Lion’s Talk

Dr Harold Gunatillake delivered a talk on the subject, “Your best friends are within you” as guest speaker, at the West Pennant Hills/Cherrybrook Lion’s Club- on 26th March 2018. The above photos are Certificate of Appreciation received & photo of ex-President Sunil Amaratunge and current President Gavin Ridley

This is the gist of a talk delivered by me at the Lions Club-Pennant Hill/Cherrybrook, Sydney, Australia on 27th March.2018

(The talk was not read from a prepared speech (impromptu), and hence this essence was written after, due to requests made by a few readers).

Mr. President, Lions, Ladies & Gentleman. Thank you for inviting me to give a talk on a health topic at this prestigious club, which I feel so honoured.

I have chosen to talk on the subject: “Your best friends are within you”. Yes, this is very true. You make friends with people you meet, but the friends that I am talking about are within you from the time you were born till death. You can call them boarders too, because you provide them board and lodging and they reciprocate by protecting you day and night contemplating to maintain good health and long life. You can call it a symbiotic existence in an internal eco-system.

They are found on your skin, mouth cavity, nasal passages and other openings, including your gut. They are mainly bacteria, fungi and viruses. You cannot get rid the
ones on your skin by applying soap during your daily shower or brushing your teeth and gargling your throat daily. You do that to get rid of your germs that harms you, but your friends remain with you permanently. These friends are called “Microbiota” or microbes, or simply bugs

Most of these microbes have settled down in your large bowel. They do not like your small bowel, because it is a very motile duct, maybe they feel giddy, so they seem to love your large bowel which is more resistant to movement.

There are over 100 trillion found in your large bowel, and they keep a check on the bad bacteria (germs) that cause diseases. They oversee your internal ecosystem.
You would be surprised to know that in a gram of your faeces contain a greater number of bacteria than there are humans on the planet of a population of 8 billion.
You would want to know from where they come from?

Exposure to the vaginal microbiota of your mother is crucial for newborn health. When babies pass through the birth canal, they get a healthy dose of the mother’s bacteria that helps them establish their own collection of microbes to create a strong immune system.

Studies have shown that babies born naturally are stronger health-wise and live longer compared to those delivered through Caesarean section, for the obvious reason that they are deprived of the healthy bacteria from mother’s birth passage. They only get their quota from the breast milk and the rest they acquire from the environment. Whilst accepting the fact that these microbes are key to our health, the gut they inhabit is considered as the second brain. Your gut is connected to the brain through wires. So, gut health affects your brains mood and behaviour, contributes to our mental and physical health. Keeping your gut microbes healthy keeps your brain alert and healthy. Our gut also contains nerves that are responsible for producing serotonin, a feel-good hormone. Ripe bananas have plenty of it and having a banana before sleep calms your gut and brain.

Hippocrates didn’t hold back when he claimed “death sits in the bowel” Studies have shown that having the right gut bacteria has even been linked to numerous health benefits- including weight loss, improved function and well-being, better skin and reduced risk of many chronic diseases.

Most of the present day chronic illnesses like depression, schizophrenia, obesity, diabetes, colon cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, anxiety, Parkinson’s disease, ulcerative colitis, and many more are linked to having bad bacteria in your gut.

If you suffer from flatulence, nausea, vomiting, bloating, diarrhoea, food intolerance, heartburn, think of an irritable bowel syndrome and taking regular pro-biotics like yogurt and other cultured fermented foods, including mother’s pickle act as beneficial co-adjuvant treatment. Such foods are loved by your healthy bugs in your gut.

I would like to emphasize that the practice of Medicine in the future will be revolutionised without the use of drugs, microbiologists will take over to treat the
chronic disease diagnosed by the various specialists.

Treatment will be called faecal microbiota transplant (FMT). The pharmacists will stock the poo capsules which will replace present day drugs that known to have side effects. Which kids get Asthma?

Studies have shown that kids brought up in slum environments don’t seem to get asthma unlike those kids brought up in affluent families with aseptic environment in the
house including the kitchen.

Early exposure to certain bacteria may prevent asthma attacks. Those bugs are: Faecalibacterium, Lachnospir, Veillpnella and Rothia – don’t worry about remembering them, even I can’t pronounce.

Now that we have spoken about the beneficial gut bacteria, let’s discuss how we can feed them to make them happy for our reciprocal well-being

Definition of Pro-biotic

Probiotic comes from the Greek words meaning ‘for life’. The World Health Organisation defines probiotics as “live micro-organisms which, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the gut microbiota”. Yoghurt seems to be the most popular probiotic available in the supermarkets in Australia. They contain Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium.

Other sources of rich probiotics are sauerkraut and Kimchi- fermented foods from cabbage, kefir is a thick creamy milk product, Misso soup is a Japanese fermented
soybean paste, soft cheeses like Parmesan, Swiss cheese and Gouda, sour pickles, Tempe an Indonesian food from soybeans and so on.

These probiotics can ease symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome and related conditions. These bacteria in the large gut fights harmful bacteria, prevents constipation and give the immune system a boost and further manufacture certain vitamins.

Pre-biotics on the contrary, are non-digestible parts of foods like banana, onions and garlic, the skin of apples, beans and many others.

These dietary prebiotic fibre goes through the gut undigested and is fermented by the bacteria in the large gut.

In conclusion, I would say,” Take care of your gut, and the friendly bacteria that reside there, may be one of the single most important things you can do for your health Twenty minutes is up.

Thank you for listening to me.