Gut Health Q&A With Dr. Cory Rice

Dr. Rice joins us this month to share his knowledge on all things gut health.

He received his medical degree from Midwestern University/Arizona College of Health Sciences and has been in practice for over 12 years. Dr. Rice’s professional interests include nutrition-based chronic disease management, thyroid management, longevity/precision medicine, and bioidentical hormone replacement therapy for men and women. His clinical expertise is in most areas of chronic disease and, ultimately, the treatment and reversal of some of the more commonly encountered conditions in clinical practice today. The main focus in his practice is on wellness and prevention, nutrition, therapeutic lifestyle change, and appropriate hormone balancing for men and women.

How can good gut health help maximize patients’ experience with BHRT?

Many of our body’s neurotransmitters (chemical messengers that are used to transmit messages around the body) are made in the gut and up to 80% of our entire immune system lives in the gut. If you have an optimal function of your neurotransmitters and your immune system within the gut you will absolutely respond more favorably to BHRT. BHRT is influenced by and actually directly influences our neurotransmitters and our immune system. If you do not have good gut health you will not make neurotransmitters efficiently and your immune system will not be as robust as you need. This will affect how the body uses hormones at the receptor level through BHRT.

Have you had any patients who have experienced significant health improvement when their gut dysbiosis was addressed? What was their story?

I have had hundreds if not thousands of patients who have had their gut microbiome health restored and their dysbiosis (an imbalance of gut bacteria) fixed and they have experienced significant health improvement. Some of the more impactful examples of this are my autoimmune patients. Some examples of autoimmune diseases are Crohn’s or Ulcerative Colitis, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Lupus, and Celiac Disease. I see these conditions often. I do gut microbiome testing in each of these clinical conditions. These patients, oftentimes, have significant symptoms that negatively affect their daily quality of life. It is an emotionally rewarding and gratifying experience to help these patient populations by repairing and restoring their gut health as this impacts their systemic disease positively in virtually every case. This goes a very long way in helping improve the quality of their day-to-day living.

Spring Break and planning early summer trips are on a lot of peoples’ minds right now. Are there any tips you give to your patients to maintain gut health while on vacation?

Feed the gut what it needs and what it wants, nutrient-dense food. Limit inflammatory foods like grains and dairy. Drink plenty of water and consider taking a daily probiotic that has been studied and proven to restore the health of the gut microbiome.

What is the one thing you wish all of your patients would do when it comes to supporting their gut health?

I wish they would understand the supreme importance of their gut microbiome health and that it isn’t just about bowel habits or bloating or gas or heartburn. Gut health influences every organ, tissue, and cell throughout the human body. I would argue that there is not one chronic disease or one degenerative condition that is not in some way influenced by the health of our gut. Everything from cancer to diabetes to heart disease to obesity to bone health to dementia and cognitive health, the gut plays an active and important role in each one of these clinical conditions. If the human population could understand this, we could collectively start to take our health back and make real global progress.