6 Myths About the Human Gut Microbiome
Clearing up some common misconceptions
1. Dietary fiber is the only nutrient that affects the gut microbiota.
While dietary fiber usually receives the most attention, simple sugars, fats, and proteins also modulate the gut microbiome. For example, fructose prevents gut colonization of Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, a species known to ferment fiber from fruits, vegetables, and beans and contribute to maintenance of a healthy weight.
Because proteins are rich in nitrogen, high-protein diets can lead to bacterial overgrowth in a manner akin to eutrophication, whereby fertilizer runoff that spills into ponds and lakes increases nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations, leading to algal blooms. Even vitamin D supplementation tweaks our gut microflora by increasing gut microbial diversity, including levels of health-promoting Akkermansia and Bifidobacterium.
As Eugene Rosenberg and Ilana Zilber-Rosenberg expertly summarize in a Microbiome review article:
Food, food additives, and essentially any material that is put in the mouth affects the gut microbiota at all ages. Both long-term and short-term diet influences the human gut microbiota. An “animal-based diet,” rich in meats, eggs, and cheeses increases the…
