[이데일리 이순용 기자]Animal testing has proven that eating as a child determines lifelong gut health. If you eat unhealthy meals as a child, the number and diversity of beneficial bacteria in your gut decreases even after you grow up, and your gut microbiome environment worsens.
According to the Korea Food Communication Forum on the 9th, the team of professor Theodore Garland, an evolutionary physiologist at the University of California in Riverside, USA, said that if mice consume excessive amounts of fat and sugar (sugar) when they are young, the intestinal microbial environment, that is, microbial, is It has been revealed that it will adversely affect scabies. The results of this study were introduced in the recent issue of the specialized journal’Journal of Experimental Biology’.
In order to observe how diet and exercise change the intestinal microflora, Professor Garland’s team divided the mice into four groups: a healthy feed intake group, a less healthy Western diet (high fat/high sugar) feed intake group, an exercise group and a non-exercise group. Classified.
Four groups of mice were given a different diet and exercise for 3 weeks for each group. After 3 weeks, normal feed was again provided and no exercise. The research team then examined the number and diversity of intestinal microbes in mice by group after 14 weeks.
The number of beneficial bacteria called’Muribaculum intestinale’ decreased significantly in the intestine of the high-fat/high-sugar western diet group. These bacteria are known to increase the vitality of the host (human or animal) by participating in carbohydrate metabolism.
The microbiome, such as the number and activity of bacteria in the gut, was also affected by the movement of mice. The number of Muribaculum bacteria increased in the group of mice that ate healthy diet while exercising, and the number of these bacteria decreased with or without exercise in the Western diet group.
Another study found that after five weeks of treadmill training, the number of Myuribaculum increased. This suggests that exercise alone can increase the number of bacteria that are beneficial to gut health.
In a thesis, Professor Garland’s team said, “High fat and high sugar intake has a lasting effect on the microbiome of mice, and it may be the same for humans.” “If a child eats a western-style diet high in fat and sugar, It can be affected up to six years after maturity.”
The researchers pointed out that eating as a child affects the gut microbiome longer than exercise. Following the ancient Greek proverb of Hippocrates, the onomatopoeia of’I am what I eat’, Professor Garland said,’You are not only what you eat, but what. you ate as a child!)
Meanwhile, microbiome refers to all kinds of microorganisms such as bacteria, parasites, and viruses that live in the intestines of humans and animals. The intestinal microbiome has a variety of effects on the body, including strengthening immunity, breaking down food, and helping the synthesis of key vitamins. If the balance of intestinal microbes is disrupted, the risk of developing diseases such as diabetes and obesity increases. In November 2020, in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, a study found that the ratio of beneficial bacteria and harmful bacteria in the intestine also affects the occurrence of dementia and brain diseases.
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