Posted on 09/17/2023 10:51:27 AM PDT by ConservativeMind
A collaboration between researchers has shown the classic Mediterranean diet with added dairy has the potential to change the composition of gut bacteria for the better, triggering a variety of health benefits.
The study assessed how the classic Mediterranean diet, supplemented with milk, cheese and yogurt, can affect gut microbiome.
Adult trial participants at risk of heart disease who followed the diet for an eight-week period showed a sizeable increase in beneficial microbes associated with positive effects on overall gut health, alongside a simultaneous decrease in bad bacteria linked to heart disease risk.
Dr. Karen Murphy says that gut microbiota plays an important role in multiple aspects of health.
"The Mediterranean diet has key foods and nutrients such as fiber, healthy fats, vitamins and amino acids all of which can help improve the gut environment," Dr. Murphy says.
"This research demonstrates that a Mediterranean diet, supplemented with additional dairy foods to meet Australian calcium guidelines, can help promote a healthy gut."
Dr. Jocelyn Choo, who led the microbiome analysis, says the findings support a correlation between the balance of microbiome, intestinal health and cardiometabolic health.
"While the overall structure of the gut microbiome didn't change dramatically, the study demonstrated that changes in the amount of certain bacteria was clearly linked to the diet," Dr. Choo says.
"We found that as participants increased the number of good microbes in their gut, they also presented with lower blood pressure. These improvements are significant, given the potential implications for reducing the risk of heart disease and stroke."
This study supports current evidence linking a Mediterranean diet to a boost in metabolism and highlights that positive changes in gut microbes spurred by this style of diet when enriched with dairy products, could be responsible for further cardiometabolic health improvements.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
They did note systolic blood pressures went down, but a small increase in blood glucose was noted, which appears to just happen with this one bacteria.
From the study:
“Reduced levels of Butyricicoccus, a SCFA producer, have been associated with chronic gastrointestinal and kidney diseases [60,61]. Butyricicoccus has also been shown to provide therapeutic potential for gastrointestinal inflammation, including ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, through its protective effects on the integrity of intestinal epithelial cells to maintain intestinal permeability [61,62]. These findings suggest the potential for Butyricicoccus to beneficially modulate blood pressure, as observed in the MedDairy group. A higher abundance of Butyricicoccus is also positively correlated with higher fasting plasma glucose levels but was not significantly associated with other determinants of glucose homeostasis, including insulin and HOMA-IR levels.”
Mediterranean with extra dairy . . . sounds like a winner!
Double my saganaki order . . . oopaaahh!
Thanks!
does almond “milk” count?
asking for a woke friend
Does the Mediterranean diet include pizza and pasta? Those come from a Mediterranean country.
Almonds don’t have nipples, so no…
FWIW - NIH is doing a study on the Med diet. A friend of mine is participating. They supply a week’s worth of meals for her each week - then she goes in and leaves blood and stool samples at the end of each week. Should be some interesting results
Oh, wow, I want to do that! Imagine having your food planned and delivered for free! Heaven!
I eat 2 table spoons of yogurt first thing in the morning. No gut issues at age 83. I picked up that habit growing up in India where my mother made yogurt at home from buffalo milk every day. My parents always had 2 cow-buffaloes in barn, their milk was richer, and we had plenty of homemade butter & buttermilk from it. No hormones ever!
I met a guy who was crippled from arthritis. He found some raw milk (outlawed by the FDA), and was cured.
Heating or processing does destroy some useful ingredients. However anything raw could harbor parasites or germs as a small possibility. So you have to weigh the benefits versus problems.
Yay...now I dont feel bad about my cheese habit...mostly grass fed
Yay...now I dont feel bad about my cheese habit...mostly grass fed
Oops...sorry
If I added milk to my diet you would not want to stand behind me.
You probably need HCL...been there, done that
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