Consumption of fruits and vegetables is beneficial for the diversity of the intestinal microbiota. For the first time, researchers have proven this in a study.
- The intestinal microbiota corresponds to all the microorganisms present in our intestines.
- According to a study, consuming fruits and vegetables helps improve your diversity.
- The effects are significant during early childhood, but then continue throughout life.
We have as many microorganisms in our intestines as there are cells in our body. “This collection of non-pathogenic bacteria, viruses, parasites and fungi constitutes our intestinal microbiota (or intestinal flora).”explain Inserm. Its diversity is a guarantee of good health, and according to a recent study, eating fruits and vegetables contributes to the variety of the microbiota. The results of this research are published in Gut Microbes.
How to analyze the effects of fruits and vegetables on the human microbiota?
The notion of microbiota is not reserved for humans: animals and plants are also colonized by microorganisms. But the scientific literature has paid little attention to the links between these different microbiota. “It is known that a significant part of the maternal microbiome is transferred to the baby at birth, and the same thing happens during the breastfeeding period via breast milk, specify the authors in the preamble to their study. Other sources still remained to be discovered.“The discovery of these was the subject of their work. To achieve this, they reconstructed the genomes of 156 fruits and vegetables to identify the bacteria present, then they compared them to nearly 2,500 genomes from human intestines, taken from the stool analysis. At the same time, they also used data concerning the eating habits of the individuals who provided the samples.”Thanks to this large dataset, the presence of fruit and vegetable microflora in the intestine could be demonstrated“, conclude scientists from the University of Graz, located in Austria.
Microbiota and diet: we are what we eat
They were able to confirm that the frequency of consumption of fruits and vegetables and their variety influence the quantity of bacteria in the human intestine. “Evidence that microorganisms from fruits and vegetables can colonize the human gut has been established for the first time“, estimates the main author of this research Wisnu Adi Wicaksono. According to him, this proves the benefits of consuming fruits and vegetables, particularly during early childhood, on our intestinal flora. “Early childhood represents a window of opportunity for colonization by plant-associated bacteria.“, note the researcher and his co-authors. This consumption has a positive influence on the “development of the immune system during the first three years of life, as the gut microbiome develops during this time”. But even after that, a good diversity of gut bacteria is beneficial for health. “It simply influences everything, continues Gabriele Berg, co-director of the study. Diversity influences the resilience of the entire organism.”
This work also made it possible to prove that microorganisms of plant origin have probiotic properties, beneficial for health. The term pro-biotic refers to the ability of these foods to enrich the intestinal flora.
What are the future applications of this study on the microbiota and fruits and vegetables?
Gabriele Berg is already working on an intervention study: people residing in three different continents will eat exactly the same thing, for a certain period of time, and then their stools will be analyzed. This will allow us to observe differences between individuals. But for this specialist, different sectors of activity may be affected by the results of this study, in particular food production. “Soil, fertilizers and pesticides affect the plant microbiome“, she recalls. (…) Food storage and processing also need to be critically reconsidered.“But this could also lead to the development of specific recommendations:”Every fruit and vegetable has a unique microbiome. So perhaps at some point a personalized diet can be developed based on this.”she concludes.
