Increase in diversity and shifts in multiple bacteria, including Faecalibacterium, indicative of prebiotic efficacy on intervention<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter<\/b><\/p>\n
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TUESDAY, Dec. 26, 2023 (HealthDay News) — Adding a cup of beans to the usual diet enhances the gut microbiome and regulates host markers associated with metabolic obesity and colorectal cancer, according to a study published in the December issue of eBioMedicine<\/em>.<\/p>\n Xiaotao Zhang, M.D., Ph.D., from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and colleagues conducted a low-risk, noninvasive dietary intervention targeting the gut microbiota of obese surveillance patients with a history of colorectal neoplasia. After a four-week equilibrium, 55 patients were randomly assigned to continue their usual diet without beans or to add a daily cup of study beans to their usual diet, with immediate crossover at eight weeks.<\/p>\n The researchers found that 87 percent of patients completed the 16-week trial, which demonstrated an increase in diversity and shifts in multiple bacteria indicative of prebiotic efficacy on intervention, including increased Faecalibacterium<\/em>, Eubacterium<\/em>, and Bifidobacterium<\/em>. Parallel shifts were seen in nutrient and microbiome-derived metabolites in the circulating metabolome, including increased pipecolic acid and decreased indole; upon returning to the usual diet, these shifts regressed. Within eight weeks, there were no significant changes seen in circulating lipoproteins; however, there were increases observed in proteomic biomarkers of intestinal and systemic inflammatory response and fibroblast-growth factor-19 and a decrease in interleukin-10 receptor-\u00ce\u00b1.<\/p>\n “Adding one cup of navy beans to the diet on all or most days of the week was a safe, scalable dietary strategy to modulate the gut microbiome of high-risk patients, who may be unwilling or unable to sustain more dramatic changes to their usual dietary pattern without substantial support,” the authors write.<\/p>\n