Dr Saleyha Ahsan “Some people can eat exactly what they want and never put on any weight whereas others simply need to look at food and they’re piling on the pounds. For years we were told that this couldn’t be true that those who put on weight were secretly eating more or exercising less. Then we started to blame our genes, but now there’s a new discovery that could explain this phenomenon and crucially could help us all become healthier and slimmer without counting calories using a personalised diet plan.
Personalised Diet Plan from Israel
A team here in Israel, have found that different people do react differently to different types of food and what they’ve found is that it’s not so much to do with our genes but our gut bacteria.
All of us have thousands of different microbes living in our gut, they’re key to how we process food. And this new research suggests that our own personal combination of bacteria can make a real difference. To find out how, I’m going to become part of a huge trial that’s being carried out on a thousand volunteers.
First, I have to give a poo or a stool sample and I’m being fitted with a glucometer, a device which will measure my blood sugar levels constantly for the next week. When we eat, our blood sugar levels go up, but if they go up too high and too quickly, in a spike, this can increase our risk of putting on weight and type 2 diabetes.
Some foods have long been thought particularly bad at causing blood sugar spikes, but the researchers here now think those foods are different for each of us.as Dr Eran Segal explains.”
A personally-tailored diet to suit your own gut bacteria
Dr Eran Segal “We can understand which foods for individuals, in particular, spike their blood sugar levels then we might be able to recommend for them personally tailored diets that would achieve and normalise blood glucose levels in these individuals.”
Dr Saleyha Ahsan “So why do you need the stool sample?”
Dr Eran Segal
Dr Eran Segal “From the stool we can actually extract the collection of microbes that live there. There’s been many different studies showing the very intimate relationships between us and our gut microbes. If you take gut microbes from an overweight person or a lean person and you transfer them into mice, the ones who receive microbes from the overweight person will increase body weight and become obese very quickly compared with others on exactly the same diet who will not gain weight.”
Dr Saleyha Ahsan “Each one of us has our own unique set of gut bacteria and the theory is that this explains why different foods cause sugar spikes in different people. So, I’m going to put that to the test.
So, I’m all kitted out now in exactly the same way as all the other hundreds of people involved in the team’s study. They’ve got a sample of my gut bacteria and this little monitor will be keeping an eye on my blood sugar levels throughout the week.
Leila
Another volunteer, Leila, is starting the same experiment alongside me. We’re the same gender and age and for the next week we’re going to do, and eat all the same things, but both of us have different gut microbes, so will this make us respond differently to the same foods. A week of careful monitoring will tell us.
The next morning, Leila and I start the experiment. We’re going to be following how our blood sugar levels react, throughout the day, to the same foods, using finger-prick tests that give an instant result.
The researchers have given us a really exciting breakfast; four slices of white bread. This, according to the textbooks, should cause us both a rapid spike in blood sugar levels. I had the expected spike but Leila’s blood sugar remained at a lower, healthier level.
Over the next week, we’ll continue to test our bodys’ reactions to a whole range of common foods to find out which give each of us a bad sugar spike, and which don’t.
From our results, the researchers will be able to relate our gut bacteria to the foods that give us a bad sugar spike and give each of us a personalised diet plan to avoid them. But, the team here think they can do even more than that. As Dr Eran Elinav, the project’s other lead researcher explains they believe they can actually change our gut bacteria giving us a healthier response to food.
Dr Eran Elinav “There’s several ways that are under intense research at our lab and nutrition is the strongest influencer of the competition in gut bacteria, so if we take, for example, a situation in which a person is eating meat then stops and becomes a vegetarian. We can measure the gut microbes, and within days, there will be a dramatic change in the composition and function of the gut microbes.”
Dr Saleyha Ahsan “So, you’re training your gut microbes?”
Dr Eran Elinav
Dr Eran Elinav “Exactly, this is like training your muscles, your training your other organ which is our gut microbes.”
Dr Saleyha Ahsan “The idea that food affects us so differently and that we can alter that affect is brand-new to me. I’ve accepted the view that some foods give all of us a sugar spike and others didn’t. But during this week i’ve seen hints that this isn’t quite true. So, I’m really looking forward to seeing what the entire picture look like with all of my results.
Researchers believe that what’s good for one person could be bad for another because of differences in the bacteria we all have in our gut. If true, this could change diet advice for ever.
Dr Eran Segal is about to reveal our results.”
Dr Eran Segal “Basically, we have analysed everything that you ate. So there are certain items that we identified as being good, good in the sense that they did not raise your blood sugar levels, and we can put that into categories.”
Dr Saleyha Ahsan “Cereal, grapes, tomato soup and sushi all turn out to give me a bad spike in sugar levels. Increasing my risks of type 2 diabetes and putting on weight. But, cola, ice-cream, chocolate and croissants are all on my good list. It’s all very surprising.
Personalised Diet
Compared to mine, Leila’s result just goes to show how different individuals are. Several foods like banana, croissants and nuts had opposite effects on the two of us and this means that standard healthy eating advice is doing some of us no good at all.”
Dr Eran Segal “This is showing the results of two individuals, but we’ve tested close to a thousand individuals and, for example, if a dietician tells them to eat wholegrain rice and we see that many people spike with rice and they don’t know it then that good advice could have harmful effects.”
Dr Saleyha Ahsan “But the team think that knowing our gut microbes could help.”
Dr Eran Segal “Comparing you and Leila we found very big differences in your microbial composition. Leila has a good bacterial composition but it’s much more diverse and more diversity is a good thing to have.”
Dr Saleyha Ahsan “If I follow the diet you’ve given me then I could end up with more colourful charts?”
Dr Eran Segal “You might! And then after altering your good bacteria your response to foods might improve overall. ”
Dr Saleyha Ahsan “These results are fascinating. And clearly, I have to try what the researchers are suggesting. Looking ahead, and I am so excited about this personalised diet, I’m going to stick to the good food diet, I’m going to avoid the bad food diet and then we’re going to retest my gut bacteria to see if there’s been any difference. and according to Eran there should be.
So for two weeks, it’s out with the red foods and in with the green.
Meanwhile, back in Israel, the team are analysing my gut bacteria and stool samples I send them Now it’s time to find out what they’ve seen.”
Dr Eran Elinav “Your microbial situation dramatically changed. In both aspects it changed for the better.”
Dr Saleyha Ahsan “The results are incredibly promising, if I keep to the personalised diet my gut bacteria should continue to change, my health should improve and I may even lose some weight. This research is truly revolutionary and has the potential to transform our health in the future.”
References
Personalised Diet - BBC Magazine
All of the above information came from the BBC series Trust Me, I’m a Doctor
