Health News Update: Food Choices, Gut Microbiome & Disease Risk
Hello friends:
Here is some more interesting news that helps us understand how to construct the best food plan for ourselves. Most are aware that the gut houses an incredibly large number of different micro-organisms that are called the microbiome. These gut inhabitants can produce many beneficial health promoting chemicals including vitamins, assist immune function, modulate inflammation, and more. However, the type of chemicals that they produce can be either good or bad, and it depends almost entirely on what they are fed. This means that our diet shapes our health in important ways we might not be thinking about.
The study found that the health of the microbiome is influenced by diet, and that the composition of the microbiome influences the risk of health outcomes. The results showed that specific gut microbes were associated with specific nutrients, foods, food groups, and overall diet composition. Health conditions such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and general inflammation appeared to be most impacted by diet-influenced changes to the microbiome.
For example, less healthy dietary patterns (dairy desserts, unhealthy meats, processed foods) supported gut species that were associated with measures of blood sugar, cholesterol, and inflammation that are significantly associated with higher risk of cardiac events, strokes, and type 2 diabetes.
In contrast, a more diverse gut microbiome was tied to healthy dietary patterns (high-fiber vegetables like spinach and broccoli, nuts, and heathy animal foods such as fish and eggs) and was linked to measurements tied to lower risk of certain chronic diseases. In addition, the study found that polyunsaturated fats (found in fish, walnuts, pumpkin, flax and chia seeds, sunflower, safflower, and un-hydrogenated soybean oils) produce healthy gut species linked to a reduced risk of chronic disease.
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/diet-disease-and-the-microbiome-2021042122400
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33432175/
Bottom Line:
The authors say it best:
So, what do these findings mean for us? First, the study showed that eating more unprocessed plant foods — fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and whole grains — allows the gut microbiome to thrive. Some animal foods, such as fish and eggs, are also favorable. Avoiding certain animal foods, such as red meat and bacon, dairy foods, and highly processed foods (even processed plant foods such as sauces, baked beans, juices, or sugar-sweetened drinks and desserts) prevents less-healthy gut species from colonizing the gut.
It is important to note that food quality matters; processed or ultra-processed plant-based foods were not associated with heathy clusters of gut microbes. When choosing foods, consider whether they are processed or unprocessed, in addition to whether they are a plant or animal food. Meal patterns that emphasize foods beneficial to the microbiome are the whole-food, plant-based dietary patterns. These include vegan (no animal products) and ovo-vegetarian (vegetarian plus eggs) diets. The pescatarian eating pattern, in which oily and white fish are the meats of choice, is also good for the microbiome.
Emphasizing minimally processed plant foods allows the gut microbiome to thrive, providing protection against, or decreasing the risk of, chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, metabolic disease, and obesity.
