The Surprising Importance of Gut Mucus to Your Health
Key takeaways:
Your gut is lined with mucus, a slippery substance that has many functions.
Gut mucus protects your gut and helps with digestion.
Gut mucus may also protect you against several health conditions.
Your gut (digestive system) includes many different organs, like your stomach, small intestine, and large intestine. These organs digest your food and absorb nutrients and water.
But did you know: Your gut is also home to huge amounts of a slippery substance called mucus? That’s right — the inside of your gut is lined with mucus, from beginning to end. Your body makes about 10 L of gut mucus every day. And so far, it seems like gut mucus may be pretty important to your health.
Read on for more information about gut mucus: What we know, what we’re still learning, and why mucus matters.
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What is mucus, and why is it important for gut health?
Mucus is a watery, slippery substance. It’s made by glands in your gut and in other parts of the body (like your lungs). Mucus lines the inside of your gut, coating and covering your cells.
Scientists used to think that gut mucus only had one job: to help food, liquids, and stool pass easily through your gut. But it turns out mucus actually does a lot more than that.
In addition to keeping things moving, gut mucus also:
Cushions and protects your cells
Keeps your cells moist
Helps get rid of waste
Traps pathogens (harmful intruders) like bacteria
Protects your cells from external toxins
Protects your cells from your body’s own digestive acids and enzymes
Helps your cells communicate with each other
Gut mucus also creates a protective barrier between your body and the outside world. Many different substances travel through your gut every day — including toxins and other harmful molecules. Your gut mucus helps the right nutrients and small molecules pass into your body, and it keeps the unwanted intruders out.
Your gut mucus also provides a home — and food — for your gut microbiome. Your microbiome is a collection of trillions of microbes (tiny living things) that live in and on your body. These microbes are important for mental and physical health, and they have many vital functions in your body.
Protecting your body from infection
Your gut mucus is your body’s first line of defense. It creates a physical barrier between the inside of your gut and the rest of your body.
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This barrier makes it hard for bacteria, viruses, and parasites that you ingest (eat) to travel out of your gut and infect the rest of your body. This can also keep your immune system from getting triggered too often.
Mucus can also trap and paralyze some foreign invaders, like bacteria. This makes it hard for bacteria to form a strong, sticky layer called a biofilm. Without a biofilm, your body can fight off the bacteria more easily.
Protecting you from disease
We’re still learning about gut mucus and disease. But there is some evidence that gut mucus may protect you against certain health conditions.
Here’s what we know so far:
H. pylori: This is a bacteria that can cause a stomach infection. In some cases, this infection can lead to stomach ulcers and cancer. Gut mucus may be able to protect you from being infected with H. pylori.
Cancer: Cancer is a disease where your cells grow too fast. Gut mucus may encourage cells to grow normally, which could protect you against cancer.
Irritable bowel disease (IBD): IBD is a group of autoimmune disorders that affect your gut, like Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis. It’s possible that a healthy gut mucus layer may help prevent these diseases.
Your gut mucus layer might also play a role in preventing metabolic disorders. In metabolic disorders, your body has trouble managing certain molecules, like fat or sugar.
Scientists have noticed that some people with metabolic disorders — like obesity and type 2 diabetes — have certain changes in their gut mucus. But we don’t know what comes first: the mucus changes or the health condition.
Promoting healthier aging
There’s evidence that your gut mucus layer may change with age. Though we’re still learning about this topic, it’s possible that there could be a connection between mucus changes and the increased health problems — including gut problems — that come with age.
Scientists are particularly interested in gut mucus and the brain. People with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s have certain changes in their gut microbiome, which relies on a healthy mucus layer. Researchers are studying whether a good mucus layer could protect people against these diseases, or help with symptoms.
Controlling weight gain
Researchers are currently studying the connection between gut mucus and body weight. So far, we know that your mucus layer provides a home and food for your gut microbiome — and your microbiome can influence your weight.
Regulating your mood
Scientists are still learning about the connection between mood, mucus, and the microbiome. It’s possible that there could be a connection between a depleted mucus layer and mood disorders, like depression.
This seems likely given that we already know the gut and brain are closely connected, and that people with gut problems often have depression, anxiety, and other mood changes.
How can the gut mucus layer get damaged?
It’s not clear. We’re still learning how and why the gut mucus layer changes.
So far, scientists think it seems to be caused by a combination of different things — both inside and outside your body.
Inside your body, different molecules can affect your gut mucus. Hormones, neurotransmitters, and other substances tell your gut how much mucus to produce, and how much to break down.
Gut mucus is also affected by what you eat. Your gut mucus layer can be weakened by:
Eating a high-fat diet
Eating a Western-style (standard American) diet
Eating a low-fiber diet
Eating a lot of food additives
Gut mucus can also be damaged by other things that travel through your digestive tract, like toxins, antibiotics, and infections. For example, cholera and giardia can both cause mucus breakdown.
How can diet and lifestyle choices encourage healthy gut mucus?
Your diet and lifestyle can impact your gut mucus. You can encourage a healthy mucus layer by:
Eating a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains
Eating fewer processed foods
Cutting down on caffeine and alcohol
Keeping stress under control
Drinking plenty of water
Maintaining a healthy body weight
Exercising
Cutting down on tobacco
Taking a probiotic
Eating a high fiber diet can also help your mucus layer. Fiber is a food source for your gut microbes. When you eat a lot of fiber, your microbes eat the fiber — which means they eat less of your gut mucus, keeping it nice and thick.
Fiber can also encourage healthy microbes to flourish in your gut. Some of these microbes can have a positive effect on your gut mucus:
Lactobacillus: Encourages mucus production.
Bifidobacterium: Restores mucus growth.
Akkermansia: Increases mucus layer thickness and the number of mucus-producing cells.
Is it normal to see mucus in my poo?
Yes. Your large intestine (bowels) is where stool is made. Your large intestine also makes a lot of mucus. This helps your body form and pass stool.
When you have a bowel movement, it’s normal for some of this mucus to come out. If the amount of mucus in your stool is increasing — or if your stool is black or red — talk to your healthcare provider. In some cases, changes can be a sign of a health condition like irritable bowel syndrome or ulcerative colitis.
The bottom line
Mucus might seem gross, but in reality it’s a helpful substance in your body. A healthy mucus layer keeps your gut functioning well, and it can have an impact on your overall mental and physical health.
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