Facebook
home-banner-plantbasedgut.webp
Earth First

Plant-Based Diets and Gut Health

Eating more plant fibres can help improve your gut microbiota diversity and protect your intestinal barrier while preventing the growth of pathogenic bacteria and cancerous cell growth. But how exactly?

The gut microbiota consists of microorganisms living in your digestive system, mainly in the colon. Most of these microorganisms are not harmful and, in fact, are beneficial to our health. These microorganisms are highly impacted by our diet. Eating a diet rich in fibre from fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes is necessary to ensure a healthy gut and a happy microbiota.

How does our diet impact our gut microbiota?

Bowl of salad

A strong and healthy gut microbiota is important for digestive health, immunity against harmful pathogens and can even impact your mood!¹ So, how can a plant-based diet help you maintain a healthy gut? Well, the beneficial bacteria in your gut microbiota ferment fibre to feed themselves. These ‘good’ microorganisms take up space and resources in your gut, making it hard for disease-causing (pathogenic) bacteria to survive. This means a fibre-rich diet filled with fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes can be very beneficial for your microbiota. 

4 ways a plant-based diet can improve your gut health:

Bowls of different plant based foods

1. Prevent growth of pathogenic bacteria 

Modern diets high in sugar and low in fibre drive the growth of harmful microorganisms in the gut. When a gut environment has excessive sugars available as nutrients, it can increase the presence of pathogens that feed on them and make gut microbes more harmful, which can cause inflammation. Long-term inflammation is common in diseases such as diabetes and obesity, which are often related to a Western pattern of diet in which simple carbohydrates and red meat intake is high and consumption of vegetables and fruit is low.²,³

Diets rich in fibre, however, allow your beneficial bacteria to ferment that dietary fibre and grow, making the intestinal environment more acidic in the process. The acidic environment also makes it harder for harmful bacteria to grow, as they are ill-suited to acidic conditions - tipping the balance in favour of beneficial bacteria, benefiting your overall gut health. Favouring a balanced plant-based diet high in fibre can, therefore, enrich populations of beneficial bacteria in our gut instead of encouraging those that cause disease.

2. Improve gut microbiota diversity

A balanced plant-based diet rich in different kinds of vegetables can also increase the healthy microorganism diversity of your microbiota. This occurs because different types of plant-based foods have different types of fibre in them and can, therefore, feed a range of different beneficial microorganisms. Fibre supplementation has a similar effect in this regard. In contrast, diets consisting of lots of refined sugars and saturated fat with low consumption of whole fruits and vegetables have been shown to contribute to lower microbiota diversity - such lower diversity has also been associated with certain diseases such as obesity and diabetes,, and has also been related to anxiety, depression, schizophrenia and autism.¹ Some studies have shown reduced anxiety and depressive symptoms in those who have been treated with probiotics (beneficial bacteria).¹   

3. Protecting the gut wall

 Protecting the gut wall

Our intestine has a thin layer of cells called the ‘intestinal barrier’, which protects us from things that should not be entering our body (such as toxic compounds or harmful bacteria and viruses) while allowing nutrients to pass from the gut to the blood circulation for distribution around the body. A disruption to the gut barrier makes it easier for harmful compounds to enter the bloodstream, putting our health at risk. 

This disruption of the gut barrier can be triggered by sustained unhealthy eating habits involving regular ultra-processed foods, as fats and certain additives from these products can increase gut permeability and trigger an inflammatory immune response. Although inflammation is a natural response of the body, sustained inflammation can eventually harm our cells, leading to further damage to the intestinal barrier.

However, a diet high in fibre from minimally processed foods can help protect the gut wall. When beneficial bacteria ferment fibre, the process produces short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). These fatty acids provide energy for your gut cells, thereby supporting your gut barrier and preventing harmful gut bacteria and toxic compounds from entering the bloodstream, where they are likely to cause disease. 

4. Inhibit cancer growth 

Diets high in fibre can help prevent cancerous cell growth in the intestine. Firstly, the SCFAs produced through fibre fermentation can inhibit cancerous cell formation and can even lead to the death of cancerous cells. Secondly, as fibre is largely indigestible by our own cells, it can help us with our bowel movement, clearing waste from our gut. Fibre can also bind to certain heavy metals that may be in contact with our intestinal cell wall and help excrete them from the body. Some strains of lactic acid-producing bacteria have also been shown to capture heavy metals, reducing the health hazard of such elements in the gut.¹⁰ Because these beneficial strains feed on soluble fibre, lactic acid-producing bacteria increase their numbers in our gut when we regularly consume foods such as legumes, oats and certain fruits.

Eating a variety of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes and avoiding high sugar, high saturated fat, and ultra-processed foods will help you keep a healthy gut microbiota. A balanced plant-based diet can help fend off harmful bacteria, avoid inflammation and contribute to optimal gut function. 
 

Keep updated with the latest news about your food with our newsletter.

Subscribe

Most viewed

Earth First

Sustainable Protein Powders | Whey vs Plant-Based Protein Supplements

Aran Shaunak

Whether for health reasons or to improve athletic performance, many people turn to protein…

Earth First

Seafood Fraud in The Supply Chain

Silvia Lazzaris

It might be easy to recognise a chicken from a pigeon, but it’s not that easy when it comes to…

Earth First

Extra Virgin Olive Oil | Real or Fake Olive Oil?

Dr Michelle Spence

Extra virgin olive oil is hailed for its health benefits and superior taste, but it’s also a…

Earth First

Building a Future with Crops From the Past

Benedetta Gori

Beyond the familiar fields of wheat, rice, and maize lies a forgotten realm of diverse crops that…

Earth First

Seaweed Harvesting in The Netherlands I Ask the Expert

Kim Verhaeghe

Jan Kruijsse harvests seaweed for a living. He sells it to restaurants, fishmongers and food…

Earth First

What Does the “Meatless” in Your Meatless Burger Really Mean?

Caleb Danziger

The world’s population is expanding, which means we need new techniques to feed ourselves…

Earth First

Regenerative Agriculture: How Did It Start And Where Is It Headed?

Silvia Lazzaris

Regenerative agriculture promises to leave the land in a better state than before somebody farmed…

Earth First

Are We Eating the ‘Right’ Seafood?

Moray Swanson

Over the past 50 years, our global demand for seafood has increased substantially. So why are we…

Earth First

Crops That Feed The World | Wheat

Madhura Rao

In many ways, wheat is a symbol of human evolution. A robust ancient grain that has sustained life…

Earth First

Fungi in Sustainable Food Production

Anne Reshetnyak

Fungi are not just fun to forage and delicious to eat, they can also be useful for food…

Earth First

Recycling Food Waste: 6 Unusual Food Waste Inventions

Annabel Slater

Food waste can contain valuable products. Across the globe, innovative scientists and designers are…

References
  1. Clapp M, Aurora N, Herrera L, Bhatia M, Wilen E, Wakefield S (2017). “Gut microbiota's effect on mental health: The gut-brain axis”. Accessed 31 August 2020.
  2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Adult obesity causes and consequences”. Accessed 31 August 2020.
See MoreSee Less

Keep updated with the latest news about your food with our newsletter

Subscribe

Follow Us