Kenneth Glad
Plant-based diets often promise perfect health. We usually assume that skipping meat automatically creates the ideal environment inside our bodies. But a new study reveals that the reality hiding in our digestive systems is much more complicated.
Recently, researchers at the University of Copenhagen investigated how daily food choices shape our internal ecosystems. The team examined the gut bacteria of 150 people.
Scientists fully expected the plant-based group to show superior results across the board. The final data told a completely different story.
According to the university, the researchers discovered that the vegan group actually had less diversity in their gut bacteria than regular meat-eaters.
“It was a huge surprise,” Professor Oluf Borbye Pedersen said in a press release.
The missing ingredient
“Because vegans exclusively eat plant food and therefore many dietary fibers and other health-promoting plant substances that stimulate the gut’s microlife, we expected that the group of vegans would have a higher diversity of gut bacteria than the omnivores. But they did not,” the professor explained.
The research team quickly found an explanation in the participants’ protein intake. Protein made up 17 percent of the omnivores’ diets, while the vegan group only hit 12 percent.
“The study points out that the average lower diversity of gut bacteria among the vegans may be due to their lower intake of protein,” Pedersen said.
The professor noted, however, that vegans who consumed the most protein maintained a gut diversity that matched the meat-eaters perfectly.
Like a rainforest
“Protein may therefore possibly be an overlooked factor for a diverse microlife in the guts of vegans,” Pedersen added.
“Our guts are a hugely complex ecosystem,” Pedersen stated via the university release. “You can compare it to the ecosystem in a rainforest, which ideally should have as many different species as possible to be in balance. That is how it is with our inner microlife too,” he said.
Despite the lower bacterial diversity, the vegan participants still showed excellent overall health markers across the board. They had lower blood sugar, reduced cholesterol, and fewer signs of inflammation.
“With the exception of the reduced diversity of gut bacteria, we found that the vegans had a health-promoting microlife in the gut,” Pedersen clarified. The scientists now advise people on plant-based diets to monitor their nutrition carefully.
