Categories
Wellness

Diet, Gut Microbes, and Health

The Olympics is a time to marvel at human health and performance.

A large-scale cross-border study (1) has identified a panel of 15 gut microbes associated with lower risks, and 15 with higher risks, for common illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease,

After undertaking microbiome testing, an individual would receive dietary advice to facilitate a rebalancing.

Our microbiome has been found to be highly personalized with only a minor contribution being attributable to genetics.

The research also supports the notion that it is better to avoid processed foods with added sugar and salt, since they are more likely to be associated with the ‘bad’ gut microbes.(2)

The excitement around the results is captured in the following quote from one of the research team:

“We were surprised to see such large, clear groups of what we informally call ‘good’ and ‘bad’ microbes emerging from our analysis,” affirmed Nicola Segata, PhD, professor and principal investigator of the Computational Metagenomics Lab at the University of Trento, Italy, and leader of the microbiome analysis in the study. “It is also exciting to see that microbiologists know so little about many of these microbes that they are not even named yet. This is now a big area of focus for us, as we believe they may open new insights in the future into how we could use the gut microbiome as a modifiable target to improve human metabolism and health.” (3)

References

  1. Microbiome connections with host metabolism and habitual diet from 1,098 deeply phenotyped individuals, by Asnicar, F., et al., 2021, in Nature Medicine
  2. Research: Study finds powerful links between gut microbiome, diet, and long-term health, by Megan Whitby, June 2021 in Spa Opportunities: https://www.spaopportunities.com/index.cfm?pagetype=news&codeID=347949
  3. Study uncovers strong links between a person’s diet, gut microbes and health, reviewed by Emily Henderson, January 2021, at: https://www.news-medical.net/news/20210111/Study-uncovers-strong-links-between-a-persons-diet-gut-microbes-and-health.aspx

Related posts:

  1. Wellness Trends: from 2020 to 2021 From the Global Wellness Summit...
  2. Country Variations in Wellness Priorities Data is a scarce resource in the Wellness industry. The Global Wellness Institute (1) provides the best, most comprehensive data, in our opinion. Other data sources provide insights. For example, Mckinsey & Company provides occasional market insights; the table below coming from a recent paper. (2) The definitions used for...
  3. A Long Hot Soak versus the Gym Japan has the third largest physical activity economy in the world, at US$21bn (1). Active participation is a relatively high 70%. The Global Wellness Institute also estimates that average per participant spend (including enabling supplies) is US$495 versus US$582 in Europe and $1,345 in North America. Despite this Japan has...
  4. Stress & Mental Wellness Building mental resilience ...

By Peter Eadon-Clarke

Advisor, Conceptasia Inc.
Peter Eadon-Clarke is a specialist in J-Wellness, product and technique trends, wellness tourism and the Stress Check Program. Peter has extensive experience managing complex multicultural teams; roles held during 14 years at Macquarie Capital Securities (Japan) limited included branch manager, global head of economics and Tokyo head of research. Previously, positions included UBS Trust and Banking in Tokyo as chief investment officer, CIO at Sumitomo Life Investment and CIO for the Pacific Basin at GT (now Invesco).

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *