Post: #1

A great article, linked below, explaining that due to our modern Western diets high in fat, simple sugars, and protein, the diversity of microbes in our digestives systems is greatly reduced and is a possible cause of diseases such as asthma and colon cancer.

TLDR: Eat your goddamn fiber

One point that applies to us:

Quote:When we pass through the birth canal, we are slathered in our mother’s microbes, a kind of starter culture for our own community. In this case, though, pups born to mice on American-type diets—no fiber, lots of sugar—failed to acquire the full endowment of their mothers’ microbes. Entire groups of bacteria were lost during transmission. When Sonnenburg put these second-generation mice on a fiber-rich diet, their microbes failed to recover. The mice couldn’t regrow what they’d never inherited. And when these second-generation animals went on a fiberless diet in turn, their offspring inherited even fewer microbes. The microbial die-outs compounded across generations.

While later in the article the author mentions anecdotally that a good diet can improve the diversity in humans, it is of point that the mother's microbial ecosystem is passed on to the offspring. If you want have kids, make sure your woman is on a healthy diet!

Other key points:

Quote:

• People who eat plenty of fiber seem to have a lower risk of many diseases, including heart disease and diabetes.
• Rodent studies suggest that as they [digested fiber acid byproducts] diffuse into circulation, they stimulate the anti-inflammatory arm of the immune system—cells that help you not attack tree pollen and other harmless proteins—preventing allergies and other inflammatory diseases.
• But an even more drastic shift occurred quite recently, with the advent and widespread adoption of refined foods. As a result, westernized populations, the Sonnenburgs think, have lost healthful, fiber-fermenting microbes. And we suffer from a kind of fermentation byproduct deficiency.
• Sonnenburg discovered that something very odd occurs when those MAC-loving [MAC = modern microbes] microbes go hungry. They start eating mucus. “This is the stage where you say, ‘Oh my God. They’re eating me.’ ” Sonnenburg said. “You can see it.”
• One of the more striking discoveries in recent years is that you can see this stuff, called endotoxin, increase in the bloodstream immediately after feeding people a sugary, greasy, fast-food meal. The immune system responds as if under threat, leading to the “simmering inflammation” the Sonnenburgs think drives so many Western diseases.
• Inflammation of the colon, which increases the risk of cancer, decreased in the African-Americans on the African diet; and it increased in the Africans on the American diet. Production of the fermentation by-product butyrate, thought to prevent colon cancer, increased in those eating African fare, and declined in those eating American-style. And here’s what struck me: In the fiber-poor, meat- and fat-fed microbiome, O’Keefe saw a “loosening” of those tight-knit communities oriented toward fermenting fiber. He’d done in people what Sonnenburg had done in rodents—rattled the ecosystem—and it took just two weeks on an American-type diet. He also demonstrated that regardless of the microbes you may not have inherited, what you feed the microbes you have can make a big difference in how they behave.
  

Full article: http://nautil.us/issue/30/identity/how-t...-evolution

Post: #2

This isn't news to me on microflora and health, but where is the evolutionary component? Is there some new theory that bacteria changed apes into humans?

Post: #3

The western diet in the article more or less refers to eating a McDouble and large fries every meal, while 23 flavors wash it down. It shouldn't apply to anyone who's spent more than a few minutes on the forum.

I would call the phenomenon devolution in the sense of Idiocracy and Wall-e.

Post: #4

If I was to advise an individual about their diet.
My concern would be whether they are eating a processed 'plastic' diet.
Or a diet of whole, fresh identifiable foods.

Post: #5

Who funded this study? The toilet paper industry?

Post: #6

Western diet definitely sucks...

Hopefully those offspring can correct their microbiome later in life with diet + probiotics if they choose.

TBH I would think even a kid born with a healthy gut flora will have that pretty quickly wiped out with the nutrition they get in early years, unless parents are very on top of an optimal diet.

Post: #7

You're not serious about the children having good diets are you RichieP? I remember as a child having lots of shit food and today I see it as well. Unless the parent is strict the child will definitely have lots of crap food going through them for years and we're talking kids here. When they want something they can find various means of acquiring it.

I like these studies and can be very useful if you take an interest in food and what goes into your body. I like a pizza now and then but this study would be aimed at those who shovel endless amounts of bad food down their throats. I'm not sure how these people do it really, because everytime I have some shit food I have messy dumps which take an age to pass.

Had some Mars cookies the other day and like a fat bastard I ate them all. My stomach churned the next day from all of it. No wonder many people who eat it on the regular break down and fall ill more often.

Post: #8

Europeans evolved primarily on high animal protein diet with little fiber.

And here's an opposing view
WHY IS FIBER SUCH A MENACE TO YOUR HEALTH?