Monday, September 28, 2015

New Study: RS2 and gut inflammation in Malawian children.

Finally, a study showing that Resistant Starch Type 2 is not the "wonder drug" that I have promoted for nearly three years now. Did RS2 cause gut inflammation in rural Malawi children?

It's been too easy, what with study after study for over 30 years showing that RS has profound effects on the gut biome and health of the habitual user. Let's take a look at this latest study and see if we should all immediately halt the use of RS2.

Too long?  Don't wanna read? : RS2, as found in raw potato starch, banana flour, and Hi-Maize corn starch is a great prebiotic and can be used as a supplement for fiber in a healthy diet!


Thursday, September 24, 2015

An Aspirin a Day...

Aspirin has been linked to reduced instances of heart attacks for many years. Lately, there has been news of an Aspirin a day preventing colon cancer. Should we all be taking Aspirin as preventative medicine?

Too long/Don't wanna read?:  Eat your fruits and veggies and skip the recommendations for "an Aspirin a day." "Plant Aspirin" is in a form that does not have the risk factors associated with Bayer Aspirin (gastric bleeding, ulcers, Reyes disease).

Thursday, September 17, 2015

uBiome Data Analysis Using MG-Rast

I've been meaning to write this for some time. This service is free to anyone who would like to peek a bit deeper into a uBiome report.  I wrote a similar post concerning American Gut reports a while back. This does not take an awful lot of skill to do, but you should try to be methodical and label your reports as you go, otherwise it will get messy a few months down the road when you add more.
 

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Gut bacteria may impact body weight, fat and good cholesterol levels

Sorry, no new content from me, just a link to a Medical Express article that says:

"Our study provides new evidence that microbes in the gut are strongly linked to the blood level of HDL (good cholesterol) and triglycerides and may be added as a new risk factor for abnormal blood lipids, in addition to age, gender, BMI and genetics," said Jingyuan Fu, Ph.D., study lead author and associate professor of genetics at University Medical Center Groningen in the Netherlands.
Using state-of-the-art deep sequencing technology, researchers studied the association between and in 893 people in the Netherlands. They identified:
  • 34 different types of bacteria contributed to differences in body fat (BMI) and blood lipids such as triglycerides and the known as high-density lipoprotein or HDL. Most were new associations.
  • Bacteria in the gut contributed to 4.6 percent of the difference in body fat, 6 percent in triglycerides and 4 percent in HDL.
  • Surprisingly, gut bacteria had little relationship with bad cholesterol (low-density lipoproteins or LDL ) or total .

I think that's pretty cool.  Sort of exactly as we have been saying around here lately. What can we do to tip the odds in our favor that we can capitalize on these helpful little beasts?

- Eat lots of fiber
- Eat lots of fermented foods
- Eat less processed and more whole foods
- Exercise
- Reduce stress
- Sleep well
- Give up bad habits
- Wean yourself off of medications where possible
- Don't live an overly sterile life

Later,
Tim