Gut Health May Suffer With Low-Carb Diet

Filed in archive Investigational , Studies on June 21, 2007

A new Scottish study revealed that eating a low-carb diet (like the once popular atkins diet) will lead to a poor gut health because certain types of bacteria in athe stomachs of obese men may be adversely affected.

Raising concerns about the impact of the prolonged use of very low-carbohydrate weight-loss diets on gut health, the scientists at Aberdeen's Rowett Research Institute, reported that a continuous, long time low-carb diet may also adversely affect the gut bacterial populations that beneficially produce a substance called butyrate - key player in keeping one's gut healthy including prevention from colorectal cancer.

According to lead author Sylvia Duncan:

"The changes in faecal butyrate in the present study represent the largest reported in a human dietary trial and provide the strongest evidence to date that butyrate production is largely determined by the content of fermentable carbohydrate in the diet.

Furthermore, this study has provided clear evidence that the proportions of certain groups of colonic bacteria, as monitored in faecal samples, respond to dietary carbohydrate intake.

The once fashionable Atkins diet lost its popularity when experts and critics have linked its prolonged use to a higher risk of clogged arteries and heart attack. We should also remember that low-carb diets like Atkins was originally intended for the extremely clinically obese who needed drastic loss of weight.

These new findings are published in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

Find more details from the full report.