Selected Podcast
Children’s Gut Health: Beyond Pop Science
Dr. Mark Corkins explains the importance of gut health in early childhood, how to promote healthy gut bacteria, the link between gut bacteria and brain health, and how gut bacteria/microbiome can affect your child's mood and temperament.
Featured Speaker:
Learn more about Mark Corkins, MD
Mark Corkins, MD, CNSC, FASPEN, AGAF, FAAP
Mark Corkins, MD is the Division Chief of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Le Bonheur Children's Hospital.Learn more about Mark Corkins, MD
Transcription:
Children’s Gut Health: Beyond Pop Science
Bill Klaproth: (Host) What is the importance of gut health in early childhood? How can you promote healthy gut bacteria in your child? And then, how can the gut bacteria microbiome affect your child's mood and temperament? Let's find out what Dr. Mark Corkins Division Chief of Pediatric Gastroenterology at LeBonheur Children's Hospital. This is the Peds Pod by LeBonheur Children's Hospital, I'm Bill Klaproth. Dr. Corkins, it is great to talk with you. Thank you so much for your time. So how can having a healthy gut during your childhood help your overall health as an adult?
Dr. Mark Corkins: (Guest) So the gut is where we get all the fuel and all the nutrients that we need throughout our body. And In childhood to build our body. Now, so a healthy gut is extremely important to overall health again, cause that's our fuel. Those are our building blocks. Now a healthy gut begins with a healthy diet. A good portion of the skeleton you'll have the rest of your life is laid down by age 16. So you don't get enough calcium, phosphorus, vitamin D, you're a higher risk to have osteoporosis when you're older. The other thing is you're not only feeding yourself, but you're feeding the flora. We have 10 to the 12th bacteria that live in our colon that share the space with us. So what you feed yourself, you also feed them. So that flora depends on what you feed him. That's good studies show us that the flow is different than infants that are breastfed versus infants that are formula-fed. So that a healthy gut and that a healthy diet is very important.
Host: I Like how you said a healthy gut begins with a healthy diet, that really puts it in perspective. So are there some things that are vital for kids to do now to have good gut health in the future, and if so, what are they?
Dr. Corkins: The good news is in a way, all of us know it. A good diet is balanced. We talk about a balanced diet and everybody knows that term balanced diet. So we need foods from every food group. We need some fruits. We need some vegetables; we need some proteins. We need some grains. Now I'm a gastroenterologist. I'm a GI specialist. I can tell you that we have digestive enzymes that break down carbohydrates. We have ones that breakdown fat. So we have ones that breakdown proteins. Were designed to digest a wide variety of foods. And I'm just going to be general here, but any diet that is skewed to one thing more than anything else, or eliminate things from the diet leads the risks. For nutrition issues and you know if you're eliminating dairy products, you worry about the calcium and phosphorus and vitamin D. So a diet that is skewed or eliminate things like I said, it is a risky diet.
Host: That's really interesting. So what you're saying is our gut is designed for balance and it's ready to take on all food groups, fruits, vegetables, proteins, and grains?
Dr. Corkins: Absolutely. We have the digestive insights for protein is like I said, carbohydrates and fats were designed to get all of them and use them all.
Host: So that's very good to remember. As you said earlier, a healthy gut begins with a healthy diet. So what effect then does gut bacteria slash microbiome have on mood and then how can this affect the temperament of a child?
Dr. Corkins: So this is one of those areas right now that there's a lot of what I call pop-science going on. Now there's no concrete scientific evidence as of today that there's this direct effect of the microbiome on mood and brain and all that. Now there's some studies that say, maybe there's some interaction again, we just don't know yet. But if you feel good, you have a better mood. If you feel bad, you can have a worse mood. If you look at the actual studies, of course, they all say the same thing in the end. We need more larger studies. There's lots of studies that show the flora is different in different diseases. Now the big question that comes out of that is that the cause of the disease. Or because of the disease. Now, how do you separate that? So the flora is different in obese patients. Now is this because of their diets? Or is this because of obesity or is this a cause of the obesity? so this is, again, this really difficult to sort all that out. But that said, if your gut isn't healthy, neither is your flora. Again so if you don't feel good, you tend to have mood problems. So I'm coming full circle here back to diet, poor diet. Flora alters the way a gut works is different. That's why it's so hard to say issues because they're all tied to go there, they all interact. And one of the biggest points I always like to make these articles, these folks are reading and looking at out there is they talk about fixing the flora with a probiotic. But maybe we should try to fix our diets. Wouldn't that make a whole lot more sense? Although that's a lot more work to fix our diets, we want to eat what we want and then maybe take a probiotic to fix it.
Host: So go right to the root of the problem instead of just trimming the leaves. So I love how you called that pop-science. And then you put this in such clear terms. If you feel good, chances are you're going to be in a good mood.
Dr. Corkins: Absolutely
Host: If you feel bad or you're sick, you don't feel well. Chances are you're going to be in a bad mood. So you're making this very very clear for us about how our diet really can affect our mood. We're talking about mood, how does gut bacteria speak to our brains? How does it affect our brains?
Dr. Corkins: So this is a fascinating research right now. So there are compounds in the bacteria release. They interact with each other, the bacteria interact with each other within the Gut, and they interact with the gut lining. And what's interesting is that there seems to be our gut lining, interacts with our bacteria. And there's all sorts of conjecture right now that the flora release substances that work on the brain directly again. So some of this is like preliminary stuff. There's all this pop-science about the flora leading to autism and ADHD and a whole host of others. Other problems now, right now, again, no concrete science that says, yep, there's a definite proof, there's a smoking gun there's no absolute proof of that. But they're finding about all these factors and how they interact, with again, the bacteria themselves interact with each other. It's like a community in there. And then our body feeds back to that. And, bacteria do good things for us. people think bacteria bad, but they do a lot of great things for our gut.
Host: So no proof that the gut flora leads to autism and, or A D H D. What about abnormalities and gut bacteria? Can those be linked to anxiety, depression, and hyperactivity, and then what can be done to fix those types of abnormalities?
Dr. Corkins: Again, there is no proof, concrete proof that those bacteria are linked to those. Again no proof at this point. But one of the important things to realize is, again, you feel better, you tend to have a better mood. If you're not as anxious, if you feel better, you're not as depressed. Now I'm going to go all the way back, full circle, and say, then let's fix her diet. I'm a gastroenterologist, fix your diet. Eat a well-balanced diet. Regular exercise. Regular quality sleep. And then I always talk about minimizing electronic use, it's funny, we'll sit and look at our phones, but actually what we'd be better off doing is putting it down for a little bit and taking a walk.
Host: So I love what you're saying. This isn't very complicated people, eat a well-balanced diet, right? Get regular exercise, pay attention to sleep. I think finally, we're starting to understand in this country the importance of sleep. We've always written it off before, I can, I only get six hours of sleep and I can keep going. We're learning that is so damaging to your health right now. So get enough, sleep, pay attention to your sleep and minimize electronics use, especially before bedtime, because that can disrupt your sleep. And like you say, put the phone down and go for a walk, get out in the air and walk exercise, it's good for you.
Dr. Corkins: Absolutely.
Host: I love it. So this is a great message. Very easy for us to understand. A healthy gut begins with a healthy diet. Pay attention to your diet and all those basic things that we should be doing on a regular basis. Dr. Corkins, this has really been informative. Thank you so much for your time. That's Dr. Mark Corkins and to learn more, visit lebonheur.org/podcast, and be sure to subscribe to the Peds Pod in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to your podcasts, you can also check out lebonheur.org/podcast to view our full podcast library. And if you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels. This is the Peds Pod by LeBonheur Children's Hospital. Thanks for listening.
Children’s Gut Health: Beyond Pop Science
Bill Klaproth: (Host) What is the importance of gut health in early childhood? How can you promote healthy gut bacteria in your child? And then, how can the gut bacteria microbiome affect your child's mood and temperament? Let's find out what Dr. Mark Corkins Division Chief of Pediatric Gastroenterology at LeBonheur Children's Hospital. This is the Peds Pod by LeBonheur Children's Hospital, I'm Bill Klaproth. Dr. Corkins, it is great to talk with you. Thank you so much for your time. So how can having a healthy gut during your childhood help your overall health as an adult?
Dr. Mark Corkins: (Guest) So the gut is where we get all the fuel and all the nutrients that we need throughout our body. And In childhood to build our body. Now, so a healthy gut is extremely important to overall health again, cause that's our fuel. Those are our building blocks. Now a healthy gut begins with a healthy diet. A good portion of the skeleton you'll have the rest of your life is laid down by age 16. So you don't get enough calcium, phosphorus, vitamin D, you're a higher risk to have osteoporosis when you're older. The other thing is you're not only feeding yourself, but you're feeding the flora. We have 10 to the 12th bacteria that live in our colon that share the space with us. So what you feed yourself, you also feed them. So that flora depends on what you feed him. That's good studies show us that the flow is different than infants that are breastfed versus infants that are formula-fed. So that a healthy gut and that a healthy diet is very important.
Host: I Like how you said a healthy gut begins with a healthy diet, that really puts it in perspective. So are there some things that are vital for kids to do now to have good gut health in the future, and if so, what are they?
Dr. Corkins: The good news is in a way, all of us know it. A good diet is balanced. We talk about a balanced diet and everybody knows that term balanced diet. So we need foods from every food group. We need some fruits. We need some vegetables; we need some proteins. We need some grains. Now I'm a gastroenterologist. I'm a GI specialist. I can tell you that we have digestive enzymes that break down carbohydrates. We have ones that breakdown fat. So we have ones that breakdown proteins. Were designed to digest a wide variety of foods. And I'm just going to be general here, but any diet that is skewed to one thing more than anything else, or eliminate things from the diet leads the risks. For nutrition issues and you know if you're eliminating dairy products, you worry about the calcium and phosphorus and vitamin D. So a diet that is skewed or eliminate things like I said, it is a risky diet.
Host: That's really interesting. So what you're saying is our gut is designed for balance and it's ready to take on all food groups, fruits, vegetables, proteins, and grains?
Dr. Corkins: Absolutely. We have the digestive insights for protein is like I said, carbohydrates and fats were designed to get all of them and use them all.
Host: So that's very good to remember. As you said earlier, a healthy gut begins with a healthy diet. So what effect then does gut bacteria slash microbiome have on mood and then how can this affect the temperament of a child?
Dr. Corkins: So this is one of those areas right now that there's a lot of what I call pop-science going on. Now there's no concrete scientific evidence as of today that there's this direct effect of the microbiome on mood and brain and all that. Now there's some studies that say, maybe there's some interaction again, we just don't know yet. But if you feel good, you have a better mood. If you feel bad, you can have a worse mood. If you look at the actual studies, of course, they all say the same thing in the end. We need more larger studies. There's lots of studies that show the flora is different in different diseases. Now the big question that comes out of that is that the cause of the disease. Or because of the disease. Now, how do you separate that? So the flora is different in obese patients. Now is this because of their diets? Or is this because of obesity or is this a cause of the obesity? so this is, again, this really difficult to sort all that out. But that said, if your gut isn't healthy, neither is your flora. Again so if you don't feel good, you tend to have mood problems. So I'm coming full circle here back to diet, poor diet. Flora alters the way a gut works is different. That's why it's so hard to say issues because they're all tied to go there, they all interact. And one of the biggest points I always like to make these articles, these folks are reading and looking at out there is they talk about fixing the flora with a probiotic. But maybe we should try to fix our diets. Wouldn't that make a whole lot more sense? Although that's a lot more work to fix our diets, we want to eat what we want and then maybe take a probiotic to fix it.
Host: So go right to the root of the problem instead of just trimming the leaves. So I love how you called that pop-science. And then you put this in such clear terms. If you feel good, chances are you're going to be in a good mood.
Dr. Corkins: Absolutely
Host: If you feel bad or you're sick, you don't feel well. Chances are you're going to be in a bad mood. So you're making this very very clear for us about how our diet really can affect our mood. We're talking about mood, how does gut bacteria speak to our brains? How does it affect our brains?
Dr. Corkins: So this is a fascinating research right now. So there are compounds in the bacteria release. They interact with each other, the bacteria interact with each other within the Gut, and they interact with the gut lining. And what's interesting is that there seems to be our gut lining, interacts with our bacteria. And there's all sorts of conjecture right now that the flora release substances that work on the brain directly again. So some of this is like preliminary stuff. There's all this pop-science about the flora leading to autism and ADHD and a whole host of others. Other problems now, right now, again, no concrete science that says, yep, there's a definite proof, there's a smoking gun there's no absolute proof of that. But they're finding about all these factors and how they interact, with again, the bacteria themselves interact with each other. It's like a community in there. And then our body feeds back to that. And, bacteria do good things for us. people think bacteria bad, but they do a lot of great things for our gut.
Host: So no proof that the gut flora leads to autism and, or A D H D. What about abnormalities and gut bacteria? Can those be linked to anxiety, depression, and hyperactivity, and then what can be done to fix those types of abnormalities?
Dr. Corkins: Again, there is no proof, concrete proof that those bacteria are linked to those. Again no proof at this point. But one of the important things to realize is, again, you feel better, you tend to have a better mood. If you're not as anxious, if you feel better, you're not as depressed. Now I'm going to go all the way back, full circle, and say, then let's fix her diet. I'm a gastroenterologist, fix your diet. Eat a well-balanced diet. Regular exercise. Regular quality sleep. And then I always talk about minimizing electronic use, it's funny, we'll sit and look at our phones, but actually what we'd be better off doing is putting it down for a little bit and taking a walk.
Host: So I love what you're saying. This isn't very complicated people, eat a well-balanced diet, right? Get regular exercise, pay attention to sleep. I think finally, we're starting to understand in this country the importance of sleep. We've always written it off before, I can, I only get six hours of sleep and I can keep going. We're learning that is so damaging to your health right now. So get enough, sleep, pay attention to your sleep and minimize electronics use, especially before bedtime, because that can disrupt your sleep. And like you say, put the phone down and go for a walk, get out in the air and walk exercise, it's good for you.
Dr. Corkins: Absolutely.
Host: I love it. So this is a great message. Very easy for us to understand. A healthy gut begins with a healthy diet. Pay attention to your diet and all those basic things that we should be doing on a regular basis. Dr. Corkins, this has really been informative. Thank you so much for your time. That's Dr. Mark Corkins and to learn more, visit lebonheur.org/podcast, and be sure to subscribe to the Peds Pod in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to your podcasts, you can also check out lebonheur.org/podcast to view our full podcast library. And if you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels. This is the Peds Pod by LeBonheur Children's Hospital. Thanks for listening.