What Your Microbiome Wants for Dinner • Hacker News Board

Re: What Your Microbiome Wants for Dinner

#61

Post by cimbal » Fri, Dec 11, 2015, 2:22 AM UTC

_fs wrote: post #8

One topic that was not mentioned in the article that I have found fascinating is that your gut microbiome can actually affect your cravings. (1) Your microbiome accomplishes this through a host of mechanisms including changing the expression of taste receptors, making certain foods taste better; they may release hunger-inducing hormones; or they may manipulate the vagus nerve (which connects the stomach to the brain)…

I think cravings are mostly an expression of a finely tuned feedback mechanism of the body to tell you what kinds of nutrients and minerals are currently lacking the most. The better you train this system by eating very varied, trying out all kinds of non processed foods, the better it works. Search for 'magnesium deficiency and cravings' for a start. There should be other papers on the topic but i can't find anything right now.

But i'm not saying that there is no such thing as the microbiome directly influencing your brain, bacteria produce a wide array of by-products. In which way these by-products affect our bodies is exactly the question. I just want to point out that there are types of dysbioses that can reduce the ability to absord certain nutrients and by that could exacerbate the problem of cravings.

Re: What Your Microbiome Wants for Dinner

#62

Post by 1535536 » Fri, Dec 11, 2015, 2:50 AM UTC

asciimo wrote: post #7

This article opens with, "[New science] is also showing us that advocates of trendy paleo and vegan diets are missing the big picture of how our omnivorous digestive system works." But it concludes with, "Pick a modest-sized plate and make meals using vegetables, legumes, leafy greens, beans, fruits, and unmilled whole grains as the main ingredients. Add some meat if you want and dollops of healthy fats on the side o…

Err not really. The typical vegan diet contains large amounts of potato, heavily refined carbohydrates, and processed foods. It also lacks an emphasis on probiotic and prebiotic foods such as sauerkraut. The article also didn't say the diets were massively different, but rather that they had a different emphasis. You can eat a vegan diet and avoid all of the prebiotic and probiotic foods.

Re: What Your Microbiome Wants for Dinner

#63

Post by 1535536 » Fri, Dec 11, 2015, 2:54 AM UTC

clock_tower wrote: post #59

hondo77 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dairy.

My thought as well. Milk, cheese, and eggs are unfashionable at the moment, for whatever reason; but that doesn't make them less valuable or desirable. Is animal welfare the reason for dairy goods being out of fashion? I doubt it; it's easy to come by humane milk and eggs, although humane cheese, butter, kefir, yogurt, etc. are less common. And yet, vegans are the new vegetarians -- even the Jains are going vegan --…

The milk that many regions of the world consumed was genetically different to the most common milk that humans consume today. It has been proven that a2 milk is digested differently to a1 milk.

I switched to a2 milk and the difference to my digestive system was extremely obvious. Time will show that for many people, if they consume milk, it should be a2 milk.

Re: What Your Microbiome Wants for Dinner

#64

Post by PerfectElement » Fri, Dec 11, 2015, 4:36 AM UTC

1535536 wrote: post #62

asciimo wrote: post #7

This article opens with, "[New science] is also showing us that advocates of trendy paleo and vegan diets are missing the big picture of how our omnivorous digestive system works." But it concludes with, "Pick a modest-sized plate and make meals using vegetables, legumes, leafy greens, beans, fruits, and unmilled whole grains as the main ingredients. Add some meat if you want and dollops of healthy fats on the side o…

Err not really. The typical vegan diet contains large amounts of potato, heavily refined carbohydrates, and processed foods. It also lacks an emphasis on probiotic and prebiotic foods such as sauerkraut. The article also didn't say the diets were massively different, but rather that they had a different emphasis. You can eat a vegan diet and avoid all of the prebiotic and probiotic foods.

There's no typical vegan diet, just like there's no typical non-vegan diet. Vegans can eat whole foods, junk food, high-carb, low-carb, high-protein, etc. There's no macro or micro nutrient that comes exclusively from animals. (Btw, I've never seen Sauerkraut that wasn't vegan.)

I've been vegan for 10 years, have lived in 3 different countries and have met a lot of vegans, usually in situations where food was involved. My personal experience indicates that, overall, vegans eat less processed/refined foods than non-vegans and are more knowledgeable about nutrition than the average.

Re: What Your Microbiome Wants for Dinner

#65

Post by PerfectElement » Fri, Dec 11, 2015, 4:53 AM UTC

pedalpete wrote: post #44

NikolaeVarius wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course paleo is absolute BS, so why does it matter?

rather than just saying an absolute, why not give some facts as to why "you agree with those who say paleo is BS". I'm not suggesting it isn't but your dismissive comment doesn't enlighten those who are not aware of the controversy.

Not explicitly about paleo, but with lots of anti-paleo evidence: http://www.amazon.com/How-Not-Die-Discover-Scientifically-eb...

Re: What Your Microbiome Wants for Dinner

#66

Post by kevin_thibedeau » Fri, Dec 11, 2015, 5:35 AM UTC

kuschku wrote: post #56

OldSchoolJohnny wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No matter the seed you will find in the vast majority of cases they contain anti-nutrients that are toxic to mammals. Lectins, glutens, phytates, etc.

Since when is gluten "toxic", not just "leads to an allergic reaction in a minority of the population"?

How dare you let reason get in the way of the pitchfork masses.

Re: What Your Microbiome Wants for Dinner

#67

Post by r00fus » Fri, Dec 11, 2015, 5:56 AM UTC

kuschku wrote: post #55

magicalist wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's possible that grain causes subtle long-term damage that mostly kills people past reproductive age, whereas lactose tolerance is of immediate benefit. Sure, and it's also possible the human body has already adapted to processing grains without long term damage, and it's possible that there was never any damage by consuming grains in the first place (the body is highly adaptable). All this line of argument is st…

And, as many gluten-sensitive (but not allergic) people told in a recent thread on reddit, where the topic came up, they have next to no issue with the hand-baked bread you find in small bakeries in Europe, but the issues often only show when eating mass-produced bread. It’s more likely that gluten sensitivity is just caused by a cross-interaction with an additive used for bleaching or similar.

More likely glycophosphates (roundup)

Re: What Your Microbiome Wants for Dinner

#68

Post by arjie » Fri, Dec 11, 2015, 7:06 AM UTC

1535536 wrote: post #63

clock_tower wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My thought as well. Milk, cheese, and eggs are unfashionable at the moment, for whatever reason; but that doesn't make them less valuable or desirable. Is animal welfare the reason for dairy goods being out of fashion? I doubt it; it's easy to come by humane milk and eggs, although humane cheese, butter, kefir, yogurt, etc. are less common. And yet, vegans are the new vegetarians -- even the Jains are going vegan --…

The milk that many regions of the world consumed was genetically different to the most common milk that humans consume today. It has been proven that a2 milk is digested differently to a1 milk. I switched to a2 milk and the difference to my digestive system was extremely obvious. Time will show that for many people, if they consume milk, it should be a2 milk.

If anyone else wants a quick summary of what you can find on Google Scholar for this: There is currently no strong evidence in support of the idea that A2 milk has better digestive or other health properties than A1 milk. Most of the stuff I found out there concluded that there was no significant difference, and the few that I found on the rest of the Internet were contradicted elsewhere.

Re: What Your Microbiome Wants for Dinner

#69

Post by 1535537 » Fri, Dec 11, 2015, 7:15 AM UTC

PerfectElement wrote: post #64

1535536 wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Err not really. The typical vegan diet contains large amounts of potato, heavily refined carbohydrates, and processed foods. It also lacks an emphasis on probiotic and prebiotic foods such as sauerkraut. The article also didn't say the diets were massively different, but rather that they had a different emphasis. You can eat a vegan diet and avoid all of the prebiotic and probiotic foods.

There's no typical vegan diet, just like there's no typical non-vegan diet. Vegans can eat whole foods, junk food, high-carb, low-carb, high-protein, etc. There's no macro or micro nutrient that comes exclusively from animals. (Btw, I've never seen Sauerkraut that wasn't vegan.) I've been vegan for 10 years, have lived in 3 different countries and have met a lot of vegans, usually in situations where food was involve…

My experience is that they eat a lot of potato chips and biscuits. Where do you get your vitamin b12 from?

Regardless, the rest of my comment points out why the person I was replying to is wrong. Even your comment points it out. All you need to do to be a vegan is not eat animal products. This means you can avoid all of the foods that are good for your biome. That was the entire point of the quote from the article that was completely missed by the op.

In addition, not all vegetables are equal with regards to bacteria.

Re: What Your Microbiome Wants for Dinner

#70

Post by 1535537 » Fri, Dec 11, 2015, 7:20 AM UTC

arjie wrote: post #68

1535536 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The milk that many regions of the world consumed was genetically different to the most common milk that humans consume today. It has been proven that a2 milk is digested differently to a1 milk. I switched to a2 milk and the difference to my digestive system was extremely obvious. Time will show that for many people, if they consume milk, it should be a2 milk.

If anyone else wants a quick summary of what you can find on Google Scholar for this: There is currently no strong evidence in support of the idea that A2 milk has better digestive or other health properties than A1 milk. Most of the stuff I found out there concluded that there was no significant difference, and the few that I found on the rest of the Internet were contradicted elsewhere.

This is correct and does not contradict anything I said. It is quite easy to try it for yourself and see if it does anything. Of course you will want to avoid consuming large amounts of other dairy sources while you are trying it.