Changing your diet can rapidly affect the kind of bacteria that lives in your gut - which may explain how eating meat affect inflammatory bowel disease (IBS[1] ).
Volunteers taking part in a US study were told to switch from their normal diet to one wholly based on either plant or animal foods.
After just five days on the new diet, the six male and four female participants were found to have radically different populations of intestinal bacteria.
How big a problem is IBS in the UK though?
HuffPost UK Lifestyle spoke to gastroenterologist Professor Ingvar Bjarnason, who has been studying diseases of the gut for more than 25 years, who says: "Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common condition and accounts for around 40% of all referrals to Gastroenterologists. Abdominal pain is the most common symptom as well as change in frequency of bowel movements, alternating from constipation to diarrhoea. Flatulence and in particular bloating are also common symptoms."
The altered microbial activity mirrored the differences seen between plant-eating and carnivorous animals.
In volunteers given the animal-based diet, the "microbiome" of trillions of gut bugs was more geared towards breaking down protein.
Plant-eaters had bacteria more suited to synthesising amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, from plant sugars.
The animal-based diet had the biggest impact, the researchers found, significantly altering the abundance of 22 clusters of microbes.
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It also led to higher numbers of bile-tolerant bugs, including one, Bilophila wadsworthia, known to be associated with inflammatory bowel disease (IBS).
The team led by Dr Peter Turnbaugh, from Harvard University, wrote in the journal Nature: "Increases in the abundance and activity of Bilophila wadsworthia on the animal-based diet support a link between dietary fat, bile acids, and the outgrowth of micro-organisms capable of triggering inflammatory bowel disease.
"In concert, these results demonstrate that the gut microbiome can rapidly respond to altered diet, potentially facilitating the diversity of human dietary lifestyles."
The plant-based diet used in the study consisted of grains, legumes, fruits and vegetables, while the animal-based diet was made up of meats, eggs and cheeses.
What can you do if you have IBS?
"Keeping a food diary is useful as diet can aggravate IBS," says Professor Bjarnason.
"It’s not surprising as people lead such busy lives and often resort to convenience foods or eat on the fly and don’t take enough time to sit and eat meals properly. Of course, there are other factors that may trigger IBS too such as shock, bereavement, or balancing lifestyle. In this case, it’s useful to jot down or note when symptoms arise if anything significant happens, or making a note of activities over a typical week. Seeing a ‘typical’ week in this context quickly identifies whether a patient is trying to juggle too much and may be over-stressing themselves.
Each of the volunteers was aged between 21 and 33 and had a body mass index (BMI) ranging from 19 (slim) to 32 (obese).
IBS can sometimes impact a person's life quite acutely. "A gastrointestinal condition, IBS affects between 10% to 20% of the population and twice as many women as men. Whilst not life-threatening, IBS can be very distressing and disabling and impacts significantly on quality of life," says Professor Bjarnason.
"Some people can end up being hospitalised due to acute abdominal pain. Patients with diarrhoea symptoms are often house-bound for weeks on end, or only venture as far as the local shop for fear of having an accident. As a result, they may suffer depression due to isolation and because their quality of life has been so severely affected. IBS is also associated with numerous problematic extra-intestinal symptoms such as fibromyalgia, period problems, sexual dysfunction, etc."
The findings lend support to the theory that effects of diet on bacteria living in the gut contribute to IBS, an autoimmune disorder incorporating two conditions, ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease.
Symptoms include stomach pains, recurring diarrhoea and weight loss.
Professor Bjarnason says that certain foods or food intolerances can set off or exacerbate symptoms of IBS such as coffee, wheat, pulses, alcohol, cereals, spicy food, certain fruits and vegetables and dairy products to name a few and these are specific to the person.
SEE ALSO:Gassy Guts: Why Doctors Need to Get Serious About IBS[2]
Food, Diet and Self-Nurturing - Returning to True Health[3]
Gut bacteria may have learned to adapt to changing diets long ago when all humans were hunter gatherers, the scientists said.
"Consumption of animal foods by our ancestors was probably volatile, depending on season and stochastic foraging success, with readily available plant foods offering fall-back sources of calories and nutrients," they wrote.
"Microbial communities that could quickly, and appropriately, shift their functional repertoire in response to diet change would have subsequently enhanced human dietary flexibility."
As to how people's diets have changed, Professor Bjarnason says: "Food is produced and manufactured differently, with addition of preservatives and binding agents and we’re still not sure how much of an effect this may have on people long-term. Many people snack or eat convenience foods on the fly and these may not always provide the right balance or contain the freshest ingredients.
"We’ve also seen a big drive in supermarkets and some food companies towards reducing salt and fat content with key messages being conveyed to consumers in campaigns, as well as a huge amount of choice when it comes to food so there are plenty of options when it comes to healthy eating. Schools are also making an effort to encourage children to eat more healthily."
References
- ^ IBS (www.huffingtonpost.co.uk)
- ^ Gassy Guts: Why Doctors Need to Get Serious About IBS (www.huffingtonpost.co.uk)
- ^ Food, Diet and Self-Nurturing - Returning to True Health (www.huffingtonpost.co.uk)
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