To maintain a healthy intestine and enhance immunity, you must supplement these 4 nutrients! Nutritionist: In addition to probiotics, eating this way can help you maintain a healthy intestine

The intestine is a very important organ in the human body. It is not only responsible for the digestion and absorption of nutrients, but its mucosal barrier can also help prevent pathogens from entering the human body. The outside of the intestine is also full of immune cells, and the probiotics in the intestine are closely related to immune regulation. Therefore, taking good care of intestinal health and intestinal flora ecology can help improve immunity. Nutritionists suggest that there are four essential nutrients to maintain a healthy intestine. In addition to the probiotics that everyone knows, the other three are easily overlooked.

Nutrients to keep your intestines healthy: Probiotics

Intestinal probiotics produce short-chain fatty acids, which can repair the intestinal mucosa and reduce the entry of pathogens into the human body.

Why do we need beneficial bacteria for intestinal health? Especially probiotics? Nutritionist Yang Zhexiong said that the intestinal mucosa can block the invasion of pathogens, but the mucosa can become inflamed and damaged due to many reasons such as aging and improper diet. At this time, the pathogens in the intestines will take advantage of the opportunity to enter, and chronic inflammation may gradually lead to intestinal cancer, so taking good care of the intestinal mucosa is very important for maintaining immunity.

Intestinal probiotics can utilize the water-soluble dietary fiber in the diet to produce many short-chain fatty acids. These short-chain fatty acids are the energy source for intestinal mucosal cells, which can help repair the intestinal mucosa, maintain the integrity of the intestinal mucosa, and reduce the chance of invasion by pathogens.

Probiotics not only compete with bad intestinal bacteria, inhibiting them from producing inflammatory factors to help maintain the immune system, but the short-chain fatty acids they produce can also enter the body or activate immune cells by stimulating the intestines to secrete intestinal hormones. By strengthening the ability of immune cells to identify or phagocytize pathogens, or by stimulating immune cells to secrete antibodies, it helps the human body improve its protective capabilities.

Therefore, to maintain the body's immunity, it is recommended to take nutrients that can help the growth of probiotics or directly supplement probiotics to adjust the body's bacterial ecology and take care of the body's second immune system.

Probiotics representative foods:

Representative foods of probiotics include yogurt, which contains bacteria that are beneficial to the human body (mainly lactic acid bacteria and bifidobacteria); kimchi contains lactic acid bacteria; and miso is made by fermenting steamed soybeans with sake koji, salt and rice. Natto is a fermented food made by adding Bacillus subtilis natto to steamed soybeans and fermenting them.

Representative foods of probiotics include yogurt, which contains bacteria that are beneficial to the human body (mainly lactic acid bacteria and bifidobacteria).

Nutrient 2 for healthy intestines: Dietary fiber

Nutritionist Yang Zhexiong said that "probiotic" substances can be used by the "probiotics" in the human gastrointestinal tract to produce organic acids, stimulate intestinal peristalsis, keep the intestines acidic, and make it difficult for bad bacteria that prefer an alkaline environment to survive and reproduce. The most common component of probiotics is dietary fiber, so supplementing with dietary fiber is also a necessary nutrient for maintaining a healthy intestine. In fruits, vegetables or whole grains, there are some polysaccharides that cannot be digested and absorbed by the human body, including cellulose, hemicellulose, pectin, gum, lignin, etc. These are called dietary fiber.

Dietary fiber represents food:

"Whole grains and root vegetables" include whole grain root vegetables such as oats, brown rice, pumpkin, potatoes, sweet potatoes, etc., which are rich in dietary fiber and other beneficial bacteria. "Beans" include soybeans, soy beans and other legume foods that contain water-soluble dietary fiber, which can provide sufficient nutrients for good bacteria. "Vegetables" include cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, which are rich in insoluble dietary fiber and can provide sufficient nutrients for good bacteria. "Fruits" including apples, kiwis, and bananas contain a large amount of water-soluble dietary fiber and other beneficial bacteria.

Nutrient three for healthy intestines: Vitamin E

Vitamin E is not only known to have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, but animal experiments have also found that the distribution of probiotics in the intestines of people who consume adequate amounts of vitamin E is different from that of people with low intakes. Studies have also pointed out that vitamin E is related to the secretion of short-chain fatty acids by intestinal flora. Therefore, supplementing with enough vitamin E can help us improve the health of our intestines!

However, according to the National Nutrition Survey from 2017 to 2019, our vitamin E intake is lower than the recommended intake and only reaches 60-70% of the recommended amount. This means that our vitamin E status is not good and can be supplemented through diet.

The representative food of vitamin E is "nuts", which are a good source of vitamin E.

Vitamin E represents food:

The representative food for vitamin E is "nuts". Nuts are a good source of vitamin E. We need about 12 mg of vitamin E a day, and a small handful of almonds can provide about 5 mg of vitamin E. Therefore, it is recommended to consume enough nuts every day to help supplement vitamin E. Nuts include peanuts, sunflower seeds, white sesame seeds, almonds, pine nuts, sea buckthorn berries, malt, almonds, etc. "Dark green vegetables" include broccoli, spinach, rapeseed, celery leaves, water spinach, mustard greens, chrysanthemum cabbage, leeks, etc. "Meat", especially "fish" foods, are rich in DHA+EPA, commonly known as fish oil, which is an important oil nutrient.

Nutrient 4 for healthy intestines: Magnesium

Magnesium is an important mineral for human metabolism, but it is also closely related to intestinal flora. A 2015 study found that when magnesium is lacking in the diet, the intestinal flora is altered, which in turn affects the physiological functions of the brain. In addition, studies have also found that magnesium ions can stimulate the growth of probiotics in the intestines and help activate immune cells in the body.

The National Nutrition Survey pointed out that after entering puberty, Taiwanese people's intake almost does not reach the recommended amount. Adolescents only consume more than 60% of the recommended amount, and young and middle-aged people only consume 76-78%, which shows that our magnesium status is indeed not good.

Magnesium food sources:

Nutritionist Yang Zhexiong said that magnesium ions are rich in nuts and whole grains. "Whole grains" include wheat, oats and barley, as well as "quasi-cereals" such as quinoa and buckwheat that have become popular in recent years. They are all cereal foods rich in magnesium. In addition, "nuts" are also a good source of magnesium ions. We need to consume 320-380 mg of magnesium ions a day. A small handful of nuts can help supplement 20-30 mg of magnesium ions, which is 30% of the current gap. Nutritionist Yang Zhexiong recommends supplementing a small handful or a bag of nuts every day to help replenish magnesium ions. Green vegetables, including kale, spinach or mustard greens, are also rich in magnesium. Fish are also rich in magnesium, especially fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel or cod.

In addition to dietary fiber, vitamin E and magnesium ions, nuts also help the growth of intestinal flora. As for the probiotics attached to nuts, you can supplement the probiotics while taking nuts. However, probiotics will lose their activity due to temperature and humidity. In addition, nuts should not be consumed in excess, as they will still have the problem of excessive calories.