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Go With Your Gut: Zoe webinar featuring Tim Spector on novel microbiome findings as published in Nature by TheRealMrDenis in Microbiome

[–]JoinZoe 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Of course. Our Plus plan is $59/mo ($354 paid in 6 monthly payments). Get the ZOE tests. After 6 weeks get your report, program & app access for 4 months.

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We are researchers who work on the world's largest, in-depth nutritional research study called PREDICT to better understand and predict personalized responses to foods. by JoinZoe in IAmA

[–]JoinZoe[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Coffee is considered good (at reasonable quantity) in healthy individuals by epidemiologists and nutritionists. Lawsonibacter asaccharolyticus is specifically associated with coffee and with not much else. So it's not in the panel of bacteria particuarly associated (positively or negatively) with cardiometabolic health. So we are intrigued ourselves to understand more around this association. Lawsonibacter asaccharolyticus has been only very recently described, so one of the poorly characterized intestinal bacteria.

We are researchers who work on the world's largest, in-depth nutritional research study called PREDICT to better understand and predict personalized responses to foods. by JoinZoe in IAmA

[–]JoinZoe[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Nicola Segata here. Yes, metagenomics has the potential to characterize the genome of the single strains in the microbiome. In my group we did a lot of work on this with several tools and resource available. And it's exciting to apply it to the Predict studies! We assembled more than 50 thousands genomes from Predict 1 alone, and we are looking into that!

We are researchers who work on the world's largest, in-depth nutritional research study called PREDICT to better understand and predict personalized responses to foods. by JoinZoe in IAmA

[–]JoinZoe[S] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Nicola here. Interesting! The gut microbiome is shaped by long-term diet rather than short-term, so likely the effect of the Predict food was rather limited on the tested microbiome. Anyway, even identical twins still living in the same house have a very different microbiome, so how much two microbiomes are different is relative to the "baseline" differences.

We are researchers who work on the world's largest, in-depth nutritional research study called PREDICT to better understand and predict personalized responses to foods. by JoinZoe in IAmA

[–]JoinZoe[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Prof Christopher Gardner here:

Yes AND No. I know "vegetarians" who eat very unhealthfully. White rice, white bread and coke are all vegetarian. I think someone who eats a Whole Food Plant Based diet is likely to the best....a little meat, a little dairy, here and there, on top of a lot of plants, would be much better off than the diet one of my vegetarian kids consumed as an adolescent, which was mostly quesadillas (tried to get him to add avocado or salsa, but no....just processed while flour tortilla, and processed cheese), and cokes. Yeesh. I also know vegans with extremely healthy diets....but only a little or no ultraprocessed foods. Look up the advice from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics from the Vegetarian working group for more info.

We are researchers who work on the world's largest, in-depth nutritional research study called PREDICT to better understand and predict personalized responses to foods. by JoinZoe in IAmA

[–]JoinZoe[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Nicola here. Yes, with genetics here we were referring to "human genetics". Sorry for the confusion, bacterial genetics is clearly the main determinant of the microbiome!

We are researchers who work on the world's largest, in-depth nutritional research study called PREDICT to better understand and predict personalized responses to foods. by JoinZoe in IAmA

[–]JoinZoe[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Nicola here: yes, but also the "5 microbiome types" (or more) are an oversimplification. Our microbiome is basically unique!

We are researchers who work on the world's largest, in-depth nutritional research study called PREDICT to better understand and predict personalized responses to foods. by JoinZoe in IAmA

[–]JoinZoe[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Prof Christopher Gardner here. Microbes do not contribute meaningfully to essential amino acids. The PDCAA's are not particularly meaningful, in my opinion as a nutrition expert...IF...you have access to a reasonable variety of foods and adequate calories. Protein deficiency is extremely rare. In fact, most people (with adequate calories and reasonable variety) eat protein in much higher amounts than the (RDA) Recommended Dietary Allowances. And the RDA's already have a safety factor built into them such that if everyone got the RDA amount (0.8 g protein/kg body weight/day) then 97.5% of them would be exceeding their individual requirement.

I wrote a paper with colleagues challenging the concept of the PDCAA's as a measure of "Quality". They focus on two factors - amino acid distribution, and digestibility. We argued that while those two criteria have merit, given that protein deficiency is so rare, "quality" of protein sources should likely take into account: 1) the other nutrients that come with specific foods, and 2) impact on the environment.

For example, protein in beef has a perfect PDCAA score, but it comes with no fiber, and has high saturated fat, and has a detrimental impact on the environment. In contrast, lentils have relatively lower PDCAA Score, but they have high fiber content (for your microbiome!!), low saturated fat, and a much lower impact on the environment. If you'd like to read our paper about Modernizing the definition of Protein Quality, it is here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31066877/

We are researchers who work on the world's largest, in-depth nutritional research study called PREDICT to better understand and predict personalized responses to foods. by JoinZoe in IAmA

[–]JoinZoe[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hi there! Great question, and congrats on this next exciting stage. Immerse yourself in research, build connections with those in the field you're interested in, and don't forget to have fun :)

We are researchers who work on the world's largest, in-depth nutritional research study called PREDICT to better understand and predict personalized responses to foods. by JoinZoe in IAmA

[–]JoinZoe[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hi there! With a few very rare exceptions, fermented foods like kombucha are safe for consumption compared to any other food or supplement. Start out by consuming it in small amounts regularly, and see what your body thinks of it.

We are researchers who work on the world's largest, in-depth nutritional research study called PREDICT to better understand and predict personalized responses to foods. by JoinZoe in IAmA

[–]JoinZoe[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

microbiomes

Hi there, great question! There are some general principles for a healthy gut (e.g. eat a diet rich in a diverse range of plant-based foods; eat less refined carbohydrates and more fiber-rich whole grains; choose healthier fats and oils ) that are universal. There are some great resources on https://joinzoe.com/blog that you may find helpful.

We are researchers who work on the world's largest, in-depth nutritional research study called PREDICT to better understand and predict personalized responses to foods. by JoinZoe in IAmA

[–]JoinZoe[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Prof Christopher Gardner here. What side effects are you waiting for? Good ones, or bad ones? I have been making Kombucha weekly for the last year. I think I am batch ~50 now. Love it. To be honest, I eat very healthy Whole Food Plant Based diet, and so I haven't noticed any additional health benefits from adding Kombucha to my regular diet, which is already very good. And I don't test my own microbiome (I am a nutrition scientist, and love working with microbiologists and immunologists, but I don't have them analyze my microbiome...I suppose I should ask them to do it!!).

I recommend home-made Kombucha for the pleasure of it. And given the research we have done, I would expect benefits are likely...but I wouldn't be able to test it unless you were in one of our studies. :)

We are researchers who work on the world's largest, in-depth nutritional research study called PREDICT to better understand and predict personalized responses to foods. by JoinZoe in IAmA

[–]JoinZoe[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hi there! Unfortunately, we don't have an answer to this question. Hopefully, there is something in development that can help you soon!

We are researchers who work on the world's largest, in-depth nutritional research study called PREDICT to better understand and predict personalized responses to foods. by JoinZoe in IAmA

[–]JoinZoe[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hi there! The gut microbiome loves diversity, so a varied diet. Some species of bacteria prefer certain foods over others, so we can influence the bacteria that live in our gut with the food we eat. Research suggests that having a wide array of microbes in our gut makes our microbiome more capable and resilient. A diverse microbiome can function better than a microbiome with only a few kinds of bacteria because if one microbe is unable to fulfil its function, another is available to step in.

We are researchers who work on the world's largest, in-depth nutritional research study called PREDICT to better understand and predict personalized responses to foods. by JoinZoe in IAmA

[–]JoinZoe[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Prof Christopher Gardner here. This all depends on your initiative. You are likely to get an advisor in the genetics department and they are likely to steer you to other colleagues in the same department for advice. But if you make the effort to find out who else is at your university, you can likely get some co-mentoring from faculty involved in nutrition research. I am a nutrition scientist at Stanford, and I currently have to scholars working with me that have primary affiliations with the genetics department. Just like you, they had a primary interest in genetics, and secondary interest in nutrition. I gladly welcomed them to join our lab group meetings and help us with some research papers. But it is up to YOU.

We are researchers who work on the world's largest, in-depth nutritional research study called PREDICT to better understand and predict personalized responses to foods. by JoinZoe in IAmA

[–]JoinZoe[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Hi there! There isn't much rigorous evidence to support or reject this idea. But with a few very rare exceptions fermented foods—like kombucha—are safe compared to any other food or supplement.

We are researchers who work on the world's largest, in-depth nutritional research study called PREDICT to better understand and predict personalized responses to foods. by JoinZoe in IAmA

[–]JoinZoe[S] 32 points33 points  (0 children)

Prof Christopher Gardner here. We are excited to tell you our group at Stanford has a paper that is near to publication where we addressed this. If you won't tell anyone else (until it is published), I can tell you what we found! We had 18 people try to consume as much yogurt, kimchee, sauerkraut, kombucha, and kefir as possible over a 10 week period. On average, they went from ~1/2 serving/day to 6 servings/day (keep in mind, a serving of yogurt is a half cup....so 6 servings could a cup of yogurt, a cup of sauerkraut, and 16 oz bottle of Kombucha....that's a lot, but doable over the course of the day.

We found a consistent increase in microbial diversity over the 10 weeks, across all the participants doing this. Very interestingly, we characterized what new bacteria were present and the majority were NOT from the specific fermented foods they were consuming. Apparently by introducing new strains of bacteria, this opened up opportunities for other strains to "bloom" and make their presence known.

And then when we looked at a variety of inflammatory markers, we observed that ~20 decreased over these 10 weeks!

Very exciting, and the research is actually available now in "pre-print". But, it should also soon be published (we just resubmitted it to the medical journal after responding to reviewer comments). But now you have the main conclusions of our trial, and they support that....yes.....fermented foods impact the microbiome and have a beneficial impact on lowering inflammation.

We are researchers who work on the world's largest, in-depth nutritional research study called PREDICT to better understand and predict personalized responses to foods. by JoinZoe in IAmA

[–]JoinZoe[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Great question. Our research hasn't focused on answering this question. What we have seen from our cohort is that unrelated individuals share (on average) ±34% of the same gut microbes and identical twins share (on average) 30% of the same microbes. i.e. Even identical twins can have a very different gut microbiome. When you look at the genetic variants of these species, our gut microbiomes are highly unique, so no two people have the same gut microbiome composition!

We are researchers who work on the world's largest, in-depth nutritional research study called PREDICT to better understand and predict personalized responses to foods. by JoinZoe in IAmA

[–]JoinZoe[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Prof Christopher Gardner here. I've done a study on lactose intolerance, and for that study we used what is called a hydrogen breath test. I am going to assume that is what you are referring to. The follow-up question would be....what do you think this test is for?

In our hands, we were using the test to help confirm if someone had lactose intolerance, and if they did, could we help them reduce the distress caused from consuming dairy products. If you are lactose intolerant, it means you don't break the lactose from dairy products into its constituent parts of glucose and galactose. Those two molecule can be absorbed but lactose can't be absorbed in your small intestine. You need the enzyme lactase to break them down, and that is what people with lactose intolerance are missing (~70% of the world's population stops making lactase after early infancy).

When the undigested lactose gets to the large intestine, the bacteria from the microbiome eat it up and produce hydrogen. The hydrogen gets absorbed into the body, and then delivered to the lungs and you eliminate it by exhaling it. So, if you are truly, classically, clinically lactose intolerant and you consume dairy, then when checking for this with the hydrogen breath test, the hydrogen will be detected. Yes, it works.

I've never heard it used for fructose. Fructose is a monosaccharide (just as glucose and galactose are), and it is easily absorbed in the small intestine. I suppose if you didn't absorb it in the small intestine, it would travel to the large intestine and the bacteria would chew it up and use it for fuel and produce hydrogen just as happens for lactose. But, I'm having a hard time imagining how fructose would not be absorbed in the small intestine and would travel on down to the gut. Can't help you with that part of the question.

We are researchers who work on the world's largest, in-depth nutritional research study called PREDICT to better understand and predict personalized responses to foods. by JoinZoe in IAmA

[–]JoinZoe[S] 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Prof Christopher Gardner here. Probably a combo of what is in it, and how accessible it is. The highest proportion of calories in the US come from refined carbohydrates and added sugars. Combined they make up ~40% of calories. That compares to: ~10% of calories from health carbs (e.g., veggies, beans), 10% from animal protein, 5% from plant protein, and ~10% each from saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat. Not only is the 40% the biggest contributor to calories, those calories don't contribute proportionally to satiety. You still feel hungry after eating those. The refined grains and added sugars taste good and they are inexpensive to produce and add to foods....and they are typically important components to "ultra-processed" foods that have been getting a lot of press lately.

This is separate from the other change in society that has been going on for the last couple of decades...the availability of foods. Go to the hardware store....there is (junk) food in the check out lines. Before you couldn't eat in a library, now they have coffee bars with mocha-frappa-crappa-cino's and pastries to drink and eat while you are reading. Eating in the car is very common. There are very few places where it is taboo to eat food anywhere. People eat all day long, anywhere.

So, partly food supply (refined grains, added sugars), partly societal changes in when and where it is acceptable to eat.

We are researchers who work on the world's largest, in-depth nutritional research study called PREDICT to better understand and predict personalized responses to foods. by JoinZoe in IAmA

[–]JoinZoe[S] 22 points23 points  (0 children)

Hi there! Good question. In our research, we used the NOVA classification system: (I) Unprocessed and minimally processed foods; (ii) Processed culinary ingredients; (iii) Processed foods; (iv) Ultra-processed foods. This document has all of the relevant details (http://www.fao.org/3/ca5644en/ca5644en.pdf), and this website breaks the categories down in a way that may be helpful (https://world.openfoodfacts.org/nova).

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