Research Finds Walnuts Changing Gut Bacteria (in rodent model)

[me/cfs 27931]

Research Finds Walnuts May Promote Health by Changing Gut Bacteria
http://www.lsuhsc.edu/newsroom/LSUH... Promote Health by Changing Gut Bacteria.html

Research led by Lauri Byerley, PhD, RD, Research Associate Professor of Physiology at LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine, has found that walnuts in the diet change the makeup of bacteria in the gut, which suggests a new way walnuts may contribute to better health. The findings are published in The Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry available online.

Working in a rodent model, the research team added walnuts to the diet of one group. The diet of the other group contained no walnuts. They then measured the types and numbers of gut bacteria in the descending colon and compared the results. They found that there were two distinct communities of bacteria in the groups. In the walnut-eating group, the numbers and types of bacteria changed, as did the bacteria’s functional capacity. The researchers reported a significant increase in beneficial bacteria like Lactobacillus.

“We found that walnuts in the diet increased the diversity of bacteria in the gut, and other non-related studies have associated less bacterial diversity with obesity and other diseases like inflammatory bowel disease,” says Byerley. “Walnuts increased several bacteria, like Lactobacillus, typically associated with probiotics suggesting walnuts may act as a prebiotic.” Prebiotics are dietary substances that selectively promote the numbers and activity of beneficial bacteria.

The researchers conclude that the reshaping of the gut microbe community by adding walnuts to the diet suggests a new physiological mechanism to improve health. Eating walnuts has been associated with reduced cardiovascular disease risk, slower tumor growth in animals and improved brain health.

The research was supported by the American Institute for Cancer Research and California Walnut Commission.

 

[ScottTriGuy]

Awesome, I eat them every day.

 

[Cheesus]

Walnuts are awesome, so this is good news. It would have been terrible if I were forced to eat cashews.

On a serious note, doesn't all food change our gut microbiome? There are prebiotics in virtually everything. Why single walnuts out as particularly helpful?

(I realise this may be in the article, but I am exhausted and can't face it).

 

[adreno]

On a serious note, doesn't all food change our gut microbiome? There are prebiotics in virtually everything. Why single walnuts out as particularly helpful?

Just my thoughts.

 

[me/cfs 27931]

On a serious note, doesn't all food change our gut microbiome? There are prebiotics in virtually everything. Why single walnuts out as particularly helpful?.

"The research was supported by the American Institute for Cancer Research and California Walnut Commission."

Sponsored by big walnut.

 

[TenuousGrip]

IIRC, big almond has funded similar studies.

Personally, I think they're all nuts. ;-)

 

[ebethc]

"The research was supported by the American Institute for Cancer Research and California Walnut Commission."

Sponsored by big walnut.

aww, c'mon... science is absolute truth, infallible and static! lol

 

[Alvin2]

On a serious note, doesn't all food change our gut microbiome?

Basically, how it does so is not well understood and should be researched

Sponsored by big walnut.

That can be taken many ways

 

[IThinkImTurningJapanese]

Perhaps it's not a prebiotic, Juglone found in walnuts is an Anthelmintic substance.

Knock out them nasty buggers, and then the good ones can thrive?

 

[IreneF]

I consume walnuts regularly. I put them in my oatmeal, I put them in salads, I make walnut sauce for vegetables, and so on. I should be the picture of health. So why am I here?

 

[Little Bluestem]

I consume walnuts regularly. I put them in my oatmeal, I put them in salads, I make walnut sauce for vegetables, and so on. I should be the picture of health. So why am I here?

Maybe because there is a lot more wrong with you than gut dysfunction.

 

[RogerBlack]

On a serious note, doesn't all food change our gut microbiome?

My parents used to keep goats. Admittedly they have a rather different digestive system than us.
But, whenever you change the diet in a big way in a step, not gradually, you often get a disturbed gut, with diahrea being common.

Any varied diet will have more gut bacteria diversity than a narrow diet, because various foods contain different compounds not well absorbed initially by the body from food. The bacteria live off this, and we absorb some compounds pre-processed from them.

Adding a single very different food to a bland (mouse chow) diet, it would be shocking if there were no changes. Different bacteria like different things, and if you feed nuts rich in those things, you're going to get those bacteria shooting up.