When Hack Your Health: The Secrets of the Gut was published, I knew I needed to review it. I can’t stand nutrition documentaries on Netflix, but I know everyone wants to read the synopsis and my thoughts on these often sensational films.
Unlike other Netflix documentaries, I found this one to be relatively well made and agree with the important messages shared.
However, it is not without criticism. Let’s dive in.
Gut health has become a popular area of research in recent years, but we’ve only just begun to scratch the surface of what gut health means to our overall health. Chronic health conditions such as type II diabetes, obesity, irritable bowel syndrome, arthritis, sleep disorders, depression, and anxiety are all associated with poor gut health, but how are they related? The exact mechanism is not known.
Tim Spector, a genetic epidemiologist at King’s College, London, says in the film: Another 97% need to be discovered. ”
This is true. We have limitations in our research on the human body, especially humans. Please keep that in mind.
Stars of Netflix Hack Your Health:
Maya is a pastry chef who suffers from orthorexia and has dietary restrictions. She is even afraid to eat her own food. She mostly eats vegetables and then supplements her diet with “portions and powders,” but she finds the wellness industry very confusing. I think many people can relate to that.
Daniel is a PhD student with chronic intestinal pain. She started suffering from unhealthy eating during her undergraduate years. She took antibiotics multiple times to try to control her symptoms, but to no avail. She now associates eating with anxiety, pain and discomfort and can only eat 10-15 different foods.
Kimmy is a single mother who is struggling to lose weight. She wonders if her gut health is the reason she’s not as successful at losing weight as others.
Kobi is a retired contestant who has eaten more than 10,000 hot dogs. He can no longer feel any signs of hunger or fullness and can go days without eating. He worries that his career has caused irreparable damage to his gut.
These people all underwent at-home gut tests to analyze their poop to see what types of bacteria it contained. They used a gut health test called Floré, which is available online for $299. According to the website, the manufacturer of this product states:
“Our gut health tests can detect more than 23,000 microorganisms in the gut, including bacteria, fungi, yeast, parasites, and viruses. Using whole-genome sequencing technology, we can detect each microorganism at the strain level and relative Use the report to determine which foods and supplements are best for you, or upgrade to our Precision Probiotics for a custom gut health solution. please.”
right. There is a sales pitch with an upsell. Red flag.
Tim Spector, one of the experts who reviews the results with people in the movie, seems to be quite supportive of these tests (probably because he also sells the tests. Zoe See my review here). His belief is that these tests can help identify certain foods you should and shouldn’t eat based on your gut microbiome.
Dr. Gilia Enders, author of the book Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Underrated Organ, says these tests are just a fun experiment. She considers them unnecessary and says tests are not needed to better treat the intestines. What most people actually need is a change in their diet (which we’ll get to in a moment), not a microbiome test.
I agree with her 100%. And this is why. At this time, we do not know what the optimal gut microbiome looks like. Knowing that, what do the results of these tests compare to?Also, these tests only analyze gut bacteria at once, and our gut is based on what we eat, We know it can change rapidly based on stress, antibiotics, and the environment.
For example, a microbiome test that tells you not to eat apples, sausages, or cakes is basically picking this problem out of thin air. Did you know that the standard American diet appears to have a negative impact on the gut microbiome?Yes. Does this mean you should never eat sausage or cake? Of course not.
And upselling supplements for “custom gut health solutions”? Do we have a billion probiotics that match the microbiome of everyone tested?
It’s 100% marketing spin. Don’t be convinced. Most people don’t even need probiotics (I wrote about that here).
I wish we, as a society, could focus on the “basics.” This means improving the overall quality of your diet, eliminating recommendations that narrow your diet down to a single food, and simply eating enough plants. And so do we. That can actually help our microbiome.
Why would you want to hack everything and test it for basically useless information?
I asked Dr. Lee Mellott, a gut health dietitian in Toronto, for his thoughts on these tests. She said:
“Experts agree that a healthy gut microbiome should contain a wide variety of microorganisms and species, but what that number is has not yet been defined. The fact that these tests claim to diagnose “healthy” amounts of bacteria is purely based on the parameters of the test itself and is unethical in my opinion. Additionally, if you look at this company’s website, you’ll see that they sell supplements to address a variety of “problems” that can be diagnosed through testing, so the company will tell you you have a problem and then try to sell you a solution. When is always a red flag. To fix it. ”
Back to you. When experts examined her test results, they found that her microbiome had low diversity and Prevotella was absent. This appears to be the case with other people who have difficulty losing weight.
Experts encouraged Kimi to focus on sustainable dietary changes and increase fruits and vegetables to improve gut health. This highlights the inability to put the results of these stool tests to practical use. Mellott added: “While it was clear in the documentary that these tests can show that certain levels of beneficial bacteria are ‘low,’ eating a more plant-diverse diet There were no other clinical recommendations to address these levels. You don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars on a stool test to tell you you need to do a stool test. ”
that’s right.
We also don’t know at this time how much impact certain types of bacteria may have on your ability to lose weight. Obesity is a multifactorial chronic disease, and while gut health may play a role, there are many other factors to consider.
Hacking your health: Research.
The film is based on the work of Dr. Jeffrey Gordon, a researcher at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. In a 2008 study, mice were transplanted with the gut bacteria of identical twins, one obese and the other lean. Mice that received bacteria from their obese twin gained more weight on the same diet compared to mice that received bacteria from their lean twin.
This is certainly an interesting result, but it doesn’t tell us much about humans living freely in the real world.
They also drew on similar research on mental health and found that when mice were given bacteria from depressed people, the mice started showing similar symptoms and there were changes in serotonin levels in the gut and brain. I discovered it. I don’t doubt the gut-brain connection, and I know that most serotonin is produced in the gut, but again, I can’t draw any definite conclusions about humans from this study.
Most importantly, what recommendations can we give to humans based on these studies? Depression and the gut are interesting topics, but it’s important not to ignore reverse causation. Does an inappropriate diet cause changes in the gut bacteria that lead to depression, or does depression cause an inappropriate diet and changes in the gut bacteria? It’s difficult to say, and all The answer may not be the same for everyone.
Kobi’s stool test revealed very good intestinal bacteria, which they thought may be related to his traditional Japanese diet. He also had a brain scan, and based on the results, they thought some of his problems were related to the fact that his brain had become accustomed to him being competitive.
Rather than pushing him to do anything extreme, Dr. Enders recommends listening to his body and respecting all his senses when eating. Although Kobi’s case is extreme, many people can benefit from trying to be more attuned to their hunger and satiety signals. I agree with Dr. Enders that for someone who grew up being told to clean the plate, or who is on a chronic diet, trying to reconnect with your body’s cues is a process. is. It may seem easy, but it’s not and it takes time.
fecal transplant
Consider fecal microbial transplantation (FMT), which involves transplanting someone else’s feces into an infected patient. This treatment is approved by the FDA for use against only one disease: C. difficile. In this condition, bacteria inflame the colon and cause severe diarrhea that can be fatal. Research is underway to determine whether FMT is effective for other diseases, but there are still many unknowns.
It turns out that Danielle has been attempting FMT, albeit unapproved, and has received feces from both her brother and her boyfriend. You can see her transferring poop from the fridge to a test tube and turning it into a poop capsule. After receiving stool from my brother, my symptoms improved somewhat, but I realized that I also had his acne problems. She then switched to her boyfriend’s and found that her acne disappeared. But her boyfriend had mental health issues, and her depression worsened as soon as she started using him as a donor.
Honestly, this is like a dumpster fire. Although there is some preliminary research suggesting that depression and anxiety may be caused by (or alleviated by) FMT, this anecdote provided by this film is just that: an anecdote.
When you ingest good bacteria from someone on FMT, you also ingest bad bacteria. Also, there is a huge risk in randomly inserting someone else’s poop into your body, so don’t try this at home.
Maya’s gut health tests revealed that she had a fairly “healthy” microbiome. This is probably due to all the vegetables she is eating. They reminded her that eating a kale salad every day is great, but it’s not enough, and encouraged her to have more variety in her diet. You can then see her concentrating on adding potato chips back into her diet.
For people who suffer from orthorexia, adding potato chips to their diet is a big step. I wish she had also given specific examples of other plant foods to eat that contribute to bacterial diversity, such as whole grains, fruits, legumes, nuts, and seeds, but perhaps they would have preferred that. Probably not. To make the situation worse. I think there’s a lot more to this story than what you see here.
It’s not uncommon for people with a history of chronic intestinal problems or eating disorders to have fear or anxiety around food. In this case, working directly with a nutritionist can be helpful. A nutritionist can help you slowly introduce foods back into your diet and monitor your symptoms.
Netflix Hack Your Health review: In short.
Compared to other Netflix nutrition documentaries, Hack Your Health did pretty well. Experts are clear that there is still much to learn about the gut microbiome, which is a good overarching message. To promote a healthy gut microbiome, it’s also recommended to eat a diet rich in plant-based whole foods and aim to consume 20 to 30 different plants each week.
Introducing fermented foods may also be effective.
There’s nothing “hack” about this movie. Whole foods, more plants, and sustainable changes have been promoted by nutritionists for years. Solid advice.
