What My Blood Pressure Taught Me About Gut Health

I started taking care of my gut because I had to.  I was dealing with gut issues, infections, irritation, stomach problems, and digestion that was not working the way it should, which led to ER visits and hospitalizations.  Eventually, I formed a company and helped create a product to support and restore the gut, the intestinal lining, stomach comfort, and digestion.  And I started taking the product the day it hit our warehouse. 

But something else, something unexpected seemed to happen too.  Something neither conventional cardiology nor the supplement industry seems eager to talk about.  My numbers started to change.  My blood pressure, my cholesterol levels, and my blood sugar levels all lowered.

I am careful about how I say this because Original Biome is not a blood pressure product. It is not a cholesterol product. It is not a blood sugar product.  It is a product created to restore and heal the gut.  But I do believe restoring my gut changed more than my digestion.  It seemed to influence my overall metabolic balance.

And I am not the only person who has noticed this.  Other people taking Original Biome have reported similar changes back to us. Unsolicited. Not coached. Not promised.  And the science behind this, the real peer-reviewed science, is beginning to explain why the gut may have far more influence over metabolic health than most people realize.

Your Gut Is Running More Than Digestion

Do you want the rest of the story, as Paul Harvey would say?  It’s this: the gut microbiome is not just about digestion.  It is one of the body’s major metabolic communication systems.  You may have heard this before, but most people still don’t fully understand what it means.

The trillions of microbes that live in your gut produce compounds like short chain fatty acids, secondary bile acids, enzyme cofactors, and postbiotic metabolites.  These compounds don’t just stay in your intestines.  They circulate throughout the body and communicate with the heart, liver, blood vessels, immune system, and brain.

When your gut is healthy, many of these compounds work in your favor.  When your gut is out of balance, also called dysbiosis, some of those signals can work against you.  That’s not a metaphor.  That’s biology.  It is what Original Age calls “biological beauty.”

What Postbiotics Are Actually Doing

Postbiotics are the finished goods your microbiome makes when it is functioning the way it was designed to.  They are not bacteria.  They are not fiber or prebiotics.  They’re the output of prebiotics and probiotics.  They are the bioactive molecules, organic acids, enzymes, and metabolites produced through fermentation.  And they are increasingly what researchers are looking at when they want to understand why a healthier gut may translate into a healthier metabolic profile.

Here is what the emerging science is showing.

Blood Pressure: The SCFA Connection

Short chain fatty acids, including butyrate, acetate, and propionate, are some of the most important postbiotic compounds your gut produces.  They aren’t only fuel for the cells lining your gut.  They also act as signaling molecules throughout the body.

Research published in Hypertension by the American Heart Association has shown that short chain fatty acids interact with receptors in the kidneys and blood vessels, including GPR41 and GPR43, that help regulate vascular tone.

In plain English, your gut microbes may influence how blood vessels behave.

A 2025 cross sectional analysis also found that higher plasma acetate levels were negatively correlated with systolic blood pressure.   In other words, higher levels of this gut derived compound were associated with lower systolic pressure.  That does not  mean a gut product treats high blood pressure.  It does mean gut health is being studied closely in connection with vascular function, and for good reason.

A gut that produces more favorable postbiotic compounds may support more favorable signaling throughout the body.

But that is not all!

Cholesterol: The Bile Acid Rewrite

Your liver produces bile acids from cholesterol.  Your gut microbiome then helps transform those bile acids into secondary forms that influence how much cholesterol gets recycled and how much gets cleared from the body.

When the gut is in better balance, beneficial bacteria, including certain Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium species, can produce bile salt hydrolases. These enzymes help break down conjugated bile salts, which may influence cholesterol reabsorption in the intestine.

Some probiotic strains have also been studied for their ability to influence HMG CoA reductase, the same enzyme pathway targeted by many cholesterol lowering medications.

And yes, nature got there first.  Research published in Cardiovascular Research in 2024 demonstrated that specific Lactiplantibacillus plantarum strains modulated bile acid and cholesterol metabolism in humans.

The important point is this: The gut plays a real role in the body’s cholesterol related pathways.  When the gut is supported, these natural systems may function more favorably.  When the gut is damaged or out of balance, those systems can become less efficient.

But there’s more!

Blood Sugar: The Gut Insulin Axis

Butyrate, one of the major postbiotic compounds produced by a healthy microbiome, has also been studied for its relationship to insulin sensitivity and metabolic inflammation.  This isn’t some fringe theory.

A 2025 systematic review and meta analysis looked at 25 randomized controlled trials and found that postbiotic supplementation was associated with reductions in serum insulin, triglycerides, and markers of metabolic inflammation. 

The mechanisms are layered.  Butyrate appears to support the gut lining, reduce intestinal permeability, influence inflammatory signaling, and help create a better environment for insulin related pathways to work properly.

Again, this does not mean Original Biome treats blood sugar problems.  But it does mean a healthy gut may make it easier for the body to maintain better metabolic balance.  Your gut isn’t sitting off to the side, politely digesting lunch while the rest of your body runs the show.  Your gut is part of the show, and could be part of the main act at that.

The Risky Flip Side: TMAO

There is also a flip side to this story.   A very interesting one.  When the gut microbiome is out of balance, it can contribute to the production of a compound called TMAO, or trimethylamine N oxide.

TMAO has been studied for its relationship to inflammation in blood vessels, cholesterol transport, foam cell formation in artery walls, and cardiovascular risk.  Multiple large human cohort studies have linked higher TMAO levels with increased risk of heart attack, stroke, and cardiovascular mortality.

That does not mean TMAO tells the whole story.  It does mean gut dysbiosis can have consequences far beyond bloating.  The hidden tax of a damaged gut is that the body may be producing metabolic signals that work against long term health, while conventional medicine often focuses on managing the downstream numbers.

Our entire company philosophy is about restoring the gut and supporting the foundation.  Because if the foundation is struggling, everything built on top of it has to work harder.

We Have Seen This Ourselves

I said it before and I will say it again.  This is not only what the research says. It is what we have experienced.  After starting Original Biome, my blood pressure dropped noticeably and consistently.  We have customers reporting similar changes too.  Unsolicited reports.

That matters to us.   Not because we are trying to turn Original Biome into a cardiovascular product. We are not.  It matters because of how the body is connected.  When the gut starts functioning more like it was designed to function, when it is supported, nourished, and able to produce more of the postbiotic compounds it is capable of producing, the downstream effects may go far beyond digestion.

That is not a sales line.  That is what foundational support can look like.  And we couldn’t be happier for our customers.

Why Most Products Miss This

Most gut health products are built around addition.  More probiotic strains.  More fiber.  More ingredients.  But addition without foundation does not necessarily rebuild anything.

If you have taken a standard probiotic and felt underwhelmed, it may be because you got the bacteria, but not the full output of what those bacteria are capable of producing.  Not the postbiotics, or the organic acids.  Not the fermented compounds the body actually uses. That is the difference slow fermentation makes.

Original Biome is not rushed. It is not harvested early. The microbes are given time to complete their work, producing a fuller spectrum of prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics together in one living formula.

This is what makes it different from a standard capsule or powder.

What to Expect When the Foundation Is Supported

When people start Original Biome, they typically notice digestion first.  Less bloating, more regularity, relief from acid reflux, or a calmer stomach.  Sometimes, energy comes first.  Then sleep.  Then clarity and improved focus and mood.  Then comes a feeling that the body is working with them again instead of against them.  And for some people, the metabolic numbers begin to shift too.  Blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar.

Original Age did not set out to build a cardiovascular product.  We set out to build a gut restoration product.  But when you support the gut, truly support it, the body may begin to do what it was designed to do all along.  You just have to give it the right foundation.

And that, friends, truly is biological beauty.

Original Biome is a slow fermented, USDA Organic liquid tri-biotic with prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics in one tablespoon per day. Clinically credentialed. 60 day money back guarantee.

These statements have not been evaluated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.