How to improve the health of your gut microbiome…
Firstly though, what is the gut microbiome?
The gut microbiome refers to the genetic make-up of the microbes that exist inside of us in our large intestine, such as bacteria, protozoa, fungi and viruses.
What does our gut microbiome do?
Provides an intestinal barrier
Nourishes the gut mucosa
Helps establish our immune system
Establishes the gut-brain axis
Stops pathogenic organisms from overgrowing
Helps make and metabolise particular nutrients, vitamins and hormones (for example vitamin K and some B vitamins are made by our gut bacteria)
Makes short-chain fatty acids (SCFA’s)
What’s one thing you can do to improve the health of your gut?
To put it simply… It’s by eating a variety of plants-based foods!
Research shows that a diverse microbiome (i.e., the number of different species present in the gut) indicates a healthier gut microbiome and conversely a reduction in diversity is associated with poorer health.
One way to increase the diversity of your gut microbiome is by increasing the number of different plant-based foods you consume each week. A wider variety of plant based-foods has been associated with a greater gut diversity. The current research shows we should be aiming 40 or more different plant foods each week.
Some examples of plant-based foods include fruit, vegetables, herbs, legumes, whole-grains, nuts and seeds.
One reason behind why diversity is key is because different plant-based foods contain different fibres (aka prebiotics) and it’s these fibres that feed different microbes in the gut.
For example, asparagus contains fibres known as fructooligosaccharides and inulin, which are associated with feeding species like Agathabacter faecis. Whereas chickpeas contain galactooligosaccharised and resistant start fibres, which are associated with feeding the species Ruminococcus_E bromii. So, you see different fibres can feed different microbes!
Consumption of plant prebiotics fibres also results in the production of short chain fatty acids (SCFA’s), this is what provides energy for the cells in our large intestine, SCFA’s also have anti-inflammatory effects and have been associated in the prevention of some chronic diseases.
Another benefit plant-based foods provide for our gut is that they contain polyphenols. Polyphenols are types of phytochemicals (aka antioxidants) that also act as prebiotics for the gut. There are many different types of polyphenols, different plant foods contain different types. Certain polyphenols have been shown to stop the growth of bad bacteria and to increase the growth of beneficial bacteria.
Examples of plant foods rich in polyphenols include:
(Please note this is just providing some examples and not all examples)
Wild blueberries
Pomegranate
Cranberries
Apples
Spinach
Red & green capsicum
Beetroot
Broccoli
Brussel Sprouts
Eggplant
Onion
Dark chocolate
Red rice
Black rice
Legumes
How many different types of plant-based foods do you think you consume each week?
My tips on increasing plant-based diversity:
Start by recording how many different types you eat. You can do this by creating a note in your phone or recording these on paper
If they’re on the low side, go slowly and work at increasing your variety eat week
Try something different that you normally wouldn’t buy, such as red rice or artichoke
Try not to buy exactly the same foods each week, mix up the variety, a great way to do this is by eating seasonally
An easy way to up your diversity is making a salad, if you think about it a salad could easily have 10 different types of plant-based foods
So there you have it, eat a variety of plant-based foods and your gut microbiome with thank you for it!
References
Alves-Santos, A. M., Araújo Sugizaki, C. S., Lima, G. C., Margareth, M., & Naves, V. (2020). Prebiotic effect of dietary polyphenols: A systematic review. Journal of Functional Foods, 74. https://doi.org/doi.org/10.1016/j.jff.2020.104169
Fraga, C. G., Croft, K. D., Kennedy, D. O., & Tomás-Barberán, F. A. (2019). The effects of polyphenols and other bioactives on human health. Food & Function, 10(2), 514–528. https://doi.org/10.1039/c8fo01997e
Liu, R. (2013). Health-promoting components of fruits and vegetables in the diet. Advances in Nutrition, 4, 384S-392S
McDonald, D., Hyde, E., Debelius, J. W., Morton, J. T., Gonzalez, A., Ackermann, G., Aksenov, A. A., Behsaz, B., Brennan, C., Chen, Y., DeRight Goldasich, L., Dorrestein, P. C., Dunn, R. R., Fahimipour, A. K., Gaffney, J., Gilbert, J. A., Gogul, G., Green, J. L., Hugenholtz, P., Humphrey, G., … Knight, R. (2018). American Gut: an Open Platform for Citizen Science Microbiome Research. mSystems, 3(3), e00031-18. https://doi.org/10.1128/mSystems.00031-18
Microba. (n.d.). Prebiotic guide. https://insight.microba.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Prebiotics_Chart_Web.pdf
Rodríguez-Daza, M. C., Pulido-Mateos, E. C., Lupien-Meilleur, J., Guyonnet, D., Desjardins, Y., & Roy, D. (2021). Polyphenol-Mediated Gut Microbiota Modulation: Toward Prebiotics and Further. Frontiers in Nutrition, 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2021.689456
Valdes, A. M., Walter, J., Segal, E., & Spector, T. (2018). Role of the gut microbiota in nutrition and health. Science and Politics of Nutrition, 361. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.k2179
