04/05/2025
Fiber is what our good gut bacteria thrive on. It’s their fuel source. When we eat whole plant foods, like fruits, vegetables, beans, and whole grains, we are telling our gut flora to be fruitful and multiply.
When the fiber is fermented in the digestion process, our gut flora produce short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). "These SCFAs are then absorbed into our bloodstream from our colon, circulate throughout our body, and even make their way to our brain. These far-reaching fiber-sourced SCFAs may have wide-ranging effects on everything from inflammation and immune function to mental health." We feed our gut flora with fiber, and they turn around and feed us right back with these health-promoting SCFAs.
When we don’t eat enough whole plant foods, we are, in effect, starving our microbial selves. A typical Western diet, one lacking in whole plant-based foods, results in dysbiosis, an imbalance where bad bacteria can take over and may increase our susceptibility to inflammatory diseases, colon cancer, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, or cardiovascular disease.
See the video "Gut Dysbiosis: Starving Our Microbial Self" https://buff.ly/2BJoE0P to learn more.
PMID: 7359576, 24060277, 25198138, 25156449, 24388214, 24230488, 27862824, 28075383, 28925886
