Having gut issues? Before consulting your physician, try purifying the air you’re breathing

More and more, we’re finding out how closely interconnected and interdependent all of our bodies are, and how important purity of air, water and food is to our complete health.  Poorer people often rely on combustion fuels for lighting and cooking, and according to a study published in 2025, one positive step to improve the home’s air quality affected not just their lungs, but also the gut microbiome. 

In this study, researchers looked at the effects of changing out kerosene lighting lamps for indoor solar lighting systems.  Stool samples, respiratory symptoms and spirometry were taken from 80 adult women living in rural Uganda at baseline (before intervention), 12 and 18 months post-intervention. The intervention group received a solar lighting system after randomization, while the waitlist-controlled group received one at 12 months.  The respiratory results were clear: there was a reduction in the presence of respiratory symptoms from 57.1% to 36.1% (although there was no impact on lung function). The solar lighting intervention also led to larger changes in their gut microbiome: viral compared to non-viral microbial community structure, and differential abundance of bacteria, eukaryotes (organisms that have a membrane-bound nucleus), and viruses. 

These observations suggest that air pollution may influence lung health through the gut-lung axis.  But since the gut-lung axis goes both ways, it forms another question: if it’s difficult to change the amount of air pollution we breathe, can we change the gut microbiome to help our lungs and have less respiratory symptoms?   The answer is yes!  Going back to a 2013 study, researchers wrote that the physiology and pathology (cause and effects of diseases) of the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts are closely related. This similarity between the two organs may underlie why dysfunction in one organ may induce illness in the other. For example, smoking is a major risk factor for COPD and IBD, and increases the risk of developing Crohn's disease. Probiotics have been defined as “live microorganisms which, when administered in adequate amounts, confer health benefits on the host.” There is increasing evidence that orally delivered probiotics are able to regulate immune responses in the respiratory system. (Probiotics in the Management of Lung Diseases)  In a one-month trial in Ireland in 2023, asthmatic subjects who took a Lactobacillus probiotic and herbal blend showed significant improvements in lung function as measured by forced expiratory volume and serum short chain fatty acid levels.  (Clinical trial of a probiotic and herbal supplement for lung health)  Scientists think that the probiotic can modulate respiratory immunity, therefore conferring a beneficial role in respiratory diseases including respiratory tract infections (RTIs), asthma, lung cancer, cystic fibrosis (CF) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).  (The Beneficial Role of Probiotic Lactobacillus in Respiratory Diseases)

Now knowing that your gut affects your lungs and vice-versa, you may try something that was counter-intuitive before, like adding a HEPA filter to your home to improve your digestion, or taking a probiotic to improve your lung function.  There are many products that can fit the bill, such as Medify HEPA air purifiers (we think they add great value, especially to your bedroom for sleeping), and multi-strain probiotics (there are many strains of lactobacillus, some of which are better than others for certain lung conditions, so a probiotic that combines several strains would be best).  If you’d rather eat a natural food instead of take a supplement, try fermented foods like yogurt, sauerkraut, kimchi, and sourdough bread, which contain lactobacillus (and check out our article on fermented foods).  On the lung health side, our Mold Guard, Air Angel and Whole-Home Air Ionizers work to help smaller particulates clump together and fall out of the air, so that you breathe less particulates.  Our guts and our lungs seem to be pretty closely affiliated, so we should start to think about them together, and helping one function better will invariably help the other.

Photo by Rohtopia.com on Unsplash