Akkermansia: A Unique Species of Gut Flora

by Mila McManus, MD

Akkermansia is a unique probiotic that takes up 5% of the gut microbiome and thrives when we eat plenty of vegetables, nuts, and seeds. — Feed your Akkermansia by eating fiber!

Akkermansia is one of many favorable gut flora found in the gut microbiome. The gut flora (a.k.a. probiotics or good bacteria) are the natural bacterial barrier that lines the entire digestive tract and protects us from invasive, pathogenic (disease-causing) microorganisms such as yeast, opportunistic bad bacteria, and parasites. They also act as a barrier against the chemicals and toxins we swallow daily. Think of probiotics as the military force that protects your body from the outside world. Akkermansia is ideally populated at about 5 percent of the total bowel flora force and has unique characteristics and job duties. Let’s meet Akkermansia.

A unique characteristic of Akkermansia gut flora populations is that they require proper balance—not too few and not too many. This species helps to promote healthy intestinal mucus by promoting mucus production. Akkermansia are fed, and thrive on, pre-biotic fibers eaten by the human host (that’s you and me). Suppose Akkermansia does not have pre-biotic fibers to eat. In that case, another unique characteristic is that it will survive by consuming your mucosal lining, disintegrating the gut’s mucus lining, leading to intestinal inflammation, increased permeability, and endotoxemia – thus, the importance of balance. One of the pitfalls of a low-fiber Standard American Diet (SAD), or a carnivore, keto, or strict low-carb diet, is missing these important pre-biotic-fibers in plant foods. This leads to the overgrowth of Akkermansia which, in turn, can harm the gut.

We can prevent overgrowth, however! By consuming plentiful pre-biotic fibers, we help to feed Akkermansia and maintain the right population balance. While the balance is not so delicate that it needs to be carefully monitored, we can strike a healthy balance by including foods and supplements that cultivate the species, such as vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, olive oil, and the supplement berberine, all of which exerts substantial benefits including:

Improves insulin responses
Increases butyrate production (protects gut barrier, modulates immune responses)
Reduces blood sugar
Reduces triglycerides
Prevents fatty liver
Strengthens the intestinal barrier and reduces inflammation there
Reduces endotoxemia (fancy word for toxins in the blood stream due to compromised gut barrier)

Feed your Akkermansia for a healthy gut. Starve your Akkermansia, and it will eat your gut! Eat your vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds! Be Well.

Akkermansia is available at The Woodlands Institute for Health and Wellness

References:

Davis, William. (2022). Super Gut. Hachette Books

PendulumLife.com/HCP

Overcoming Depression Testimonial

by Mila McManus MD

As I was my first wellness patient, and depression was one of my many issues, I thought it would be appropriate to share my story this month since this newsletter focuses on depression.

I remember feeling depressed when I was in high school, but seemed mostly situational. College years were good, but developed anxiety. Two yrs into medical school, life was rough. I was exhausted and emotional and anxious all the time. I started on antidepressants and boy did it help a lot. I went from a lot of emotion to NO emotion. It helped anxiety as well. I craved carbs terribly and continued to have issues with insomnia which I first noticed in my early teens. I also had issues with terrible allergies, constipation, headaches, PMS, reflux, high blood pressure, unexplained 80 lb weight gain over a 5 year period, and eczema, just to name a few.

OK, so in retrospect, I had severe adrenal fatigue, low thyroid function, I was riddled with yeast, and was nutritionally bankrupt. Keep in mind that my labs were ALWAYS perfectly normal (so it had to be all in my head, right?). Over the years I tried several times to wean my antidepressant to no avail. Of course now I know that it’s because I wasn’t addressing the underlying causes of my depression and anxiety in the first place. Skip ahead to my first year in private practice as a family physician. I’ve now accumulated 12 prescription medications and I’m 30 years old, going on 90. I lived on diet soda and fast food. Nobody taught me in medical school that it wasn’t healthy to eat that way. Seriously!

Thank Goodness I found wellness, which is everything we doctors don’t learn in medical school. I was able to discover that the underlying causes of my depression and anxiety were due to nutritional deficiencies, abnormal gut flora, hormonal imbalance, and having toxic overload. Within 2 weeks of starting bio-identical hormones, changing my diet, and taking a handful of vitamins, I was well on my way to shedding all 12 of my medications. It did take about 6 months, but my antidepressant was the first to go.

I often wonder where I would be today, almost 11 years later, if I had not found wellness. My story is unfortunately a very common one, and I hope reading this story gives you hope. I feel so blessed every day that I get to pay it forward by helping other people overcome what ails them!