Beyond the Plate: How Your Microbiome Shapes Cancer Prevention and Health

WELCOME TO EPISODE 218

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT 

Freddie Kimmel (00:00.98)
Ladies and gentlemen, so good to be back with you. I get so many questions about diet, specifically what's the best diet for cancer prevention and treatment? And my short answer is, it depends. I believe in my heart of hearts that responsible, personalized guidance requires a deeper understanding of many factors. Many factors, that could be a person's genetics, that could be lifestyle, current gut health, medical history, the medications they're on.

history and so much more disease progression. I could go on. And if you create a meta-analysis on PubMed, NIH, and these large research platforms, the following diets have some of the most robust data supporting their role in assisting the body. I want to be clear with energy, reducing inflammation, as well as supporting mitochondrial function. That could be the whole food plant forward diet.

the Mediterranean diet, the ketogenic diet, an anti-inflammatory diet, as well as intermittent fasting and time-restricted eating. In addition, a big in addition, there's of course the vegan and carnivore diets, which are popular eating paradigms. Each has garnished attention on social media in the last few years. I even have some friends with incredible testimonials and reversals of certain disease states like eczema, inflammatory,

bowel disease, specifically from the carnivore diet. And the, the only reason, the reason the asterisk, the little star I'll give next to these is that the depth of research is newer and it doesn't necessarily resonate with me. will, I will answer that at the end of the podcast. I feel like they leave out too many, too large a percentage of big macros, like either carbs or proteins. So.

It's not about restriction. I wanted to give you all the options and I promise to give you my personal dietary guidelines at the end of the show. I should say practices because I'm not a certified nutritionist, so this is not medical advice, but I'll tell you what I do. And with all that being said, you know, I basically listed every dietary platform out there, the elephant in the room, or should I say the large microbial community in the room.

Freddie Kimmel (02:25.846)
is that we focus so much energy on what we're eating and not enough focus on what is the microbiome, the microbes in our body, what are they digesting when we're considering cancer prevention as well as overall health. So increasingly, new research shows us that the gut microbiome plays a critical role in immune function, even cancer risk.

And this is something most people are blind to. What is the state of my microbiome, the population, the diversity? So we talk about microbiome diversity and keystone strains on the podcast. Multiple guests have commented, most notably Kiran Krishnan has recapped the role of microbial diversity through microbiome labs and the wonderful benefits. But for those who haven't caught those episodes, keystone strains are specific

beneficial microbial species that play a crucial role in maintaining the stability and the functionality of the gut microbiome. These strains, these keystone strains have a disproportionately large impact on the ecosystem, meaning their presence and their activity is influencing the composition and health of other microbes, so keystone strains. But with things like the industrialized revolution, the industrial lifestyles,

overuse of antibiotics, processed food, environmental toxicants, and a lack of dietary fiber. These all have contributed to a decline of these key bacterias. The loss of the strains is going to impair our ability to properly metabolize nutrients, regulate inflammation, and maintain a gut barrier integrity. I want to say that one more time. The first thing I said was metabolize nutrients. So.

feel into this, if the diet that you profess and you put up on a pedestal fails to be supporting a diverse microbiome, it's likely you're not getting the benefits you believe you are. That's it. So in my childhood, it was muscle and fitness where I got dietary information for. A lot of people nowadays, it's a social media influencer. All I'll say is be cautious when people are telling you what to eat.

Freddie Kimmel (04:49.462)
without considering what you are digesting through your microbial community, if that makes sense. When we tie in cancer and mechanisms of the microbiota, these beneficial bacteria can produce metabolites. So these would be short-chain fatty acids like butyrate, polyamines, secondary bile acids. These are all helping to regulate your immune response. They can also stimulate the maturation and activation of your immune cells, like your T cells.

Your dendritic cells consequently are all flowing through your lymphatic system. So enhancing the body's ability to recognize and attack cancer cells. by maintaining this healthy gut barrier, these bacteria are preventing systemic inflammation. They're supporting a more favorable immune response. I hope that makes sense. Examples in the scientific literature. If you want to look up on PubMed, PubMed is just a collection of

good research. I say that a lot of times studies are pulled, but this is a really good study. It's PubMed ID. You can look this up at home. PubMed ID 265-41610. And so looking at bacterial species, like bacterioides species, bacterioides fragilis is contained in most soil-based probiotic supplements, throwing it all the way back to Garden of Life.

And I think it was patient heal thyself in which, the author of that book had looked at soil-based probiotics and that's what he was looking at. Bacterioides, fragilis. So in patients treated with a CTLA-4 blockade, I will explain this. A CTLA-4 blockade is an immunotherapy that is targeting the CTLA-4 protein on a T cell to enhance the immune system's ability to attack cancer cells.

a CTLA-4 normally acts as a break on the immune system. And blocking it is going to help activate the T cells effective response against a tumor. The presence of bacterioides fragilis was linked to a 20 to 30 % improvement in response in rats compared to those lacking this bacterium. Yes, this is a rat or mouse study. Clinical studies.

Freddie Kimmel (07:15.308)
have shown that a favorable gut microbiome rich in strains like acromansia, bifidobacterium, and vacali bacterium can lead to an overall improvement in response to immunotherapy of 20 to 40 % depending on the type of cancer and the treatment regime. Patients across the board with a diverse balance microbiome generally have better survival rates and longer progression-free survival times. I hope that

is clear. There's a lot of science on this out there. And if you're wondering how do I know, Freddie, if I have my acrimancy and my bacteriologies in the right ratios, this is something like a simple stool analysis. GI maps is probably the gold standard. Microbiome Labs has an excellent test out there. There's so many different ways we can look at our ratios. And without going too far down the weeds into testing,

another touch point for you just to where am I bookmark it? What is your subjective gut health? So factors that will limit your response to a robust immune system or a response to a therapy that you and I can both feel and hear in our body, it's how sensitive are you to foods, especially when we travel and we eat out at restaurants. I know I'm pretty amazing if I cook my own food, but I will tell you

For the first time in years and years and years on my way back from Tulsa, Oklahoma this weekend, I actually stopped at an IHOP. Don't judge me too hard. I was so hungry. I had been driving, it's an eight hour drive and I got an omelet, mushrooms, spinach, avocados, bacon. You know, I was okay, but what they're doing is they're most likely, it's low quality food, lots of toxicants and they're cooking with a seed oils.

They're cooking with canola oil, most likely on that grill. So I did have a little response or reaction to that meal, and it was just a good lesson. it's a signal for me to do more work around balancing my microbes, not to just avoid all outside food. Now I'll tell you, there were times when every single restaurant I ate out at, I'd have disaster pants.

Freddie Kimmel (09:40.236)
That's not me today. I can go eat at a good quality clean place and be okay. So I can see the progress and that signal is an opportunity for me to just go a little deeper or just avoid IHOP altogether. Another risk highlighted through the research is, so if you have this response, it's likely or possible we have some type of dysbiosis.

SIBO is small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. That's an imbalance in gut bacteria, specifically in the small intestine. So the small intestine should be relatively sterile to my understanding. And what happens is all the bacteria that's breaking down food and a large intestine and really that process of taking these solid objects down into a usable source, it moves into the small bowel.

So it slows down transistime, it gives us gas and bloating, but it compromises that intestinal lining, which is your immune system. This is directly linked to higher rates of colorectal cancer, and it can also impact the efficacy of treatments like chemotherapy and immunotherapy. Unfortunately, modern lifestyle has driven the loss of many of these keystone strains. As we mentioned at the top of this podcast, the nutrient

levels in food has diminished. So low nutrient food, our dietary choices, food deserts, access to quality food, diminished mineral balance, chronic stress, toxicants and chemicals. The big one I want to highlight that I think you can do something about is specifically glyphosate. So glyphosate is a chemical that we spray on our food supply in the US, 100 X of what other countries do.

Glyphosate has increased by 15,000 % and it's used since the 1970s. An Olympic, let me scope you, an Olympic pool holds 2.5 million liters or approximately 660,000 gallons of water, right? 660,000 gallons of water. In a year, we do 800 million liters of glyphosate on our food supply.

Freddie Kimmel (12:00.108)
That would fill 320 Olympic pools every single year. Here's the scope, right? So let's talk about this. Let's talk about this. When we talk about rebuilding the microbiome, we're talking about focusing on the microbial community being fed through prebiotic fiber, beneficial bacteria like probiotics. These are going to help you gain traction.

things like a resistant starch or a fermented food and high fiber diets can help recolonize the gut with keystone strains and promote the production of these anti-inflammatory compounds like short chain fatty acids. They help to reduce cancer risks. As long as you're not harboring large percentages of negative microbes and excessive parasite loads or have severe dysbiotic flora. Here's the problem.

A lot of times when we don't know what's going on, we'll start doing a recommendation that you heard on a podcast like this one. You're, I'm to start eating prebiotic fiber and insoluble fiber and people are in pain. They're gassy. They're they have experienced bloating. So that's again, it's another signal from your body. Only take this episode and especially data found on the internet is a jumping off point to do deeper research on you and your body. I have to say because of the toxicant load.

Right? How many did we say? Do we say 320 Olympic pools worth of glyphosate every year? We need to support the lymphatic system for drainage and detoxification and drainage pathways. It's not enough, in my humble opinion, to achieve this just through food. This is why binders such as zeolite, zeochar, we've had on the podcast before, humic and fulmic acids,

We've had Dr. J from Cellcore. They can be incredibly helpful with de-burdening the system. And it's something we all need to consider. looking at this in a big picture, simple. Let me keep it simple for you and let me kind of tell you what I do. My general rules, my general rules or my guidelines are eat when you're hungry.

Freddie Kimmel (14:21.526)
Eat when you're hungry. Listen to the body's signals as opposed to eating on a schedule that someone else told you to do. This is so simple, but it's really true. Allowing two to three hours before bed without food. This gives your system time to repair cells, cellular repair, and as opposed to focusing on breaking down a big heavy meal while you're in bed allows you to get good quality sleep.

take breaks from eating. So while fasting isn't for everyone, incorporating fasting periods to give your digestive system a rest and promote overall health has been highly beneficial for me. Again, if I stop eating at goodness, 6.30 and I don't eat till the next morning at 9 a.m., that's a massive window in which my body's had a chance to do a little cleanup. Choose perishable foods.

great guideline when we're shopping, opt for the foods that would naturally spoil over time rather than those that could sit in a box on a shelf for years. A good rule of thumb is to shop the perimeter, periphery of the grocery store where fresh meats and vegetables are stocked. Generally the middle of the grocery store is where things are gonna have preservatives. There's this really famous guy out there who is keeping and nurturing

a McDonald's burger from like 1981. It's like 30 years old. It's never gotten mold. It's never rotted. Right? So those are the things that you're contributing to the general burdening of your system when you're choosing to eat those. Eating the rainbow, including a wide variety of fruits and vegetables in your diet. These are the polyphenols. When we think about all these colors that are on the plate, again, it's a great, easy visual checklist.

How colorful is your food? And then finally, I'd say supplement wisely. I would say supplement based on lab work and a stool test. supplement when you found you are missing large amounts of micronutrients and even more so when it's showing up in your lab. So my supplementation for gut health, I'll give you what I'm doing right now. I love the supplement, it's called Mega-IGG from Microbiome Labs.

Freddie Kimmel (16:41.346)
This is immunoglobulins, which is acting, it's really acting as like, I'm supporting my immune response to doing this. Again, immediate decrease in inflammation, better stool formation, better stool quality. Prebiotics, there's a supplement from Mother Earth Labs. It's their GI repair. Incredible. One of the best things I've ever taken. Always notice it the day after I take it.

I'm not going to say too much about what that looks like at the toilet bowl, but it's really incredible. The binders that I'm doing right now, a mix of zeochar, humic and fulvic acids from zeochar and then cell core. Those are in my cabinet always. And then the big one that's made a difference for me as of late, started Dr. Grace Lu is on the podcast. She has a bifidobacterium, bifidomaximus.

one of the best products I've ever taken. is a histamine degrading probiotic and it's streptococcus free. She often talks in different episodes about how adding streptococcus as a bacteria can compromise the system, especially if it's already strained. Again, this has increased the number of daily bowel movements I have, quality formation, and I've just noticed less gas and bloating. It's often out of stock.

It's often out of stock. So everything I just mentioned in there, most things, although I don't track everything has a code beautifully broken. There's some sort of discount helps you get a cheaper product helps the podcast be supported. So if you want to explore any of those, they're usually linked on beautifully broken dot world in the store. to summarize, know, gut health and robust health, eating in a way that supports energy, digestion,

mitochondrial function, lower inflammation. We really need to know what the microbial community looks like before we go committing and saying, this is the diet for me, this is the diet for me. I do think you can do this all without testing. If you're really in tune with your body and you understand what foods do and don't trigger you or send you into an inflammation spiral, you can do it that way. I think it's such a wonderful time to be alive in which we do have access to GI maps.

Freddie Kimmel (19:04.512)
microbiome labs. Those are my two favorite. There's so many tests out there that we can just send a little bit of poop away and you can see what's going on. I do believe in this, this, this modern loss of keystone strains coupled with a shift in lifestyle since the industrial revolution has severely impacted our microbiome's ability to regulate health. And there are people talking about it. There's very few people living it and embodying the practice.

I'm going to cut it off there. love you guys. Please send me a picture of your poop on Instagram. I'm kidding. Do not do that. But please, if you hear this podcast and I love interaction team, you know, you can come on Spotify. can, you can send me a message. You can send me a message through beautifullybroken.world on Instagram or the website. When you hear something, resonates. When it shifts your thinking into a place of empowerment. let me know.

And if you know somebody who's that person that's always struggling with food and what to eat and inflammation, please share this podcast. I love you so much. Bye.