Gut reaction: Here's why your digestive system hates travel

How hard does your stomach work to digest that extra croissant, fizzy drink or in-flight meal?

Conditions on long haul flights can unsettle the stomach. Photo: iStock

An Aedes aegypti mosquito, which carries the viruses for Zika and dengue fever.

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The outbreak of the Zika virus in Brazil, Puerto Rico and elsewhere in the Americas has recently seen some people reconsider their travel plans to that part of the world, notably pregnant women and several Olympic athletes, including golfers.

The harmful effects of Zika may be overstated, according to a New York Times article I read last week, which reports that the number of cases of microcephaly possibly caused by the virus has probably been inflated by three times. Most travellers don't notice they've contracted the virus, so unless you're a pregnant woman, it shouldn't affect your plans. Those golfers are probably over-reacting.

What is far more threatening is dengue fever, which is carried by the same mosquito, Aedes aegypti. There have been 1.5 million cases of dengue reported in Brazil this past year and several hundred deaths. I read elsewhere that the increase in cases is sixfold this year.

I have probably sounded a bit demented in the severity of my warning to anyone I know who is going to the Olympics: You don't want to contract it. Ever. I spend my travelling life trying to avoid this wretched mozzie, since I caught dengue in Tahiti. It's dangerous for me to contract it a second time, as there can be complications, too involved to relate here.

Yet dengue is rife worldwide, in cities and tropical zones, where there are outbreaks each wet season, and wherever water is allowed to breed larvae. The mosquito bites by day, so one must be vigilant. Even so, it is amazing to me how many people head off into the tropics without much thought of disease.

The positive thing about the Zika outbreak is that it has at least raised people's awareness of mosquito-borne viruses, which might lead to more investment in developing vaccines for all viruses carried by mosquito.

We'd never go anywhere if we worried disproportionately about serious illness and accident. But it certainly pays to be a bit proactive about our general state of health when away. Something as everyday as a stomach-ache from over-indulgence or that ragged feeling from lack of sleep can take the edge off the joy of travelling.

In the past few years I've noticed that eating in different time zones and eating too much food I normally wouldn't consume (all that delicious jamon in Spain for instance) wreaks havoc on my digestive system and this can stay with me for weeks afterwards.

Some people seem to have cast iron stomachs and booze and gourmandize their way around the world with little obvious effect. I've travelled with people like this and their fortitude astonishes me. But for those who find the stress of airports, the conditions on long haul flights and the time zone confusions physically unsettling, planning a trip also involves a bit of forethought about how to keep well.

I've been reading a fascinating book, Gut by Giulia Enders (Scribe), a thorough look at the gastro-intestinal tract, especially the role of gut flora. It doesn't sound very sexy or entertaining, and there's a lot of discussion about poo, but it's a great read. I found it extremely useful in understanding what I'm doing to my digestive process when I travel. I now think about my intestinal villi and how hard they have to work to help digest that in-flight meal, fizzy drink or extra croissant at breakfast.

The gut is the body's largest sensory organ. So much of our existence is gut-driven, and not just physically  - our 'gut reactions' are important. Nervous travellers feel it in their guts. We have a 'gutful' of standing online or a misbehaving co-passenger.

It makes sense to look after our gut and this is especially important on the road, where we might be exposed to harmful bacteria, such as salmonellae. Supporting good gut bacteria may be as necessary to our overall travel health as having the right inoculations.

Taking probiotics and prebiotics is one way, but I didn't know until I read Gut that those pharmacy capsules can contain many different cocktails of living bacteria and each person needs to work out which is best for them. Different bacteria target different things. Some work on diarrhoea, some on the immune system, for instance.

Intestinal fortitude is not going to stop anyone contracting Zika, but being kind to the microscopic world we carry inside is a good start to being healthy enough to navigate the macroscopic world outside.

The story Gut reaction: Here's why your digestive system hates travel first appeared on The Sydney Morning Herald.

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