As with allergies, your body’s ability to fend off mild or serious respiratory conditions, such as colds, flu, asthma, or pneumonia, is partly determined by your gut health.
“Microbial metabolites [like SCFAs] and immune signaling affect airway inflammation and your susceptibility to respiratory infection,” Barrett says, adding that these communications happen through the gut-lung axis.
Studies show that certain respiratory conditions — specifically chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, and lung cancer — often go hand in hand with gut dysbiosis. Children with asthma tend to host lower levels of beneficial Bifidobacteria and Lactobacilli bacteria and higher levels of Proteobacteria and Firmicutes than children without asthma. And people with lung cancer may have lower levels of some bacterial strains that counter inflammation.
Like the gut-brain axis, the gut-lung axis is bidirectional. Respiratory infections such as COVID-19 can lead to gut dysbiosis, and, according to animal studies, respiratory infections in general can cause a decrease in beneficial gut bacteria.
More positively, abundant SCFAs in the gut are linked to lower levels of lung inflammation, protection against COPD, and, in kids, a lower risk for asthma. A placebo-controlled study of 40 asthmatic adults published in Allergy, Asthma & Clinical Immunology in 2023 found that eight weeks of supplementation with a probiotic led to significant improvements in lung function.
(Our lungs are essential to life — and our immunity. Learn what you can do to support them in the face of increasing air pollution — plus, lung-healing foods — at “Take a Deep Breath: Understanding Lung Health and Immunity.”)
The Mighty Microbiome
Your gut microbiome affects much more than digestion: It has an impact on your immune resilience, hormonal health, and more. Learn more at “9 Ways the Gut Microbiome Influences Health,” from which this article was excerpted.
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