Tomatoes is is God's mercy
A recent study showed that two weeks of eating a diet heavy in tomatoes shifted the gut bacteria of young pigs toward a more favourable profile.
The study's findings were disseminated in the journal Microbiology Spectrum.
The research team intends to move on to similar studies in people after observing these outcomes with a brief intervention, searching for health-related links between tomato consumption and modifications to the human gut microbiome, the community of microorganisms residing in the gastrointestinal tract.
According to senior author Jessica Cooperstone, an assistant professor of horticulture and crop science as well as food science and technology at The Ohio State University, "it's possible that tomatoes transfer benefits through their modulation of the gut flora."
Overall dietary trends have been linked to variations in microbiome composition, but less is known about the effects of particular foods, according to Cooperstone.
The ultimate goal is to determine in people the function of these specific microbes and how they might influence possible health effects.
The tomatoes utilised in the study were the kind normally found in canned tomato products, and they were created by Ohio State plant breeder, tomato geneticist, and co-author David Francis.
Ten recently weaned control pigs were fed a conventional diet, and ten more pigs were administered a standard diet that had been modified so that 10% of the meal was a freeze-dried tomato powder.
Microbiome
 |
| It appears that tomatoes promote gut health (Unsplash) |
For both diets, the amounts of fibre, sugar, protein, fat, and calories were the same. To ensure that any microbiome alterations observed with the study diet could be traced to chemical compounds in the tomatoes, the control and study pig populations were kept apart, and the researchers conducting the study spent as little time as possible with the pigs.
Faecal samples collected prior to the study's start as well as seven and 14 days after the introduction of the diet revealed the presence of microbial communities in the pigs' guts.
To sequence every piece of microbial DNA present in the samples, the scientists employed a process known as shotgun metagenomics.
The diversity of microbe species in the pigs' guts rose, and the concentrations of two types of common bacteria in the mammal microbiome moved to a more favourable profile, according to the results.
The microbiome's higher proportion of the phyla Bacteroidota (previously known as Bacteriodetes) to Bacillota (previously known as Firmicutes) has been found to be associated with favourable health outcomes, while other studies have linked the opposite proportion—a higher proportion of Bacillota—to obesity.
About 22% of the vegetables consumed in Western diets are tomatoes, and prior studies have linked tomato consumption to a lower risk of developing a number of ailments, including cardiovascular disease and several malignancies.
Although the effect of tomatoes on the gut microbiome is yet unknown, Cooperstone said these results in pigs, whose gastrointestinal tract is more comparable to the human GI system than that of rodents, suggest it's a direction worth investigating.
We have identified the microorganisms that are present and how the tomato intervention has changed their relative abundance. This was our first examination into how tomato eating may affect the microbiome, she added.
"We need to conduct more of this type of long-term research in humans if we are to truly grasp the mechanisms. We also want to comprehend how eating these meals alters the makeup of the microorganisms that are present and what that accomplishes in terms of functionality.
"Better knowledge could result in more dietary recommendations for long-term health that are supported by data."
Click Next Article (4 Left to get CODE)
Post a Comment