Health Hazards of a Low-Fiber Diet
By Dr. Mercola
Dietary fiber may be far more important than previously imagined.
According to a report1 funded by the Council for Responsible Nutrition Foundation (CRNF), were American adults over the age of 55 with heart disease to take psyllium dietary fiber every day, it could save the healthcare system nearly $4.4 billion a year.
The effect may be even greater than that though, as new research reveals lack of fiber in the diet may impact not just your health, but that of your children and even great-grandchildren too.
How’s that, you might ask? By changing the diversity of bacteria in your, and your offspring’s, gut.
Early activity can also be helpful. Surprising as it may sound, researchers have discovered that exercise during childhood promotes healthy brain development and metabolism in part by altering your gut microbiome.12 As reported by Science Daily:13
“[T]he researchers found that gut microorganisms are especially ‘plastic’ at a young age … [J]uvenile rats who voluntarily exercised every day developed a more beneficial microbial structure, including the expansion of probiotic bacterial species in their gut compared to both their sedentary counterparts and adult rats, even when the adult rats exercised as well.
The researchers have not, as of yet, pinpointed an exact age range when the gut microbe community is likeliest to change, but the preliminary findings indicate that earlier is better. A robust, healthy community of gut microbes also appears to promote healthy brain function and provide anti-depressant effects …
‘Future research on this microbial ecosystem will hone in on how these microbes influence brain function in a long-lasting way,’ said Agniezka Mika … lead author of the new study.”
Other research, summarized in the video above, found that athletes have a higher diversity of gut microbes compared to inactive control subjects.
One particular species of bacteria called Akkermansiaceae, found in greater amounts in the athletes’ gut, has been linked to reduced risk of obesity and systemic inflammation. Granted, there were also significant differences in the diets of the two groups.
The athletes not only ate a more varied diet than the controls, they also ate more protein, fruits and vegetables, and consumed fewer snack foods. According to the authors: “Our findings indicate that exercise is another important factor in the relationship between the microbiota, host immunity and host metabolism, with diet playing an important role.”
Antibiotics May Usher In Other Serious Infections
As you can see, a number of factors contribute to the diversity and population size of beneficial gut bacteria, starting with vaginal birth and breastfeeding. Then, from an early age, a diet of real food rich in soluble plant fiber, along with physical exercise, will help maintain a microbiome that promotes health and normal weight.
But there are also a number of modern-life factors that can counteract all the good you’ve done. As you likely know, antibiotics are indiscriminate killers, and are lethal to both beneficial and harmful bacteria.
Recent research also reveals that antibiotics can promote secondary infections, by the fact that they render your gut microbiome more vulnerable — and it takes just one course of antibiotics to increase your risk of serious infections such asClostrium difficile (C. diff), which kills about 14,000 Americans each year.
In an effort to learn more about the mechanisms involved, the researchers compared the intestinal contents of mice, before and after treatment with various antibiotics. As reported by The University Herald:14
“Bacteria in our gut help with the digestive process, fermenting carbohydrates and absorbing fat acids … An antibiotic treatment may affect the liver by preventing the production of bile acid. Lack of bile can kill bacteria, leading to infection and digestive problems.
The primary bile acid produced by the liver enters the large intestines and becomes secondary bile acid that fights against the C.difficile. The lack of bile acid makes one vulnerable to infections caused by Clostridium difficile bacteria … A probiotic counters the negative effects of the antibiotic by helping the liver create bile acid to fight against the bad bacteria.”
Other research15,16,17,18 has shown that antibiotics raise your risk of contracting drug-resistant infections. According to the authors:
“Among the antibiotics tested, exposure to amoxicillin … samples had the highest number with antibiotic resistance-associated genes and the most classes that were increased in the predicted metagenomes and in the full metagenomes, respectively, a week after the exposure … Clearly, even a single antibiotic treatment in healthy individuals contributes to the risk of resistance development …”
Beware: Heartburn Pills Also Harm Your Gut Bacteria
A British study19 on twins suggests that heartburn pills known as proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) may also increase your risk of bacterial infections — again by altering your gut flora. As reported by Reuters:20
“Looking for clues to how PPIs might lead to infections, researchers compared stool samples from more than 1,800 British twins. When only one twin used PPIs, their fecal analysis turned up much more Streptococcaceae, a family of bacteria that includes Streptococcus and Lactococcus strains, and that typically inhabits the mouth and skin. Their increased numbers potentially make certain infections more likely, the researchers conclude …”
Scientists Turn to Probiotics to Improve Plant Growth and Food Safety
The importance of microbes is starting to be recognized in other fields besides human health and medicine. In related news, you find that microbes added to seeds may boost crop production, and some believe probiotics could be instrumental for saving the shellfish industry.
As reported by Scientific American,21 scientists have already begun testing more than 2,000 microbial seed coatings, planted on some 500,000 test plots in the U.S., noting that:
“Communities of soil-dwelling bacteria and fungi are crucial to plants. They help plants take up nutrients and minerals from the dirt and can even extend root systems, providing more access to food and water. They also help plants grow, cope with stress, bolster immune responses and ward off pests and diseases.”
Monsanto and Novozymes, through their BioAg Alliance, recently concluded the world’s largest field-testing of seeds coated with various microbes. While this is certainly a step in the right direction, it’s still worth noting that such technology would be superfluous were farmers to simply revert back to regenerative agriculture practices.
Seed coatings may improve crop production temporarily, or to a point, but to ensure sustainable food production, we still have to focus on overall soil health. Seed coatings simply won’t go far enough, although I certainly see why Monsanto and other companies want to pursue it, as it would be yet another profit stream from patented seeds.
As for the shellfish industry, antibiotics for this industry are not approved for use in the U.S., and infections can spread rapidly and with devastating effects. At present, infections kill 10 to 20 percent of the Northeast’s oyster and lobster larvae each year. Here, probiotics are showing great promise,22 helping the larvae fight off bacterial infections while in the hatchery.
Final tests are currently underway, and if all goes well (and the U.S. Food & Drug Administration’s (FDA) grants approval), the probiotics may be available for hatcheries within the next two years. Scrambling for alternatives to antibiotics, some chicken producers are also resorting to beneficial bacteria. Perdue Farms is one. As previously reported by NPR:23
“The idea is, all these ‘good bacteria’ can crowd out the harmful microbes that make a chicken sick. [Perdue executive] Stewart-Brown says that he was initially skeptical about probiotics. ‘Eight years ago, I would have said that they’re not working in poultry. They’re not very useful. Today, I’m saying that they are useful. Expensive, but useful.’ Chickens that got probiotics stayed healthier and grew faster than birds that didn’t.”
The Importance of Fiber for a Healthy Microbiome
Getting back to where we started, one of the quickest and easiest ways to improve your gut health is by eating REAL food, along with traditionally fermented foods.
Mounting research suggests that a high-fiber (especially soluble fiber) diet can help reduce your risk of premature death from any cause, likely because it helps to reduce your risk of a number of chronic diseases. This includes type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and cancer.
Some of the microbes in your gut specialize in digesting the soluble fibers found in legumes, fruits, and vegetables, and the byproducts of this fermenting activity help nourish the cells lining your colon, thereby preventing leaky gut and related health problems.
Some of these fermentation byproducts also help calibrate your immune system. Avoiding sugar and processed food is equally important, as they promote the growth of fungi and other harmful microbes that can easily take over, given the chance.
Besides diet, other lifestyle factors such as exercise and drug use can have an impact, for better or worse. Pregnancy decisions such as whether or not to have an elective C-section and breastfeeding can also have long-term health effects for your child — all because of how these decisions affect your child’s microbiome.
When it comes to fiber, the U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends getting 14 grams of fiber per 1,000 calories consumed. A more general recommendation is to make sure you get 20 to 30 grams of fiber per day. I believe about 25 to 50 grams per 1,000 calories consumed is probably a better goal. Healthy sources of soluble and insoluble fiber include:
Sources and References
- 1 CRN Foundation Report
- 2 Nature January 14, 2016: 529; 212-215
- 3, 6 The Atlantic January 13, 2016
- 4, 10 STAT News January 13, 2016
- 5 National Geographic March 26, 2015
- 7 Can J Gastroenterol. 2006 Apr; 20(4): 255–256
- 8 Time January 13, 2016
- 9 Medical News Today January 6, 2016
- 11 CBC News February 11, 2013
- 12 Immunology and Cell Biology January 12, 2016 doi:10.1038/icb.2015.113
- 13 Science Daily December 29, 2015
- 14 University Herald January 7, 2016
- 15 mBio 6(6):e01693-15. (PDF)
- 16 ARS Technica November 11, 2015
- 17 IFL Science November 13, 2015
- 18 NEJM Journal Watch November 15, 2015
- 19 Gut doi:10.1136/gutjnl-2015-310861
- 20 Reuters January 7, 2016
- 21 Scientific American January 6, 2016
- 22 Civil Eats January 12, 2016
- 23 NPR September 22, 2014
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