According to two studies from Penn State University in the US, a few peanuts and a few pinches of herbs and spices could help your gut.
There are trillions of individual organisms in the human gut and stomach. Their importance is so great to our health that scientists think of them as a support organ.
Diet, exercise, and medication are some of the things that can affect a person's gut.
If your gut microbiome isn't fed and nurtured, harmful microbes can grow, while symbiotic ones have more trouble with tasks such as dealing with our immune system.
As research progresses, scientists are getting a better idea of what makes the healthiest communities.
People who have a lot of different microbes have better health and a better diet than people who don't.
A lot of variation in our cultural and personal preferences can be attributed to the way we add zing to our meals.
The effect of herbs and spices on the human gut is being studied by Kris-Etherton and her colleagues.
54 adult participants at risk of cardiovascular disease took part in a four week feeding experiment.
The general menu was designed to reflect the average American diet. Some people were asked to add a small amount of spices to their meals, while others were asked to add a larger amount.
The blend was made up of cinnamon, ginger, cumin, turmeric, Rosemary, oregano, basil, and thyme. The control group was asked to not use any of the spices.
The fecal samples were taken before and after the experiment.
Kris-Etherton says that people can do it.
Everyone could benefit from adding herbs and spices to their diet. It's a way of decreasing the amount of salt in your diet but still making the food taste good.
Recent research shows that herbs and spices are good for the human gut because of their ability to feed healthybacteria.
In a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blinded pilot study, cinnamon, ginger, black pepper, and cayenne pepper were found to cause changes to the gut microbiome within weeks.
The spice blend was directly incorporated into participants' daily meals in the newer study.
The people who ate meals with medium and high amounts of spice had a greater abundance of gutbacteria called Ruminococcaceae. The exact role of this family of microbes in the gut is unknown.
The study found that people who ate spices had lower numbers of pro inflammatory molecule in their gut.
There is more research that needs to be done to figure out how certain spices affect gut microbes and why.
The effect of peanuts on the microbiota was investigated in a recent randomized controlled trial.
Fifty adults all on the same daily diet were included in the study. Participants ate either 28 grams of dry roasted unsalted peanuts or a small sample of cheese and crackers at the end of each day.
The group that snacked on nuts had more Ruminococcaceaebacteria in their gut at the end of the study.
Adding a pinch of spice to your diet probably won't hurt, but it might help, because there's still so much about the gut microbiome that scientists don't know. It will add a bit of flavor.
The peanut study was published in the journal Clinical Nutrition.
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