Polyphenols and Probiotics for the Microbiota
PERSPECTIVE
David Seaman
DC
David Seaman, DC, is a consultant for Anabolic Laboratories and has designed several nutritional supplements. He has authored many articles on the topics of diet, inflammation, and pain. His most recent book written for laypeople is The DeFlame Diet. He posts regular DeFlame nutrition updates at DeFlame Nutrition on YouTube andFacebook.
Early cultures consumed fermented foods alongside whole foods, staying active. Today, probiotics aren’t a substitute for an unhealthy diet.
When it comes to improving gut health, virtually everyone thinks about probiotic supplements, drinks, and foods. Simultaneously, virtually no one ever thinks or asks about polyphenols for gut health. This is not unreasonable since polyphenols have never been promoted as a healthy modulator of the microbiota, so most people are unaware of this well-documented relationship.1’2
In contrast, fermented foods have been around for all our lives, so we don’t think about how they became foods or developed a healthy reputation. The same holds true for the abundance of probiotic supplements.
With that in mind, we need to also appreciate that, at some point in history, people had to make the choice to eat foods that were fermenting and learned about their safety, health benefits, and shelf life or eating window. I do not know when that occurred, but we do know that fermented foods were consumed by early African, Egyptian, and Chinese cultures, so they have been around for thousands of years.34
It is important to recognize that the people of our early cultures would have consumed fermented foods in addition to other healthy whole foods. They also would have been physically active more than today by virtue of having less technology and automation.
Today, people believe that eating yogurt or taking a probiotic supplement can make up for eating an unhealthy diet, which is not possible to any appreciable degree, especially if someone is obese and hyperglycemic. We must also appreciate that people can live a healthy life for 80 or more years and rarely eat fermented foods, so observationally, we clearly do not need fermented foods or probiotics to maintain a healthy gut and body. So it is reasonable to question the habit of taking probiotics; is it worth it, and are they necessary?
Prior to the modern era, most people ate what could be called a “latitude diet,” i.e., that they ate the animals and vegetation growing naturally in the local climate. No matter the latitude, people within various populations never ate refined sugars, flours, or oils because they were not available. Consequently, it would have been very difficult to dietarily inflame the gut and body. It turns out that the polyphenols in vegetation have a modulatory effect on our gut microbiota.5 Evidence suggests that carotenoids from vegetation are readily absorbed, while polyphenols are absorbed less efficiently and travel to the colon, where they modulate bacteria to help maintain a state of homeostasis and symbiosis with human cells.6
When humans stop eating vegetation and overeat refined sugars, flours, and oils, the gut flora and body suffer a double proinflammatory hit. First, we lose the anti-inflammatory benefits of vegetation. Second, we suffer the intestinal and systemic proinflammatory effects of overeating refined food calories. The answer to this problem is not supplementation with probiotics, which does not mean that I am opposed to probiotics. My point is that if the diet is overburdened by refined food calories and lacking in vegetation (the nonn for Americans), then probiotic supplements and foods will have a minimal healthy effect.
To reduce the intestinal and systemic inflammatory states, people need to reduce their overconsumption of refined-food calories so that blood glucose (fasting, postprandial, and Ale), lipid, and C-reactive protein levels normalize. In other words, “washboard” abs are not required to be properly “DeFlamed.” Most people can achieve this outcome and still eat condiment-portioned “desserts” on a regular basis.
The key is for these people to significantly reduce their consumption of refined foods and simultaneously identify their favorite fruits and vegetables and eat them regularly. In addition to these dietary changes, eating probiotic-rich foods (yogurt, sauerkraut, etc.) and supplementing with polyphenols and probiotics can further reduce an individual’s inflammatory burden, as made evident by studies that have identified beneficial outcomes.6 Ginger is one of the best sources of anti-inflammatory polyphenols, and it is very cheap as a raw herb or supplement. Most companies also have reasonably priced polyphenol and probiotic supplements.
Patients will ask you how long it takes to reduce their inflammatory states. Studies have demonstrated that a rapid reduction of inflammation occurs when people “DeFlame” their diets as described earlier, and that occurs long before body weight normalizes.78 Even fatty liver can nonnalize without achieving a nonnal body weight.9
References
1. Kemperman, R. A.. Bolca, S., Roger, L. C., & Vaughan, E. E. (2010). Novel approaches for analysing gut microbes and dietary polyphenols: challenges and opportunities. Microbiology (Reading, England), 156(Pt 11), 3224-3231. https://doi.Org/10.1099/mic.0.042127-0
2. Moco, S., Martin, F. R, & Rezzi, S. (2012). Metabolomics view on gut microbiome modulation bv polyphenol-rich foods. Journal of Proteome Research, 7/(10), 4781-4790. https://doi.org/10.1021/ pr300581s
3. Odunfa, S.A. (1988) African fermented foods: From art to science. MIRCEN Journal of Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology 4, 259-273. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF010961324.
4. Anukam, K. C., & Reid, G. (2009). African traditional fennented foods and probiotics. Journal' of Medicinal' Food, 12(6), 1177-1184. https://doi.org/! 0,1089/imf.2008,0163
5. Rastmanesh R. (2011). High polyphenol, low probiotic diet for weight loss because of intestinal microbiota interaction. Chemico-Biological Interactions, 189(1-2), 1-8. https://doi.Org/10.1016/i, cbi.2010,10,002
6. Seaman, D.R. (2016). The DeFlame Diet: DeFlame Your Diet. Body, and Mind. Shadow Panther Press.
7. Perez-Guisado, J., Munoz-Serrano, A., & Alonso-Moraga, A. (2008). Spanish ketogenic Mediterranean diet: A healthy cardiovascular diet for weight loss. Nutrition Journal, 7, 30. https://doi. org/10,1186/1475-2891-7-30
8. Perez-Guisado, J., & Munoz-Serrano, A. (2011). Apilot study of the Spanish ketogenic Mediterranean diet: An effective therapy for the metabolic syndrom q. Journal of Medicinal Food, 7-/(7-8), 681-687. https://doi.org/10.1089/imf.2010.Q1379
9. Perez-Guisado, J., & Munoz-Serrano, A. (2011). The effect of the Spanish ketogenic Mediterranean diet on nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: A pilot study. Journal of Medicinal Food, 7-/(7-8), 677-680. https://doi.org/10.1089/imf.2011.0075
