Diet swap experiment reveals junk food's harm to gut

nas061
nas061 Posts: 256 Member
edited November 17 in Food and Nutrition
"A two-week diet swap experiment hints at just how damaging a Western diet might be to our guts."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-32494846

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Replies

  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    As someone who "cleaned up" his diet I can attest to having far fewer incidents of heart burn and indigestion. I used to buy the huge bottle of Tums at Costco and popped them like candy...I rarely need a Tums these days.
  • techgal128
    techgal128 Posts: 719 Member
    "The diet swap was also fairly drastic whereas we know that making small changes you can stick with long-term is far more effective to maintain a healthier lifestyle."

    The article itself is biased and a little ridiculous (of course if you feed rural African volunteers nothing but french fries and burgers they will get sick) but this sentence right here ALMOST makes up for it.
  • peachyfuzzle
    peachyfuzzle Posts: 1,122 Member
    "It is not possible to make any firm conclusions based on such a small study, say experts."
  • _incogNEATo_
    _incogNEATo_ Posts: 4,537 Member
    "The Americans benefited from less bowel inflammation" - Just inserting my favorite quote from the article
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,149 Member
    I must be adapted then. I have no gut problems.
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
    Did I miss it, or did they give the actual diets they switched each group to?
  • kampshoff
    kampshoff Posts: 133 Member
    Duh, a Western diet:

    0004100030131_500X500.jpg

    Drink up!
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  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    Interesting. I wonder why they chose low-fat, and how low is low. Anyone have a link to the actual study?
  • FitForL1fe
    FitForL1fe Posts: 1,872 Member
    Chipotlaway.jpg
  • Iron_Feline
    Iron_Feline Posts: 10,750 Member
    My god - breaking news, eating all your meals from a fast food restaurant when you've never had that food before is going to cause issues.

    *headdesk*
  • Iron_Feline
    Iron_Feline Posts: 10,750 Member
    Diet swap: What the volunteers ate on day one

    A high fibre, low fat rural South African diet for the Americans including: corn fritters, spinach and red pepper for breakfast; corn dogs, fried potatoes and mango for lunch; and okra, tomatoes, corn muffins and black-eyed peas for dinner.

    A high fat, high protein American diet for the South Africans including: beef sausage and pancakes for breakfast; burger and chips for lunch; and meatloaf and rice for dinner.


    http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/adopting-high-fibre-diet-could-dramatically-cut-risk-of-bowel-cancer-says-study-10210523.html

    bit more info on it
  • usmcmp
    usmcmp Posts: 21,219 Member
    edited April 2015
    According to Dr. O’Keefe, increasing the amount of fiber in the diet – from approximately 10 grams to more than 50 for African-Americans in the diet swap – likely led to biomarker changes reflecting reduced cancer risk, but eating less animal fat and proteins also could be helpful.

  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    Diet swap: What the volunteers ate on day one

    A high fibre, low fat rural South African diet for the Americans including: corn fritters, spinach and red pepper for breakfast; corn dogs, fried potatoes and mango for lunch; and okra, tomatoes, corn muffins and black-eyed peas for dinner.

    A high fat, high protein American diet for the South Africans including: beef sausage and pancakes for breakfast; burger and chips for lunch; and meatloaf and rice for dinner.


    http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/adopting-high-fibre-diet-could-dramatically-cut-risk-of-bowel-cancer-says-study-10210523.html

    bit more info on it

    corn dogs and fried potatoes on the low-fat diet? I must say the breakfast and dinner on that one sound delicious though. Interesting that every mean contains cornmeal. I hope it varied at bit from day to day.
  • Sarasmaintaining
    Sarasmaintaining Posts: 1,027 Member
    zyxst wrote: »
    I must be adapted then. I have no gut problems.

    This-no issues with heart burn (I've actually never had this), stomach issues, bathroom issues etc. And I've eaten fast food three times in the last 24 hours. Go figure ;)
  • maxit
    maxit Posts: 880 Member
    zyxst wrote: »
    I must be adapted then. I have no gut problems.

    This-no issues with heart burn (I've actually never had this), stomach issues, bathroom issues etc. And I've eaten fast food three times in the last 24 hours. Go figure ;)

    Keep it up for the next 20 or 30 years and see what happens :)

  • JPW1990
    JPW1990 Posts: 2,424 Member
    Someone turned a BBC reality show into a study. That's a new one.
  • jofjltncb6
    jofjltncb6 Posts: 34,415 Member
    maxit wrote: »
    zyxst wrote: »
    I must be adapted then. I have no gut problems.

    This-no issues with heart burn (I've actually never had this), stomach issues, bathroom issues etc. And I've eaten fast food three times in the last 24 hours. Go figure ;)

    Keep it up for the next 20 or 30 years and see what happens :)

    Because fast food is magically different than slow food, right?
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  • jofjltncb6
    jofjltncb6 Posts: 34,415 Member
    I eat Chipotle nearly every day for lunch. I had Taco Bell for the first time in a very long time last night with disastrous yet entirely expected results.

    I'm apparently Chipotle-adapted but not Taco Bell-adapted.

    Nonetheless, to draw any conclusions based on this particular incident would be ridiculous. I can recreate the same results with the first fresh cantaloupes of the season.
  • 999tigger
    999tigger Posts: 5,235 Member
    techgal128 wrote: »
    "The diet swap was also fairly drastic whereas we know that making small changes you can stick with long-term is far more effective to maintain a healthier lifestyle."

    The article itself is biased and a little ridiculous (of course if you feed rural African volunteers nothing but french fries and burgers they will get sick) but this sentence right here ALMOST makes up for it.

    Not really seeing why yoou object so much.

    Why is the article biased?
    Why is it ridiculous? looks like they are just reporting on an American experiment. The experiment was set up by the scientists and not the journo who was writing the story.

    What's so significant about that sentence? It's just a quote from someone who has nothing to do with the BBC or the people who ran the experiment. All he said was making small changes has more chance at sticking than drastic changes.
  • Barbs2222
    Barbs2222 Posts: 433 Member
    And research shows a high intake of dietary fibre, particularly cereal and whole grains, reduces bowel cancer risk, while eating red and processed meat increases the risk.

    Always pushing the cereal and whole grains aren't they. Looks to me like the African diet's fiber came from legumes.
  • isulo_kura
    isulo_kura Posts: 818 Member
    My god - breaking news, eating all your meals from a fast food restaurant when you've never had that food before is going to cause issues.

    *headdesk*

    Maybe read the abstract and actually see what they were looking at rather than leaping to conclusions. The way to learn about things is to study them and any study even small can add to overall knowledge. I always find it funny that people so often discount research just because it may challenge their preconceived ideas. MFP is rife with that

    They were interested in certain Cancer markers and any possible changes in such and possible cancer risk.

    It sounds like an interesting study though I would like to read the full text
    the food changes resulted in remarkable reciprocal changes in mucosal biomarkers of cancer risk and in aspects of the microbiota and metabolome known to affect cancer risk, best illustrated by increased saccharolytic fermentation and butyrogenesis, and suppressed secondary bile acid synthesis in the African Americans.

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25919227
  • lporter229
    lporter229 Posts: 4,907 Member
    As someone with an inflammatory bowel disease, I am curious about the statement that Americans benefited from less bowel inflammation and Africans bowel health deteriorated. How exactly was this inflammation measured?
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    lporter229 wrote: »
    As someone with an inflammatory bowel disease, I am curious about the statement that Americans benefited from less bowel inflammation and Africans bowel health deteriorated. How exactly was this inflammation measured?

    Does this help? It is from the study abstract:

    In comparison with their usual diets, the food changes resulted in remarkable reciprocal changes in mucosal biomarkers of cancer risk and in aspects of the microbiota and metabolome known to affect cancer risk, best illustrated by increased saccharolytic fermentation and butyrogenesis, and suppressed secondary bile acid synthesis in the African Americans.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    Barbs2222 wrote: »
    And research shows a high intake of dietary fibre, particularly cereal and whole grains, reduces bowel cancer risk, while eating red and processed meat increases the risk.

    Always pushing the cereal and whole grains aren't they. Looks to me like the African diet's fiber came from legumes.

    I too wonder why whole grains are touted for fiber more often than legumes. Legumes have much higher fiber.
  • stevencloser
    stevencloser Posts: 8,911 Member
    Am I reading right that they gave the Africans basically 2 weeks of nothing but fast food?
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    Barbs2222 wrote: »
    And research shows a high intake of dietary fibre, particularly cereal and whole grains, reduces bowel cancer risk, while eating red and processed meat increases the risk.

    Always pushing the cereal and whole grains aren't they. Looks to me like the African diet's fiber came from legumes.

    I too wonder why whole grains are touted for fiber more often than legumes. Legumes have much higher fiber.

    This always bugs me too.
  • sofaking6
    sofaking6 Posts: 4,589 Member
    I wonder what the Africans fry all of their food in to make it low-fat?
This discussion has been closed.