@drgreghealth: Today I want to talk about why it becomes so much more important to take care of your gut as you age. I've been a functional medicine doctor for more than 25 years, and this is one of the most under-discussed parts of healthy aging. First, your gut microbiome's diversity naturally declines with age, and lower diversity is consistently linked to more inflammation and worse metabolic health. Second, your gut barrier itself gets more permeable over time. A less intact gut lining means more undigested particles and bacterial fragments leaking back into circulation, feeding the kind of chronic low-grade inflammation that drives most age-related disease. Third, stomach acid production naturally declines with age, which impairs your ability to absorb key nutrients like B12 and iron and leaves you more vulnerable to infection from what you eat. And here is the part most people never connect. The majority of your immune system actually lives in your gut. It is called GALT, gut-associated lymphatic tissue. So as you age, a more permeable and less diverse gut is not just a digestive problem. It is an immune system problem, which makes it one of the most important things you can actively maintain rather than just manage. When did you last think about your gut as an immune organ? Find the root. Heal the whole.

Dr. Greg

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Wednesday 21 October 2026 12:10:07 GMT