Your gut bacteria may not be on your side when you switch to a healthier diet? All of us carry around trillions of microbial hitchhikers that interact with us every day. Researchers from Washington University in St. Louis, looked at how our human gut microbiota responds to diet. They found that those people who typically ate a plant-based diet compared to those who ate a more unrestricted American diet had different colonies of microbes. Those who ate the plant-based diet had a more diverse group of microbes.
They tested this finding on mice. The mice inoculated with the microbes from the American diet did not respond well when fed a healthier eating plan. It wasn’t until the mice were exposed to the plant-based microbes that they had a positive response to a healthy eating plan.
Though these are animal experiments, a take-away for dieters is that it may take time for your body to adjust to a new, healthier eating plan. Be patient, stick with your healthy eating plan, and give your gut microbes time to adjust. Dieters might even consider trying a daily probiotic supplement to help their new dieting plan along.
