DR MICHAEL MOSLEY: Tuck into prunes, sprouts, cheese and chocolate
Over the next few weeks most of us are going to be consuming lots of chocolate, wine and cheese, which have kindly been made for us by bacteria and fungi. These tiny microbes do the hard work of converting raw ingredients into the foods we enjoy so much.
As well as providing us with delicious foods, microbes — specifically the vast army of those that live in our guts — are also busy churning out chemicals known as postbiotics that improve our health in all sorts of ways.
Regular readers will know all about probiotics, the living microbes found in foods such as yoghurt, sauerkraut, kimchi and some cheeses: these contain ‘good’ bacteria which boost our colony of gut microbes (the microbiome).
You probably also recognise the term prebiotics — foods such as legumes, whole grains, and some vegetables, that are rich in fibre and feed our good gut bacteria.
But postbiotics may be new to you.
To give them something to chew on, make sure the meal contains plenty of fibre: lots of vegetables (more Brussels sprouts, anyone?)
These are the chemicals the good microbes produce and they are a really hot area of research. They’re thought to be key to why our gut microbes are linked to a range of benefits, such as a better functioning immune system, a reduced risk of allergies and lower levels of depression and anxiety.
One of the postbiotics proving particularly interesting is butyrate. A type of short-chain fatty acid, it helps maintain the gut lining, the barrier that stops bacteria and other toxins escaping into your blood. If this lining starts to break down, a condition known as leaky gut syndrome can develop, which can lead to all sorts of distressing problems including irritable bowel syndrome. And if fragments of partially digested food leak from the gut, it can trigger allergic reactions.
Butyrate also helps regulate your immune system and reduce chronic inflammation (linked to a host of conditions, including heart disease, dementia and cancer). And one of…
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