- Researchers say consuming too much fast food and other unhealthy foods can harm your gut microbiome.
- They said people who have a diet high in processed and animal-derived fatty foods develop greater levels of destructive bacteria.
- They recommend a diet that consists mainly of vegetables, fish, nuts, and legumes.
Eating too many Big Macs could hit you right in the gut, a new study suggests.
Researchers from the Netherlands report that a diet full of high fat and high sugar foods – items found in most fast foods – can lead to an unhealthy gut microbiome.
The gut microbiome is the collection of bacteria, fungi, and viruses that live in your bowels that affect everything in your body, from inflammation to heart health.
An unhealthy microbiome increases your risk for inflammatory bowel disease and irritable bowel syndrome, as well as diabetes and even cancer.
In the study with 1,425 people in the Netherlands, researchers said that those who consumed a diet high in processed and animal-derived fatty foods had greater levels of destructive bacteria that produce toxins that harm the gut.
On the flip side, people whose diets consisted of more plants and fish had higher levels of healthy bacteria with anti-inflammatory effects.
“The microbiome contains trillions and trillions of microbes and microorganisms,” said Dr. Rudolph Bedford, a gastroenterologist at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California. “The gut microbiome essentially helps to train the immune system in childhood and adulthood, recognize and react to various harmful microbes that may enter the body also helping to the immune health. The microbiome is a very important aspect of our general health.”
Source: healthline