From: hounddog23x@gmail.com   
      
   How fast food could wreak havoc on your gut microbiome   
      
   POSTED 11:20 AM, MAY 27, 2015, BY CNN WIRE    
      
   Next time you are trying to decide what's for dinner, consider that you are   
   eating for two. You and your gut microbiome.    
      
   The bacterial community in your colon is home to about 100 trillion bacterial   
   cells; there are about 10 times more of these bacterial cells than there are   
   human cells in your body, and they represent a vast number of different   
   species.    
      
   It is in your best interest to keep this microbiome mass of bacteria happy.   
   Gut microbiomes that contain healthy, inflammation-reducing bacteria could   
   help reduce the risk of a myriad health conditions: cancer, heart disease,   
   infection. Stool transplants    
   from a person with a healthy microbiome have been shown to help cure   
   antibiotic-resistant infections.    
      
   "We are getting a pretty good idea of what's good or bad for the gut   
   microbiome," said Dr. Tim Spector, professor of genetic epidemiology at King's   
   College London. How food affects the microbiome is the subject of his new   
   book, "The Diet Myth: The Real    
   Science Behind What We Eat."    
      
   The book includes hints about how fast food could wreak havoc on our gut   
   microbiome. As Spector discussed, his 23-year-old son put himself on a strict   
   diet of fast food for 10 days as part of his dissertation project. It stripped   
   his gut microbiome of    
   about a third of its 3,500 bacterial species. Bacteria that have been linked   
   obesity flourished.   
      
   Not to mention the toll, he said, the fast food regimen took on the young   
   man's body: "My son was at first excited to get 10 days of fast food, but   
   after day three the novelty had worn off," Spector recalled. Spector is now   
   working on testing the fast    
   food diet in a group of volunteers to see if their microbiomes are similarly   
   affected.    
      
   While Spector works to learn more about the connection between fast food and   
   the microbiome, a number of studies are already giving us an idea which foods   
   are good and bad for the gut.    
      
   Meats supersize bad bacteria    
      
   Morgan Spurlock showed us how eating nothing but McDonald's for 30 days   
   wreaked havoc on his body, including his liver, mood and sex drive, in the   
   Oscar-nominated documentary "Super Size Me."    
      
   Spector's study is the first one so far to hone in on the microbiome and how   
   it is affected by a fast food regimen. However, several studies have explored   
   the effects of diets high in fat and low in fiber, which are probably similar   
   to the diets of    
   frequent McDonald's goers.    
      
   A small 2014 study swapped out the low-fat, high-fiber diet of 20 rural   
   Africans in South Africa for meats and fried foods; on the flip side,   
   researchers switched the high-fat low-fiber diet of 20 African Americans in   
   Pittsburgh for a typical African    
   diet, including cornmeal porridge and root vegetables.    
      
   The researchers reported that after only two weeks of diet "Westernization,"   
   the microbiomes of Africans were producing about half the levels of a molecule   
   called butyrate, which has been linked to lower inflammation, as before their   
   diet intervention.    
   In contrast, the microbiomes of Americans started churning out about twice as   
   much butyrate after they went on the healthier African diet. The Africans also   
   acquired more bacteroidetes, the same group of obesity-associated bacteria   
   that took over Spector'   
   s son's microbiome.    
      
   "The exciting part of this is that it suggests it is never too late to make a   
   change and reduce fat in your diet, and that you don't have to have lived on a   
   healthy diet all your life," said Dr. Stephen O'Keefe, lead author of the 2014   
   study and    
   professor of medicine in the University of Pittsburgh Division of   
   Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition.    
      
   Owner Michael Osborn has owned the Pie 'N Burger for almost 40 years---it's a   
   local landmark in Pasadena, CA offering up the classic old school type burger   
   serving about 250 a day. It hasn't changed that much over the years, but they   
   do offer Turkey    
   burgers and Vegetarian burgers along with the classic cheeseburger----Miguel   
   Rivas says "the secret is the sauce homemade Thousand Island."    
   Owner Michael Osborn has owned the Pie 'N Burger for almost 40 years--it's a   
   local landmark in Pasadena, CA offering up the classic old school type burger   
   serving about 250 a day. It hasn't changed that much over the years, but they   
   do offer Turkey    
   burgers and Vegetarian burgers along with the classic cheeseburger---Miguel   
   Rivas says "the secret is the sauce homemade Thousand Island."    
   Wheat and garlic fertilize the microbiome    
      
   Part of the reason that the African diet in O'Keefe's study promotes a healthy   
   gut microbiome may be because of its relatively high levels of a type of fiber   
   called inulin found in certain plant foods. These foods, which include garlic,   
   leeks, wheat and    
   barley, are "general fertilizers for the microbiome," Spector said.    
      
   Inulin helps encourage the gut microbiome to produce butyrate, which is an   
   acid that feeds cells in the colon and keeps inflammation in check, said Rob   
   Knight, professor in the pediatrics and computer science and engineering   
   departments at UC San Diego.    
   Studies have also suggested that diets high in inulin lead to increases in   
   health-promoting bifidobacteria, which break down carbohydrates to short-chain   
   fatty acids, which may in turn decrease the risk of cancer, digestive and   
   heart disease.    
      
   A little help from fermented foods    
      
   The bacteria in fermented foods such as yogurt appear to be a good influence   
   on the bacteria residing in your gut. A 2011 study by Knight and his   
   colleagues found that eating two servings a day of yogurt did not change the   
   composition of the microbiome    
   in 14 adults. However, the researchers looked more carefully at the activity   
   of the microbiome in mice and found that bacteria in the yogurt appeared to   
   communicate with the gut bacteria and tell them to up their ability to   
   metabolize starches and sugars,   
    and also to produce higher levels of the inflammation-fighting molecule   
   butyrate. The study was funded in part by Danone Research, part of the Danone   
   food company that makes Dannon yogurts.    
      
   The study only looked at one type of yogurt, so it is not clear if certain   
   types, such as those that are high in protein and low in sugar and fat, might   
   be better than others. "It's fascinating how different yogurts are   
   nutritionally," Knight said.    
      
   Pickles and kimchi are also fermented foods that promote a healthy gut   
   microbiome, Knight added.    
      
   Fake sugars don't fool the microbiome    
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)