You are your mother's microbiome, mitochondria, and stress response
Your mother’s health provides an important puzzle piece in deciphering your own health challenges, as well as predicting, and even preventing, cycles of behaviour and ill health. I’m sure you’ve heard much about genetic diseases, but our health and wellbeing are so deeply and complexly interwoven with our forebears’, it’s astounding. A woman is born with all the eggs she will ever have – this means that when your mother was in your grandmother’s womb, the tiny egg that combined to make you was nestled deep within her. Yes, a part of you existed inside of dear old nanna! This helps to explain the presence of long disused chemicals in modern day humans, and suggests that physical trauma, as well as mental, can accumulate across generations. The implications of this are far-reaching and underpin the importance of maternal wellbeing to intergenerational health. Below, I delve into the many ways that your mother’s health has influenced your own.
Small but mite-y
If you weren’t passing notes to your bestie or snoozing your way through year 10 biology, you might recall that the mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell and, unless you pursued a career in health science, that was probably the last time you paid them any mind. But more is coming to light about the importance of these energiser bunnies, responsible for powering human life.
Mitochondria are especially vulnerable to damage and are under constant assault by internal stressors, like oxidation and nutrient deficiency, and external stressors, like UV radiation and toxin exposure, resulting in DNA damage and cell death. Compounding this damage is the fact that we inherit mitochondrial DNA, or mtDNA, from our mothers and are lumped with their mitochondrial health, whether good or bad. And while mtDNA accounts for only 0.1% of our genetic makeup, it is essential to the metabolic and chemical processes which convert nutrients into energy, and determines the functionality of every cell in our bodies. Mitochondria take the phrase, ‘I got it from my mama’, to a whole new level!
Research out of Cambridge University analysed DNA from 358,000 participants and connected mtDNA variations with multiple sclerosis and type 2 diabetes, as well as changes to kidney and liver function, and lifespan. Fortunately, mtDNA possesses several means of self-repair, to prevent or slow down damage, but there is much we can do to support the mitochondria and help to repair inherited damage. Yes, even if we inherit crappy mtDNA from our mums, we can take charge of our mitochondrial health and help power up our cell batteries.
Protecting your mitochondria
Mitochondria produce energy for the cells by making a substance called adenosine triphosphate (ATP). ATP can’t be stored by the body and the mitochondria must produce large amounts all the time. At rest, a healthy person produces their body weight in ATP every day and, at maximum exertion, this amount can increase to between 500g to 1kg every minute! Mitochondria are especially vital to energy-intensive organs – accounting for 40 percent of heart muscle cells and 25 percent of liver cells. The brain uses 70% of ATP produced by the cells, underpinning the strong correlation between mitochondrial dysfunction and neurodegenerative disease.You can see now why it’s important that mitochondria are on and popping at all times, and how healthy bodily processes might start to go sideways when they’re not powering up the cells as they need to.
To make ATP, mitochondria need several vital nutrients including vitamins B1, B2 and B3, glutathione, carnitine, coenzyme Q10, iron, magnesium, manganese, and lipoate (alpha-lipoic acid). Eating a nutrient rich diet is key to healthy mitochondria, making sure to include loads of multicoloured fruit and vegetables for their antioxidant content. But because we modern humans are time poor, it’s not always possible to get enough of the nutrients we need. Worsening this is the fact that many common drugs, like statins (taken for high cholesterol), paracetamol and ibuprofen can actively deplete the amounts of some of these key nutrients.
If you’re deficient in any of the above nutrients, reducing your reliance on medications is a good start. Instead of popping a pill for every ache or fever, try a warm bath or hot water bottle to quash pain; drinking plenty of water, taking a nap and massaging peppermint oil into the temples for a headache; and a cool flannel to the head, along with a good dose of vitamin C, for a spiking temperature. If you’re medically reliant on these medications and can’t increase your nutrient intake through food alone, a good quality supplement may be a good idea.
In addition to good nutrition, building muscle mass with weight training, exposure to vitamin D from natural sunlight, and reducing toxin exposure can support mitochondrial health. Take care to avoid personal care and cleaning products containing synthetic chemicals, choose spray-free or organic produce, invest in a good-quality air purifier and choose low-VOC furniture and paints for the home.
A gutful from mum
And I don’t mean it in a bad way (big love to all the mamas out there - you’re absolutely rocking it!), but our mothers’ contributions to our gut and immune health are more involved than those times she banished us outside to play in the dirt. Given society’s current obsession with obliterating germs, you’d be forgiven for thinking that microbes are bad and must be eliminated at all costs. But, in fact, germs are *essential* to a healthy gut microbiome, and because 70 percent of the immune system resides in the gut, also vital to robust immunity.
Each part of the body has its own unique microbiome, and early exposures to your mother’s microbiome, within the womb and birth canal (or at her incision site if you were delivered via c-section), could be a big factor in your health. Diverse species of beneficial gut flora are key to a healthy tum. When the transmission of these bugs from mum to baby is interrupted, it can predispose bub to many common health issues.
Babies have been found to inherit microbiota consistent with their mother’s health conditions. increasing their risk of these conditions. In one study, mothers who were overweight or obese before pregnancy had higher counts of the bacterial species, Bacteroides, in their stool. Their offspring were tested at 1 and 6 months of age and found to have increased levels of this same obesity-related species. Other studies have found that mothers with diabetes and eczema may transfer the microbiomic structure consistent with these conditions to their children.
When antibiotics are taken during pregnancy - standard practice in the case of a positive Group B Strep swab, waters breaking early, preterm labour, prolonged labour, and c-section delivery - gut flora are decimated, impacting not only mum’s health but baby’s too, placing bub at increased risk of asthma and obesity.
Exposure to maternal flora in the birth canal is important for the development and maturation of a baby’s microbiome. In the case of c-section delivery, bub misses out on important species found in the vagina and is colonised by skin-loving bacteria, like staphylococcus, instead. Caesarean delivery may increase a baby's risk of celiac disease, asthma, type-1 diabetes, and obesity, which is worrying given Australia’s insanely high caesarean rate, and the current trend of OBs inducing mum before baby’s estimated due date, which increases the chance of c-section delivery.
Absence of breastfeeding and the early introduction of formula feeding and solids is yet another way in which our mothers influence our microbiome and overall health. Breastfeeding introduces a baby to diverse and beneficial bacteria, building on gut seeding that takes place in the womb and birth canal. In addition to naturally-occurring probiotics, breast milk contains prebiotic human milk oligosaccharides (try saying that five times fast!). Think of prebiotics as foods that good bacteria like to eat, promoting the growth of important species that inhibit growth of disease-causing microbes.
Introduction of infant formula has been found to impair early immune system development and alter metabolism later in life, while early formula and solid feeding can actively cancel out healthy flora introduced through breastfeeding. But while we know that breastmilk is an ideal first food for babies, modern mothers have multiple factors stacked against them when it comes to breastfeeding success (inadequate support, depletion, exhaustion, lack of access to experts, high stress, medicalised birth and on it goes …).
The infant gut is born leaky and relies on early microbial diversity to seed and seal it. When this doesn’t occur, or gut health is later decimated by stress, poor diet, high sugar intake and insufficient fibre, food proteins can leak into the bloodstream, causing allergic conditions and food intolerance. This is not to say that if you inherit dodgy gut health, were formula fed or delivered via caesarean, you’re doomed to a life of poor health - quite the opposite.
The resilient gut
The gut is a dynamic powerhouse, ever changing in response to the foods we eat and new bugs that find their way inside our bodies. Illustrating this fact are the results of one study which showed that babies who consumed infant formula containing probiotics developed a similar microbiome to that of breastfed infants.
While inheriting dodgy gut bugs can predispose you to certain health woes, the gut is very receptive to attempts to heal and reseed it. The gut is complex and, if you suspect the gut is a problem for you or your child, I strongly recommend against DIY efforts to repair it. Throwing probiotics at a leaky gut or trying fad diets can worsen existing imbalances and symptoms. It’s best to work with a naturopath who specialises in gut health, like Michele (my virtual naturopath), who will order tests to get a picture of your unique microbiome, before recommending a tailored blend of prebiotics, probiotics, healing foods and herbal remedies for gut repair.
Vagus, baby!
Do you recall your mother having episodes of extreme anger or emotion and, as much as it upset you as a child, you find yourself repeating those same behaviours as an adult? Your stress response has been programmed by your experiences both in life and within the womb. We know that stress impacts the microbiome, and the microbiome, in turn, impacts behaviour, and can result in the development of stress-related conditions, like anxiety.
The way the body handles stress is a huge determinant of overall wellbeing. An unhealthy stress response indicates high cortisol levels. Cortisol is the stress hormone and is renowned for throwing the body into chaos. Cortisol promotes inflammation, impairing mitochondrial health, and can decimate gut flora, resulting in poor digestion, leaky gut and allergic conditions.
Your mum’s stress response is a huge contributor to your own. This is because prenatal exposure to high cortisol, and perhaps being raised by a mother (or father) who was prone to bouts of anger, were perceived by your body as stressors. One study examined maternal mental state and cortisol (stress hormone) levels at regular intervals during pregnancy and found that a baby’s exposure to high maternal cortisol in early pregnancy was associated with slowed development during the first year of life, highlighting the significance of prenatal stress in early development. In another study, adults exposed to severe prenatal stress via their mothers, experienced higher cortisol spikes in response to a social stress test, compared to a control group.
A healthy fight or flight response was essential to early humans, who needed the ability to quickly flee or defend themselves when a predator was near. There are less imminent threats to our safety today, but instead we have stress coming at us from multiple angles, compounding early exposure to stressors within the womb and throughout childhood. Whether it be mental stress from a demanding job and long hours, physical stress from excess sugar consumption or overexercising, or environmental stress, from cumulative toxin and heavy metal exposure, each of these sources raise cortisol levels in the same way. Throw in some difficult relationships and past trauma and we’re essentially walking pressure cookers, bubbling over with cortisol.
When cortisol skyrockets, conditions within the body get a bit cray cray - blood sugar rises, immune, digestive and reproductive function is suppressed, blood pressure and heart rate rise and hormone production becomes erratic. When the body is in this state, it can perceive even minor stressors as threatening and react in kind, with the consequence that cortisol remains chronically high. If you feel regularly anxious or angry in the face of minor stressors, you may have cortisol. But how to regulate the stress response when we’ve been bombarded with stress from every angle, possibly even before we were born? Introducing: the vagus nerve!
The vagus nerve is your body’s longest nerve, stemming from the brain to communicate with several parts of the body Vagus means ‘wanderer’ in latin, accurately depicting how this multitasking nerve wanders around the body, influencing digestion, gut microbiome, heart function and immune health. The vagus nerve controls the parasympathetic nervous system, the 'rest and digest' component of your autonomic nervous system. It is responsible for relaxation, and importantly, how quickly the body can return to chill mode after stress.
The vagus nerve also supports a healthy gut microbiome in two ways: by causing peristalsis - the movement of food waste through the digestive tract (imagine a scrubbing brush, cleansing the gut of pathogenic microbes and parasites). Further, it supports a healthy immune function in the gut, firing up the body’s response, when something foreign or dangerous bypasses early immune defences.
The vagus nerve has tone, which determines how well it performs its many vital roles. Low vagal tone has been associated with poor emotional regulation, while vagal stimulation has been found to improve stress-related mental health conditions. Improving your stress tolerance can come about from improving your vagal tone, but reciprocally, the number one thing impacting vagal tone is stress!
Taking charge of your stress levels is key to breaking the cycle of generational trauma and reclaiming your health. This requires a two-pronged approach:
1. Identifying and reducing the stressors in your life, including underlying causes, like inflammation and past trauma, and
2. Actively improving your vagal tone through breathwork, meditation, singing and humming, regular exercise, and massage.
I have found in practice that mothers are most vulnerable to poor vagal tone, due to exhaustion and depletion, particularly in the early years of their children’s lives and as a result I have developed a vagus nerve coaching group especially for mothers, launching in March (2022). I would be honoured to work with you if you feel your stress levels and overall health are in need of a reboot.
Limiting stress and improving vagal tone will bring about the biggest shift in your wellbeing, bringing the body systems back into balance, where high cortisol has thrown out the delicate synergy needed for optimal health.
Group coaching details will be posted here once uploaded, if you’d like to be informed when this happens, please email me below.
