study show Our gut microbes convert the food we eat into thousands of enzymes, hormones, vitamins and other metabolites that affect everything from your body. mental health When immune system to your potential weight gain and development of chronic diseases.
Gut bacteria can even influence mental state by producing mood-altering neurotransmitters, such as dopamine, which regulates pleasure, learning, and motivation, and serotonin, which is involved in happiness, appetite, and sexual desire. Some Recent Studies suggestion The composition of the gut microbiota can also affect sleep quality.
But the wrong mix of microbes can release chemicals in floods and flood the bloodstream, make a plaque into your coronary arteries. The hormones they produce can affect appetite, blood sugar levels, inflammation, and risk of developing obesity and type 2 diabetes.
The food you eat, along with your environment and lifestyle behaviors, appears to play a much larger role in shaping your gut microbiome than genetics. study show Even identical twins share only one-third of the same gut microbiota.
Your “good” microbes eat fiber and diversity
In general, scientists have found that the more diverse your diet, the more diverse your diet will be. gut microbiotaStudies have shown that high levels of microbiome diversity correlate with health, with low diversity leading to higher rates of weight gain and obesity. Diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and other chronic diseases.
Tim Spector, professor of genetics and epidemiology at King’s College London and founder of the British Gut Project, a crowdsourced effort to map thousands of individuals, is an advocate for fiber-rich plants and nutrient-rich plants. Eating food appears to be particularly beneficial to the microbiome.
Even if you’re already eating a lot of fruits and vegetables, Spector recommends increasing the variety of plant foods you eat each week. Start with spices. You can use a variety of leafy greens instead of just one type of lettuce in your salad. Adding a variety of fruits to your breakfast, adding a few types of vegetables to your stir-fries, and eating lots of nuts, seeds, beans and grains are good for your microbiome.
These plant foods contain soluble fiber that passes through most of the gastrointestinal tract unaffected until it reaches the large intestine. transforms into beneficial compounds such as inflammation and help regulate appetite When blood sugar level.
In one study, scientists followed more than 1,600 people for about ten years.they are the highest microbial diversity Also consumed more fiber. Plus, his 10-year study published in the International Journal of Obesity found even less weight gain.
Clusters of ‘bad’ microbes thrive on junk food
Another important indicator of gut health is the ratio of beneficial to potentially harmful microbes. In his study of 1,100 people in the US and UK, published last year, natural medicineSpector, and a team of scientists from Harvard, Stanford and other universities have identified clusters of “good” gut microbes that protect people from cardiovascular disease, obesity and diabetes. , and identified clusters of “bad” microbes that promote poor metabolic health.
Eating plenty of fiber is clearly good for your microbiome, but research shows that eating the wrong foods can throw your gut out of balance and increase disease-promoting microbes. .
A Nature study found that “bad” microbes were more common in people who ate a lot of highly processed foods that were low in fiber and high in additives such as sugar, salt and artificial ingredients. This includes packaged snacks such as soft drinks, white bread, white pasta, processed meats, cookies, candy bars and potato chips.
Findings are based on ongoing projects. Zoe Prediction Study, the world’s largest personalized nutrition research. It’s led by a health science company called Zoe, created by Spector and his colleagues, that allows consumers to analyze their microbiome for a fee.
Add spices, nuts, plants, and fermented foods to your diet
Once you start increasing the variety of plant foods you eat daily, set goals to try to eat around 30 plant-based foods A week, Spector says. That may sound like a lot, but you’re probably already eating a lot of these foods.
A sample menu shows that you can easily consume 30 plant-based foods in three meals a week.
- Some mornings start with a bowl of plain yogurt topped with sliced bananas and strawberries, a dash of cinnamon powder, and a handful of mixed nuts (including almonds, pecans, cashews, hazelnuts, and peanuts). Diet tally: 8 plant foods
- On other days, eat a leafy salad with at least two vegetables: tomatoes, carrots, broccoli, and green peppers. Add Herbes de Provence, a condiment typically containing six herbs, to grilled chicken or fish. Diet tally: 12 plant-based foods
- Later in the week, eat chicken seasoned with pesto sauce (with basil, pine nuts, and garlic), served with brown rice with onions and kidney beans and green and yellow squash, mushrooms, and shallots. Enjoy stir-fried vegetables. Dietary tally: 10 plant foods
Another way to nourish your gut flora is to eat fermented foods such as yogurt, kimchi, sauerkraut, kombucha and kefir. Microorganisms in fermented foods, known as probiotics, produce vitamins, hormones and other nutrients. Maria Marco, a professor of food science and technology who studies microbiology and gut health at the University of California, Davis, says that consuming them can increase the diversity of the gut microbiota and boost immune health. He says he can.
A study published last year in journal cellresearchers at Stanford University found that assigning people to eat fermented foods every day for 10 weeks increased gut microbial diversity and reduced levels of inflammation.
“We have developed a very rich understanding of why microbes are so good for us,” Marko said.
Do you have questions about healthy eating at Anahad? Email [email protected] I may answer your question in a future column.
