Meanwhile, omnivores, particularly those who ate red meat, had more “bad” bacteria in their gut microbiomes, including those linked to a higher risk of developing inflammatory bowel disease and colorectal cancer.
OLUFUNKE FROM PUNCH
The rainy season comes with a lot of goodies. Talinum triangulare (waterleaf) is in season. Crassocephalum crepidioides, known as ‘efo ebolo’ in Yoruba, Crassocephalum biafrae, known as ‘efo worowo’, and Amaranthus viridis (tete abalaye) are also some of the vegetables that come with this season.
Nobody plants all these vegetables—nature gives them to us! Please take advantage of this season by eating these vegetables, and do not forget to add locust beans each time you cook them.
This week, I will be talking about the foods we need to eat and some lifestyle changes we need to imbibe to achieve good gut health. Before then, I would like to share the outcome of a large study published in the journal Nature Microbiology.
For the study, more than 21,000 people in the United States, United Kingdom, and Italy used an app to answer detailed questionnaires about what they ate regularly.
Their diets were grouped into three categories: omnivore (including meat, dairy, and plants), vegetarian (no meat), or vegan (no animal products).
The researchers used DNA technology to analyse participants’ stool samples, which allowed them to identify the different types of bacteria proliferating in their microbiomes, says study author Nicola Segata, who is a professor and principal investigator at the CIBIO Department of the University of Trento, Italy.
The study found that when people ate more whole plant foods—fruits, vegetables, and whole grains- their guts harboured more “good” bacteria, including microbes associated with healthy blood pressure and cholesterol, and less inflammation. Vegans, in particular, had gut microbiomes teeming with these beneficial bacteria.
Meanwhile, omnivores, particularly those who ate red meat, had more “bad” bacteria in their gut microbiomes, including those linked to a higher risk of developing inflammatory bowel disease and colorectal cancer.
The upside: People who ate a variety of plants and meat had plenty of good microbes in their guts, similar to vegans and vegetarians. That means the healthy bacteria associated with eating more plants appear to balance out or even restrain some of the not-so-healthy bacteria linked to eating red or highly processed meats.