This week Tim Spector, alongside a group of international researchers with whom he’s been collaborating, have published an article in the journal “Nature Medicine”.
Tim is a Professor in Epidemiology and a health writer at King’s College, London. I’ve mentioned him in earlier posts and in the resource section of the blog. He is also now more widely known in the UK through his development of the COVID19 app – and the discovery that loss of smell and taste are diagnostic signs of the disease.
You can read a comprehensive summary of these latest research findings here but I’ve quoted from their summary below:
Professor Tim Spector:
“When you eat, you’re not just nourishing your body, you’re feeding the trillions of microbes that live inside your gut. However, until now we have lacked large-scale, high-resolution studies linking these outcomes to individual microbes or to the specific foods we eat. Now, for the first time, we have discovered strong associations between the makeup of an individual’s gut microbiome—more specifically, the presence or absence of “good” and “bad” species—with specific nutrients, foods, food groups, and overall dietary pattern”.
“When we look at the gut microbiome at a strain level, it’s clear that no two people have exactly the same bugs living in their gut. The unique nature of the gut microbiome, combined with the fact that each of us can experience very different blood fat and blood sugar responses after meals, means that there really is no “one-size-fits-all “best” diet that works for everyone. The good news is that our findings point to the gut microbiome as a key target that can be modified through diet to improve our health”… “We have more control over our health and weight than we think, and are not prisoners of our genes!”
It’s very exciting stuff. Eventually we’ll be able to take an easy test and know and understand the profile of our own gut – PREDICT is just being launched in the US. (You have been able to have your microflora analysed for a while, but not at the genetic level of the microbes – and it had its limitations as many of them can’t be cultured outside of the gut). Most significantly, through machine learning and understanding other aspects of our personal health profile (such as BP and blood sugar management etc) we will be able to have advice about cultivating or modifying our specific microbial community.
And when it gets cheap enough and quick enough, it will revolutionise medicine.
It’s very exciting.
Check out their website to register for their latest updates.
Tim Spector has also recently written another book called “SpoonFed”
“We are all bombarded with advice about what we should and shouldn’t eat, and new scientific discoveries are announced every day. Yet the more we are told about nutrition, the less we seem to understand… Tim Spector has been shocked to discover how little good evidence there is for many of our most deep-rooted ideas about food. In a series of short, myth-busting chapters, Spoon-Fed reveals why almost everything we’ve been told about food is wrong. Spector explores the scandalous lack of good science behind many medical and government food recommendations, and how the food industry holds sway over these policies and our choices”.
It wasn’t ground breaking to me, as I have been an avid follower of his work for a few years, alongside others of his ilk. But if you’ve not read widely about the (lack of) science behind “food facts” and the what motivated (often politically / economics) the advice that has stuck with us for so long. Then I heartily recommend it.
And alongside another of my heroes, Tim is Spector in conversation with Dr Rangan Chatterjee. #feelbetterlivemore. See it here:
The Joys and Perils of a daily blog post, documenting what I’ve eaten every day.
Joys
I’m eating and creating loads of fabulous foods; mostly new recipes. My 8 year old has tried some new foods. I’m rediscovering all my cookery books, some which haven’t been opened for months.
Perils
Every post takes considerable time to research, before and after I’ve made and eaten the food. Days 1-11 sometimes I didn’t get to bed until 2am!!
So instead of daily, I’ve decided to blog a couple of times a week, although I am briefly documenting on a daily basis at:
Facebook #31vegetablechallenge & #365plantchallenge
AND I’ve also upped the challenge!
My intention is now to eat 365 different plants, in some form – at some point in the day, for the whole of 2021.
There’s still time if you’d like to join me in either challenge. Still 350 days left of 2021 and 16 in January.
I’ll blog tomorrow on: Carrots, Swede, Romano Peppers and Cauliflower.
Relishing Life - Eating Well 