- A new study has shown why eating healthy from an early age is important
- It found that unhealthy eating at an early age can disrupt the delicate balance in one’s gut
- Researchers found that even when a healthier diet is adopted later in life, the effects of the unhealthy diet linger on
The consumption of different foods, as well as medications like antibiotics, can affect the human gut microbiome, which in turn affects how the body functions.
A recent study found that consuming high volumes of fat and sugar as a child can greatly impact the gut for the rest of one’s life, regardless of whether you start eating healthier as an adult.
What is the gut microbiome?
The gut microbiome refers to the array of microorganisms – such as bacteria, viruses and fungi – contained in the human gastrointestinal tract. Each person’s gut microbiome is unique, and its makeup can depend on a range of factors.
Many of these microorganisms are beneficial for normal bodily function, and a healthy body tends to have a balance of these organisms. However, if this balance is disrupted, the body becomes vulnerable to disease.
Studying gut bacteria in mice
Researchers at the University of California used mice to show how an unhealthy diet during early life can affect their gut bacteria even after they matured.
“We studied mice, but the effect we observed is equivalent to kids having a Western diet, high in fat and sugar and their gut microbiome still being affected up to six years after puberty,” Theodore Garland, one of the researchers affiliated with the study, explained.
The team fed half of the mice a healthy diet and the other half were fed an unhealthy Western diet for three weeks, after which all the mice were placed on a standard diet.
Fourteen weeks into the study, the researchers examined how the diets affected the abundance and diversity of gut bacteria in the mice.
Unhealthy diet reduces abundance of microorganisms in the gut
The researchers found that mice who were fed an unhealthy diet had a reduction in the “bacterial richness and diversity”. On the other hand, mice that were fed a standard diet as juveniles had an increase in bacteria known as Muribaculum – bacteria believed to be responsible for the amount of energy the host produces.
While these bacteria were reduced in the group fed a Western diet, the researchers did acknowledge that they are sensitive to exercise, and their presence can be increased through physical activity.
The significance of this study, according to the researchers, was the lasting effects an early-life diet has on the microbiome, even after changing one’s diet.
According to Garland, the overall message of the study is: “You are not only what you eat, but what you ate as a child!”
