The diet dogma pervades, this time it’s with the alkaline diet that promotes eating “alkaline” foods to help prevent the blood from becoming too acidic.

I recently listened to an online webinar given by a so-called nutrition “expert” who has studied many nutrition modalities and was promoting the notion of eating alkaline foods, mainly fruits and vegetables and some grains and legumes, in order to keep your blood pH healthy. Although she didn’t explicitly say this, her message was quite clear that she was not a fan of eating meat, dairy, or fermented foods because they are very “acidic.” She also mentioned that studies have shown that cancer cells grow in more acidic environments.

There has been a recent explosion in research that shows that our gut flora is linked to so many diseases-- cancer, autism, diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer’s-- and the list goes on and on.

The microbes that inhabit our guts consist of about two million genes compared to only about 22,000 genes humans have, and they’re constantly affecting our health.

You can think of our gut microbiome as a rainforest. The more variety and number of species that inhabit our guts, the healthier the ecosystem of our intestinal flora will be.

The gut microbiota is linked to so many aspects of our health, and several recent studies have observed an imbalanced gut microbiota, also called dysbiosis, in conjunction with various non-infectious diseases such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and gastrointestinal disorders such as irritable bowel disease.

Luckily there are tangible ways we can change our gut microbiota composition. Diet has been shown to greatly impact the gut microbiota composition, which consequently also affects the production of beneficial short chain fatty acid production, intestinal barrier function and immune health.

A new study performed in the elderly from five European countries reveals that following a Mediterranean diet may positively affect the gut microbiota and health in this population.

Diet plays a crucial role in our overall and microbiome health, and the elderly are particularly vulnerable to suffering age-related health complications which could be related to changes in their diets.

As a healthcare professional you may be aware that many dietary guidelines recommend limiting the consumption of red meat. Recent mechanistic research on the gut microbiota could finally settle the debate regarding the impact of red meat in health.

Personalized nutrition is still in its infancy but it is an increasingly important area of research that may one day help us better plan nutritional interventions to ensure a better response from patients.

When we’re faced with the question of which diet is best for our personal health, the answer isn’t easy. The individual response to dietary interventions varies greatly, and the gut microbiota likely plays a major role. However, several factors influence gut microbiota composition such as genetics, long-term dietary habits, hygiene, geographical location, exercise, as well as antibiotic and probiotic use making it a difficult area to study. Personalized nutrition studies aim to predict clinical response to dietary interventions based on the microbial composition, yet few studies have been conducted in humans.

Restrictive diets in terms of calories and nutrients are widespread among people. Although this type of diets could help with weight loss in the short term, their long-term effects on the gut microbiome and overall health remain unknown.

How diet affects a person’s weight appears to be much more complex than previously thought due to the potential role the gut microbiome plays in nutrient absorption, energy production, inflammation and metabolism.

It’s now well known that diet greatly influences the gut microbiome, and more recently research has shed light on how the gut microbiome is altered in obese vs normal weight individuals.

The purpose of the article is to uncover how dietary components and long-term dietary patterns interact with and influence gut microbiota composition and function and intestinal inflammation.

As the saying goes, an apple a day keeps the doctor away, but figuring out exactly how long-term dietary patterns affect the gut microbiome’s role in regulating inflammation has not been quite as clear for researchers.

Diet has been shown to play a role in both IBD and IBS symptoms and possibly disease progression

Diet greatly influences gut microbiota composition, and evidence shows how the way gut microbiota metabolizes our food may be more relevant than the actual food we eat.

With so many diets and trends– high fat, low fat, low carb, Paleo, vegan, etc.– it’s hard to know which diet is best for our health. Diet greatly influences gut microbiota composition, and evidence shows how the gut microbiota metabolizes our food may matter as much as what we eat.

Studies have shown food intolerances affect approximately 20% of the population in industrialized countries, but despite their high prevalence, their exact mechanisms are unknown. Adverse food reactions include food allergies and food intolerances. Unlike food allergies that are characterized by immunological (immunoglobulin E (IgE)) dependent mechanisms, food intolerance is a non-immunological response to food or food components that leads to complaints like abdominal pain, diarrhea, hives, vomiting and eczema.

Can cooking certain foods influence the gut microbiota? A team of researchers has set out to discover whether heat, which changes the properties of different foods, also affects the gut microbiota.

Studies have shown that diet, such as Paleo, high fat vs low-fat diet or Western diet, greatly impacts the gut microbiota composition even more than genetics. Surprisingly, little is known how cooking certain foods might alter the gut microbiota. Since heat changes the chemical and physical properties of foods, researchers wondered if this too affects the gut microbiota.

Diet and lifestyle have a major impact on your hormones and levels of inflammation all of which can in turn affect your period and menstrual pain. Most people blame their hormones directly for their period problems, but in reality, following an anti-inflammatory diet can be just as effective as taking ibuprofen (Motrin) or paracetamol (Advil). In fact, several studies have shown that an anti-inflammatory diet can be very effective at reducing menstrual and endometriosis pain.

The importance of maintaining a healthy gut microbiome has been gaining more attention. 

The gut microbiome contains trillions of microorganisms, most of which are bacteria, and plays a major role in various aspects of our health. 

Probiotics and fiber have gotten a lot of fanfare lately when it comes to gut health, but in order to feed the “good bugs” or beneficial bacteria in our intestines, we also need to eat adequate prebiotics. 

Unlike probiotics, prebiotics are not live microorganisms, and although most prebiotics are different types of fiber, not all prebiotics are fiber. So what are they?