Leisha One of the things I enjoy most about working with clients is that every person teaches me something new. Each case encourages me to ask more questions, read more research, and continue learning. I have never believed that we know everything there is to know about the human body. In fact, I think some of the most exciting discoveries happen when we remain curious.
Recently, while working with a client experiencing respiratory concerns, I found myself diving deeper into the relationship between the digestive system and the lungs. As I followed one study after another, I kept encountering the same theme. Researchers are uncovering remarkable connections between the intestinal microbiome, the immune system, and respiratory health. The more I read, the more I understood why so many traditional systems of healing emphasized the bowel when addressing problems that seemed completely unrelated.
That journey is what inspired me to share this article.
For thousands of years, traditional systems of healing recognized a relationship between the bowel and the lungs. Long before microscopes, microbiome research, or modern immunology existed, practitioners observed that people with sluggish digestion, constipation, or poor bowel health often struggled with respiratory complaints as well. Some traditions even developed maps suggesting that different areas of the colon corresponded to different organs throughout the body.
For many years these ideas were dismissed as folklore. Yet today, scientists are discovering that the intestine and the lungs are, in fact, in constant communication. They call it the gut-lung axis, and it is changing the way we think about respiratory health.
The connection is not a direct physical pathway between the bowel and the lungs. Instead, it is an ongoing conversation involving the immune system, the nervous system, the lymphatic system, microbial metabolites, and the trillions of microorganisms that live within our digestive tract.
The human colon is home to one of the most diverse microbial ecosystems on Earth. Every meal we eat not only feeds us, but also feeds this remarkable microbial community. As these microbes ferment fibers and resistant starches that our own digestive enzymes cannot break down, they produce compounds known as short-chain fatty acids, including butyrate, acetate, and propionate.
These compounds do far more than support digestion. They help maintain the intestinal barrier, regulate inflammation, influence immune cells, and travel throughout the body, affecting organs far beyond the intestine. Researchers now understand that these microbial metabolites help shape immune responses within the lungs, influencing how the body responds to allergens, respiratory infections, and chronic inflammation.
In other words, healthy lungs begin long before the air reaches them.
One of the reasons this research fascinates me is because it reminds us that the body is not a collection of isolated organs. Every system is communicating with every other system. The intestine does not simply digest food. It educates the immune system, produces signaling molecules, nourishes beneficial microbes, and continually exchanges information with distant tissues throughout the body.
Researchers have also found that people living with asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), allergies, and recurrent respiratory infections often have altered microbial communities within their intestines. This does not mean that every lung disease begins in the gut, but it does demonstrate that the health of our intestinal ecosystem influences the health of our respiratory system in ways we are only beginning to understand.
There is also a more mechanical relationship between the bowel and the lungs. Anyone who has experienced trapped gas beneath the rib cage knows how difficult it can become to take a deep breath. The two bends of the colon, known as the hepatic flexure beneath the right ribs and the splenic flexure beneath the left ribs, are common places for gas to accumulate. As these areas become distended, they can press upward against the diaphragm, restricting its movement and creating discomfort that many people mistakenly believe is coming directly from the lungs or even the heart.
Traditional practitioners often described this relationship differently. Many believed that specific regions of the colon communicated with specific organs through neural reflex points. Modern anatomy has not confirmed these exact maps, but modern physiology does recognize that organs communicate through shared nerve pathways. Gallbladder irritation can produce shoulder pain. Heart disease can be felt in the jaw or left arm. Irritation of the diaphragm may be experienced in the shoulder. The nervous system frequently creates connections between distant parts of the body.
Whether the traditional colon reflex maps accurately describe these relationships remains uncertain. What is becoming increasingly clear, however, is that the intestine is one of the body’s largest immune organs and one of its most active communication centers. It contains an enormous network of nerves, immune tissue, and microbial life that continually exchanges information with the brain, the liver, the skin, the endocrine system, and the lungs.
From a terrain perspective, this makes perfect sense.
When the intestinal ecosystem is diverse and healthy, beneficial microbes produce compounds that strengthen the intestinal barrier, regulate immune activity, nourish the cells lining the colon, and help maintain balance throughout the body. When that ecosystem becomes disrupted, inflammatory signals, altered microbial metabolites, and changes in immune regulation can influence tissues far beyond the digestive tract.
Perhaps this is one reason why so many traditional systems of healing emphasized digestion as the foundation of health. They did not have the language of cytokines, microbial metabolites, immune signaling, or microbiome diversity. They simply observed people carefully. They noticed that healthier digestion often accompanied healthier lungs, stronger immunity, and greater vitality.
Today, science is beginning to explain many of those observations, even if the mechanisms differ from the original theories.
The more we learn, the more the human body resembles an ecosystem rather than a machine. Our lungs are influenced not only by the air we breathe but also by the microbial community living within our intestines. The immune system, nervous system, lymphatic system, and microbiome are continually working together, reminding us that health is rarely isolated to a single organ.
Supporting the lungs may begin by supporting the gut.
Supporting the Gut-Lung Axis
If the gut and lungs truly communicate through the immune system, nervous system, microbial metabolites, and the microbiome, then one of the most logical places to begin supporting respiratory health is by supporting the intestinal ecosystem itself.
Rather than focusing only on the lungs, consider nourishing the microbial community that helps regulate them.
Living Ground Gut-Lung Formula
Probiotics
- Lactobacillus reuteri
- Lactobacillus plantarum
- Lactobacillus rhamnosus
- Bifidobacterium longum
- Bifidobacterium breve
Prebiotics
- Apple Pectin
- Inulin
- Fructooligosaccharides (FOS)
Additional Support
- N-Acetyl Cysteine (NAC)
- Quercetin
Medicinal Mushrooms
- Reishi (Ganoderma lucidum)
- Turkey Tail
- Maitake
These ingredients work together to support the gut-lung axis. The probiotic strains help build a diverse microbial community, while the prebiotics provide the nourishment those microbes need to thrive. As they ferment these fibers, they produce beneficial compounds that help maintain the intestinal barrier and communicate with the immune system.
N-Acetyl Cysteine supports the body’s own production of glutathione and helps maintain healthy respiratory mucus. Quercetin helps regulate inflammatory signaling, while the medicinal mushrooms contain beta-glucans that interact with immune cells within the gut-associated lymphoid tissue, helping maintain a balanced immune response.
This formula is not designed to “treat the lungs.” Its purpose is to strengthen the intestinal ecosystem that continually communicates with them.
The more I study the gut-lung axis, the more I find myself asking a different question. Instead of asking, “What is the best herb for the lungs?” perhaps we should first ask, “What does the microbiome need to help build healthier lungs?”
For me, that question represents a profound shift in how I think about health. It reminds me that the human body is a living ecosystem, where caring for one community of life often benefits every other part of the whole. And perhaps that is one of the greatest lessons nature continues to teach us.
