Keto diet helps gut bacteria

By | July 10, 2020

keto diet helps gut bacteria

The results of a small-scale study in human volunteers have shown how specifically low-carb, high-fat ketogenic diets KDs —which are widely publicized for their purported health and weight loss-promoting benefits—have a dramatic impact on the gut microbiome that differs to that of high-fat diets HFDs. Additional studies in mice by the same University of California, San Francisco UCSF -led research team demonstrated that ketone bodies, which are a molecular byproduct that gives the ketogenic diet its name, directly change levels of certain types of gut bacteria, which led to reduced levels of intestinal pro-inflammatory immune cells. They suggest the results provide initial evidence for the potential benefits of ketone bodies as a therapy for autoimmune disorders affecting the gut. A ketogenic diet involves dramatically reducing carbohydrate consumption in order to force the body to alter its metabolism to using fat molecules rather than carbohydrates as its primary energy source, and producing ketone bodies as a byproduct. One possibility is that KDs might impact on gut microbiota. For their newly reported study, the UCSF-led team partnered with the nonprofit Nutrition Science Initiative to recruit 17 adult overweight or obese nondiabetic men to spend two months as inpatients in a metabolic ward where their diets and exercise levels were carefully monitored and controlled. The researchers focused on a particular bacterial genus— the common probiotic Bifidobacteria—which showed the greatest decrease in individuals on the ketogenic diet. To better understand how microbial shifts on the ketogenic diet might impact health, the researchers turned to mice, and exposed the mouse gut to different components of the microbiomes of humans adhering to ketogenic diets. Their results showed that these altered microbial populations specifically reduced the numbers of Th17 immune cells, a type of T cell that is critical for fighting off infectious disease, but which is also known to promote inflammation in autoimmune diseases. But this suggests that you may get some of the effects of ketosis quite quickly.

A comprehensive new study, led by scientists from UC San Francisco, is offering robust new insights into the way a ketogenic diet can influence the gut microbiome, and subsequently result in broader health benefits. Instead of relying on carbohydrates for energy, ketosis involves the liver producing ketone bodies from stored fat. The diet was originally developed a century ago as a treatment for pediatric epilepsy, but over recent decades it has become a popular weight-loss diet. And in tandem with a growing interest in the broad systemic influence of the gut microbiome on general health, studies have increasingly looked to how a ketogenic diet affects gut bacteria. Peter Turnbaugh, an author on the new study, suggests it was a strange contradiction that inspired the research. We know high-fat diets lead to disease, and we know some of those negative health effects are modulated by changes in the gut microbiome. So how does a high-fat ketogenic diet result in such dramatically different effects from a general high-fat diet? To offer a rigorous insight into the effect of the ketogenic diet on a human gut microiobiome, the researchers recruited 17 non-diabetic overweight subjects for a two-month inpatient study. The subjects lived in a controlled hospital environment experiencing four weeks on a ketogenic diet 15 percent protein, 5 percent carbs, 80 percent fat and four weeks on a standard diet 15 percent protein, 50 percent carbs, 35 percent fat.

Thursby E. Additionally, the microbiota of many environments may be highly variable and its plasticity could be dependent on past and specific dietary patterns [ ]. Keywords: gut microbiota, gut microbiome, intestinal microbiome, ketogenic diet, ketogenic diet and fat. Bascunan K. The nature of the colonic microbiota is driven by several factors such as breast feeding, geographical location, genetics, age and gender [ 8 ]. Sign Up Now! The role of gaba in the pathophysiology and treatment of anxiety disorders. Whereas, omega-3 PUFAs are associated with improvements in gut microbiota.

Leave a Reply