Diet and Destiny

One of the many weaknesses with ELDM is it narrow remit.  For example, it singularly fails to address the impact of epigenetics, stress/sleep, mitochondrial expression and gut flora.  The latter is addressed in this piece by Science Daily which discusses research in to how microbes harvest energy,

• In a new study appearing in the journal Nutrition in Clinical Practice, researcher Rosa Krajmalnik-Brown and her colleagues at the Swette Center for Environmental Biotechnology at Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute in collaboration with John DiBaise from the Division of Gastroenterology at the Mayo Clinic, review the role of gut microbes in nutrient absorption and energy regulation.

Given my recent blow-out over the jubilee weekend I was particularly taken with the comment about the speed with which the profile of gut flora can change,

•  After birth, diet becomes a critical determinant in microbial diversity within the gut. Recent research indicates that microbial populations vary geographically in a manner consistent with regional differences in diet. Children in rural areas of Burkina Faso for example showed much more abundant concentrations of Bacteroidetes compared with their cohorts in Italy, a finding consistent with the African children's plant-rich diet.While microbiomes appear to have adapted to local diets, changes in eating habits significantly alter composition of gut microbes. Variations in macronutrient composition can modify the structure of gut microbiota in a few days -- in some cases, a single day. Studies in mice show that changing from a low fat, plant polysaccharide diet to a Western diet high in sugar and fat rapidly and profoundly reconfigures the composition of microbes in the gut.

 
Glad I am back on board the paleo-mammoth!