Ultra-processed foods have been in the media a lot lately. You may have heard of research from Imperial College London linking high consumption of these foods (which includes many of the items we typically buy in supermarkets such as carbonated drinks, ready meals, breakfast cereals and mass-produced packaged bread) with disease risk. Increased risk of cancer and death from cancer.
Or, you may have watched BBC Panorama’s Ultra-processed food: The secret to poor health? explores the link between convenience foods and the growing prevalence of chronic disease in the UK. Maybe you’re a follower of Professor Tim Spector, one of the foremost scientists in the fields of gut health and genetic epidemiology and co-founder of Zoe, and have come to understand how our diet plays a role in determining our health and wellbeing how important the situation is. yes.
Whether it’s all or none of the above, the truth is we need to start thinking of food as medicine and understand the power of diet on our health and wellbeing.
Eat 10 Plant
one per week A dietary rule that can help us avoid overly processed foods is a commitment to eating 10 different plants each week. The health advice touted as the new “five a day” comes from a large
Research. Research led by Prof. Spector) found that participants who ate more than 10 different types of plants per week had more diverse optimized gut microbiome or less.
“They collected stool samples from people in the US, UK and Australia and analyzed their microbiome and dietary records,” explains Dr. Federica Amati, Medical Scientist, Public Health Nutritionist and one of Professor Spector’s colleagues at Zoe. “They were able to correlate which dietary patterns were most associated with ideal microbes. They found that even more than the amount of fiber we eat (should be 10 grams per day) – eating people who ate plants weekly had the highest populations of healthy, beneficial gut microbes in their guts.”
Furthermore, they Participants who ate more than were found to eat per week compared to participants who ate 10 or fewer plants per week plants also had fewer antibiotic resistance genes in their gut microbiomes. Plants are rich in vitamins, minerals, fiber and protein, as well as polyphenols and antioxidants, which protect the body, neutralize toxins and nourish the microbiome in our gut.
HOW TO Grow 10PLANTS WEEKLY
THREE Ten different plants? ! It might sound daunting, but “it’s not scary when you realize that the word ‘plant’ includes whole grains, spices, herbs, fruits, vegetables, mushrooms, nuts, and seeds—it includes a whole range of foods, ‘ explained the doctor. Amati. “Once you get used to adding these foods to your cooking, you’ll hit that number pretty quickly.”
1030 2018
