At Vivante, we’re the digestive health experts. We live for this stuff. Here’s a short summary of another academic article our gut health nerds found interesting…
Our gut is filled with lots of bugs. Microscopic ones. Bacteria, viruses, fungi and other organisms make a comfy home for themselves in our digestive tract. And that’s a good thing. This group of microorganisms is known as our microbiome and far from being unwanted, they do a lot to help us out. From keeping the “bad” bacteria at bay to improving the way we process foods and medications, the gut microbiome is a vital part of a healthy human body.
Over the past few years there’s been growing concern that lifestyle innovations and high-fat/high-sugar “Western” diets, have altered the genetic composition of this microbiome and upset the delicate balance. In fact, many scientists believe that it’s the upset balance in our gut flora that leads to conditions like Crohn’s disease.
The question is: Is it possible for us to quickly restore that balance by making changes to our diet?
The Research
To test out this idea researchers looked at two diets:
- Plant-based Diet: Rich in grains, legumes, fruits, and vegetables
- Animal-based Diet: Meats, eggs, and cheeses
They found that the microbiome of each person rapidly changed according to the diet they consumed. Also, they learned the gut microbiome could rapidly switch between an herbivore and carnivore functionality profile.
Apart from being pretty cool, this fact demonstrates that our gut microbiome is very adaptive. It means we can proactively take steps to help change our microbes and use food to improve the health of our gut.
Original article: Diet rapidly and reproducibly alters the human gut microbiome