{"id":14289,"date":"2021-11-01T10:53:42","date_gmt":"2021-11-01T10:53:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/?p=14289"},"modified":"2023-02-28T13:19:01","modified_gmt":"2023-02-28T13:19:01","slug":"world-vegan-day-vegan-diets-and-our-gut-microbes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/world-vegan-day-vegan-diets-and-our-gut-microbes","title":{"rendered":"World Vegan Day: vegan diets &#038; our gut microbes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Google Trends shows interest in veganism has grown sevenfold over the past 5 years, alongside the number of people following a vegan diet quadrupling. You\u2019ll know by now I\u2019m on a mission to help everyone increase the plant-based diversity in all of our diets &#8211; so how does veganism (aka 100% plant-based) influence your gut health?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A 2021 study (Losno et al.) has investigated the effects of vegan diet on our gut microbiota (GM) &#8211; here\u2019s what the researchers found.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><i>Spoiler:<\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> not all scientific studies have a big result. This month, I wanted to share this study that didn\u2019t have a \u201cground-breaking\u201d finding &#8211; to show you the side of science no-one talks about! We need to look beyond the clickbait headlines and \u2018good\u2019 vs \u2018bad\u2019 labels when it comes to our nutrition. Sometimes, \u2018it depends\u2019 is the best answer.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>The study<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Researchers pooled together the results of 9 studies that looked at the types of microbes found in the guts of those following a vegan diet for at least 4 weeks, compared to those who ate meat and other animal products (aka omnivores). All the studies were done with healthy adults.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>The findings<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There were conflicting results, albeit there did seem to be some differences in certain gut microbes among people following vegan diets versus those who didn\u2019t.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While one study reported lower GM diversity in omnivorses, two others reported no difference in diversity between vegans and omnivores<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Most studies showed higher levels of <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Prevotella<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in vegans versus omnivores<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some studies showed lower levels of <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bifidobacteria<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (health-promoting) in vegans<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>Full disclosure<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I\u2019m all about assessing the quality of new research studies when I share them with you guys, so there are a few things to note. (That\u2019s another reason it\u2019s so important to only take advice from those who are qualified, it can be all too easy to misinterpret the science!)<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The studies included were also observational studies, so it\u2019s not possible to say whether these differences observed in gut bacteria were definitely down to their diets, or whether there were other important factors at play e.g. sleep, exercise, stress levels<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The sample sizes were small, with participant groups ranging from 9 &#8211; 51 people.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The studies\u2019 criteria varied in how long the participants had been following their diets &#8211; some had been following the diets for as little as four weeks, others more than a year.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What\u2019s more, as the studies assessed participants\u2019 GM using a poop sample, we are at risk of misinterpreting the results. For example, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Prevotella<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> can be both beneficial and detrimental, it depends on how we treat them as to how they behave in our gut. Also there\u2019s still so much we don\u2019t know about our gut microbes (we haven\u2019t even named thousands of them!). We simply can\u2019t fully explore the diversity of microbes in a single sample &#8211; not yet anyway.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>So what does that mean for you?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Well, as I always say, it\u2019s clear our nutrition isn\u2019t black and white &#8211; it\u2019s not about whether it\u2019s \u201cgood\u201d or \u201cbad\u201d. It\u2019s way more complex than that \ud83d\ude09<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Eating more plants as part of a vegan diet could be positive for your gut, and overall, health, thanks to the essential fibre in all of our plant-based foods that nourishes our GM, as well as vitamins and plant chemicals (like polyphenols).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But vegan diets can hugely differ and a \u2018vegan\u2019 label doesn\u2019t necessarily mean it\u2019s healthier. A vegan diet that focuses on whole plant foods full of fibre can be beneficial, albeit requiring appropriate supplementation to make sure you&#8217;re getting enough of other nutrients our gut microbes love, such as omega 3. In turn, a vegan diet that\u2019s mostly made up of highly processed \u2018vegan\u2019 alternatives and white grains isn\u2019t going to do your gut microbes much good.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>My advice<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Do what feels right for you personally. The body of evidence suggests that we could all benefit from eating <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">more <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">plants &#8211; but that doesn\u2019t necessarily have to mean <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">only <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">plants. It really is about finding what works for you and that is what my new book <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/Eat-More-Live-Well-Favourite\/dp\/0241480469\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Eat More, Live<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Well is all about!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you are following a vegan diet, it\u2019s a good idea to check the labels of \u2018meat-free\u2019 alternatives for any mysterious ingredients!<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Google Trends shows interest in veganism has grown sevenfold over the past 5 years, alongside the number of people following a vegan diet quadrupling. You\u2019ll know by now I\u2019m on a mission to help everyone increase the plant-based diversity in all of our diets &#8211; so how does veganism (aka 100% plant-based) influence your gut&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":16749,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food-or-nutrition","category-myth-busting"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>World Vegan Day: vegan diets &amp; our gut microbes | The Gut Health Doctor<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How does veganism (aka 100% plant-based) influence your gut health? 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