Leading gut-health scientist Dr Megan Rossi on what a diet abundant in plants can do for your body and mind
Restrictive diets don’t do gut health any favours.
People hear about how the gut is connected with our brain, heart health and weight management, so they want to do what’s best, but they think that means a restrictive diet. I’m working at the forefront of this research and it’s saying the exact opposite – that people with a more diverse diet have better gut health. It’s very much a Mediterranean way of eating and is about what you can add in, rather than what you take out.
The humble apple contains almost 300 different plant chemicals, and each does different things in our body. What’s more, different bacteria in our gut like different types of plant chemicals. If we were to just eat broccoli, we’d only be feeding the broccoli-liking bacteria, and we’d starve out the other bacteria that like whole grains, cashews or chickpeas.
Fifty grams of fibre a day nourishes the gut-brain axis. When I started studying dietetics 15 years ago, we were taught that diet had only a small role in our mental health. Then, in 2017, a landmark paper showed that a gut-boosting diet can have an important impact on mental health. The diet they gave people included 50g of fibre a day – in the UK, people get less than 20g.
Seventy percent of our immune system lives in the gut, so gut health and immune health go hand in hand. A fascinating pilot study has shown that people with good gut health who get Covid-19 are less likely to be severely unwell. The gut is constantly in that two-way communication, teaching the bacteria and the immune system how to cope with invaders.
Plant-based doesn’t necessarily mean plant-only.
The base of our diet should be plants, then whatever you add on top is up to you. If you want to go 100% plant-based for environmental and animal cruelty reasons, you need to be conscious of key nutrients you could be los
