used. Additionally, modern medicine also relies on the use of antibiotics, which can lead to a shrinkage of the gut microbiome.
2. Insufficient intake of beneficial bacteria. Long-standing fear of “pathogenic bacteria” has led to reduced consumption of fermented foods, which means fewer opportunities for beneficial bacteria to colonize the human body.
3. Insufficient nourishment. The gut microbiome needs Dietary fiber as a substrate to survive. Analysis of ancient human fecal fossils shows that ancient humans consumed between 200 to 400 grams of dietary fiber daily. Today, the American Academy of Medicine recommends that people consume 30 grams of dietary fiber daily, but in reality, Americans consume an average of only 15 grams of dietary fiber per day. For millions of years, our gut microbiome has been in a high-dietary-fiber nutritional environment. However, within the past hundred years of modernization, our diet has changed significantly, with a drastic reduction in dietary fiber intake. (Reference: Zhao Liping, “The Tree Bacteria”)
The shrinkage of the gut microbiome not only lowers the body temperature of modern people but is also closely related to our endocrine system and immune system. A weakened immune barrier leads to us getting sick easily and often being in a state of sub-health. By considering how to nurture the gut microbiome well, we can effectively design a healthy lifestyle.
Drinking Tea can regulate the gut microbiome
Tea can play a role in regulating the gut microbiome. If modern people learn to Drink tea effectively, they can solve many modern health problems. Different processing methods and ways of drinking tea have entirely different effects on the gut microbiome. The main water-soluble components in tea are divided into two types: 1. Polyphenols (antiseptics); 2. Polysaccharides (water-soluble dietary fiber).
A good gut microbiome structure consists of two conditions: 1. Good bacterial strains; 2. Sufficient nutrition (for the gut microbiome, good nutrition means adequate dietary fiber).
Sometimes, due to environmental influences or internal bodily changes, excessive growth of mixed bacteria in the gut can lead to various health problems.
In such cases, drinking tea and consuming sufficient polyphenols can kill off the mixed bacteria and reshape the gut microbiome. However, teas with high Polyphenol content should not be drunk frequently in the long term. If large amounts of polyphenols are consumed for extended periods, it can cause the gut microbiome to shrink. Drinking young, strongly stimulating teas for a long time can lead to a “cold constitution,” which is due to this reason.
The more common scenario is to provide nutrition to the gut microbiome through polysaccharides.
Considering the current situation where people worldwide have low body temperatures, severely inadequate intake of dietary fiber, and a generally shrunken gut microbiome, supplementing dietary fiber through tea is a low-cost, high-efficiency health plan.
Low cost: The production cost of tea is not high, and even relatively simple and primitive environments can produce good tea.
High efficiency: Tea is already one of the most popular beverages in the world, and its dissemination costs are low.
If using tea as a dietary fiber supplement, teas with high polysaccharide content, specifically post-fermented teas, should be chosen. Among these, Puer tea, which undergoes post-fermentation or artificial rapid fermentation, is the most valuable. This value includes research value, health value, cultural value, and commercial value.
Puer tea has the highest water-soluble content and is most suitable for scientific research. Three factors contribute to the high total water-soluble content of Puer tea:
First, the variety. Yunnan large-leaf tea naturally has a higher water-soluble content;
Second, altitude. Yunnan is the highest-altitude major tea-producing region. Tea plants that can survive in environments with large temperature differences and relatively low atmospheric pressure have higher concentrations of cell sap;
Third, processing. The sun-drying process of Puer tea is simple and direct, without losing too much substance during processing. During post-fermentation, microbial involvement is extremely high, producing many new substances, and under ideal post-fermentation conditions, the water-soluble content continues to increase. For example, during the fermentation process of ripe Puer tea (or the slow fermentation process of aged raw Puer tea), different microorganisms take turns to break down insoluble leaf fibers into various water-soluble substances. These substances have complex and diverse structures. However, the basic units must include large amounts of “polysaccharides” or “pectin.” These substances are precisely water-soluble “dietary fiber.”
These dietary fibers cannot be digested by digestive enzymes once ingested, and the human body cannot absorb them, seemingly of no use to us. However, when they reach the gut, the gut microbiome can decompose and utilize these substances. The portions that are not utilized become short-chain fatty acids.
Short-chain fatty acids can provide energy for the growth of gut epithelial cells, reduce gut inflammation, regulate appetite, and induce a sense of fullness. Their functions have not been fully discovered, but it is speculated that obesity, diabetes, colorectal cancer, and other diseases may be related.
Short-chain fatty acids cannot be synthesized by the