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Gut and lymphatic health work hand in hand, much like the gut does with every other bodily system. Multiple structures work for both the digestive and lymphatic systems. Some structures are unique to one that benefit the other, as well. This article will detail all you need to know about the lymphatic system and gut health.

What is gut health?

Gut health refers to the state of your gut microbiome. The gut microbiome is a part of your digestive system, but it highly affects the rest of your body. The gut microbiome lives in your large intestine.

The gut microbiome is made up of trillions of microorganisms like bacteria and fungi that help your body to:

Digest food
Extract nutrients
Send out neurotransmitters and signals to cells
Create and distribute metabolites
Control inflammatory responses within and outside of the gut

While gut microbes do even more than this, this list helps you see just how robust their role is for your health. You’ll often hear about good or bad bacteria. In reality, bacteria is bacteria, and their location matters more than anything else.

Certain strains belong in our gut and help to process what we eat. This is helpful for nutrient extraction and turning food into useable metabolites like short-chain fatty acids. If they leave the gut, which happens with leaky gut syndrome, they will cause issues throughout the body.

When the balance of “good” vs “bad” bacteria becomes disrupted, it is called dysbiosis. Dysbiosis has been linked to leaky gut, inflammation, disease development, and disease progression. So it’s very important to keep your gut healthy.

What is the lymphatic system?

The lymphatic system works similarly to the circulatory system. It consists of vessels, capillaries, nodes, and other lymphoid tissues that help guide and filter lymph throughout your body. Lymph nodes contain high concentrations of white blood cells to help your body fight off infections.

So if the lymph collects viruses or bacteria along the way, it brings it to the nodes so they can fight and remove the pathogens. This is why when you get sick, your lymph nodes swell.

The lymphatic system runs throughout your entire body. Lymphatic vessels, unlike circulatory vessels, are a partially open system. This allows the lymphatic vessels to collect debris, dead cells, or other damaged tissues and remove them. This also allows them to transport cells and other materials to the bloodstream and other body areas.

Unlike the circulatory system, which uses the heart, the lymphatic system doesn’t have a pump. The lymphatic vessels run alongside your muscles. Each time your muscles contract, they move the lymph along. This is why exercise is so important for your lymphatic system and immune health.

The main function of the lymphatic system is to transport and remove materials that can cause the body damage. In this way, it helps support your immune system, gut, brain, and overall health.

How do the gut and lymphatic systems work together?

Lymphatic networks are found all throughout the body. They are interwoven throughout the entire digestive system from the mouth all the way through. The lymphatic structures that help the body with digestion include:

Lymphatic vessels
Lymphatic capillaries
Lacteals (lymphatic structures found in the villi of the intestinal tract)
Gut-associated lymphoid tissues (GALT)
Mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT)
Gut-derived dendritic cells (DC)

In the digestive tract, lacteals are often the first line of contact between the gut and lymphatic system. Lacteals are found in villi that line the intestinal tract. During digestion, lymphatic flow increases significantly — especially in the small intestine. Lacteals help with absorbing lipids (fats) from our food.

Lacteals connect to the submucosal lymphatic tissues, helping to transport and guide lymphatic flow.

GALT, like Peyer’s patches, samples different things that come through the small intestine and differentiates them into antigen or non-antigen categories. Then, these substances are pushed through to the lymphocytes so they can be dealt with.

The large intestine contains different structures that help the lymph to drain from the intestines toward the mesenteric lymph nodes.

All of these structures help to remove inflammation within the gut. However, if damage occurs, it causes more inflammation, and the lymphatic system needs to work harder to remove it.

In conditions where the gut is compromised or there is inflammation, the lymphatic system is highly affected.

Conditions like Crohn’s Disease affect how the lymphatic system works. In patients with Crohn’s disease, the body holds on to fats when it shouldn’t. Since the lymphatic system absorbs lipids, this highly affects both conditions in a negative way, causing an endless loop of inflammation.

When the gut experiences dysbiosis, bacteria can translocate more easily. Since the lymphatic vessels take in bacteria throughout the body, it is believed that this can overload the lymphatic system, causing it to overwork and malfunction.

A taxed lymphatic system removes toxins and bacteria at a slower rate because the lymph fluid becomes thicker. The sluggish rate of toxin removal affects how well the immune system can respond to pathogens. The backup promotes inflammation throughout the body and can contribute to diseases starting, progressing, or flaring up.

How can I improve the health of my gut and lymphatic system?

Since the lymphatic and digestive systems work so closely together and have a similar goal (maintaining immunity), when you work on improving one, the other will benefit, too.

Here are the top ways to improve lymphatic and gut health:

Drink a lot of water. Water helps keep the mucosal linings lubricated and keeps your digestive tract moving. Water also helps to thin out your lymphatic fluid so it moves at a quicker rate. This allows it to remove bacteria and toxins more quickly, so you have less of a chance of getting sick.
Sleep well. When you sleep, your body can do its cleaning processes more efficiently. There’s a reason they say rest and digest. As your body can focus on digesting, it can also focus on getting your lymph moving and removing.
Eat a healthy, well-balanced diet. What you eat matters and can provide your body with good nutrition that improves your gut and lymph. Poor nutrition can slow both systems down and contribute to inflammation. Eating nutrient-dense foods will improve your gut, lymph, and immunity.
Try manual lymphatic drainage (MLD) massages. MLD is a type of bodywork that stimulates and promotes the flow of your lymphatic fluid. A very gentle touch is used so it is very relaxing. Many people who suffer from GI complaints report that regular MLD sessions help them stay regular and feel better.

Every part of your body connects with the rest. So, doing anything that supports good health will improve the rest. Take small steps towards bigger goals by focusing on one thing at a time. Your body and health will thank you.

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