Today's Healthy Lifestyle
There are more ways than ever for travel to take its toll on your health. This holiday season, scientists from the American Heart Association are taking on the problem of weight gain by sharing their advice for how to keep your gut bacteria, circulation, skin and heart in great shape during long trips.
Brands now offer foods, supplements and cosmetics that claim to help promote a healthy gut—with claims that while traveling, your digestive tract is in a state of upheaval, which can lead to constipation or diarrhea. "The reality is, we know very little about the connections between gut health and weight regulation," says board-certified cardiologist Neelima Vangola, an associate professor of medicine and pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco. "There are many medications and lifestyle habits that can affect these issues, but because the effects of gut bacteria on the health of your gut are still under study, it's hard to say how gut health will affect weight."
Fortunately, most of the studies on weight gain and gut health during flight are correlational, meaning they show that people who get dehydrated or have poorly digested meals, both of which can be common in air travel, are more likely to gain weight during air travel. But recent research has uncovered some evidence that the effects of this gut-health-weight link may go beyond digestive tract disruptions.
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One study in mice found that individuals who lose their microbiome—the collection of bacteria in the gut—due to antibiotics appear to be less able to resist the effects of stress. "This could potentially explain why weight gain is common during traveling," says Vangola, who coauthored the study.
"We found that bacteria can influence our brain. So, when we lose our microbiome due to stress, it leads to inflammation in our brain and body, which could possibly drive weight gain," she adds.
Healthy Lifestyle Tips
Healthy lifestyle choices are the foundation of all of these prevention efforts. Stay physically active, limit your alcohol consumption, be sure to eat healthy foods, and cut down on smoking and the use of alcohol and tobacco. Many other factors will impact your risk of developing breast cancer, including genetics, exposure to carcinogens in the workplace or home, and your family's history of breast cancer.
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For more information about breast cancer or to schedule an appointment with a breast specialist, please contact Susan G. Komen Northwest Ohio at:
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