A recent study found that modern food forms have negative effect on the intestinal microbial activity in
children, concluding that traditional
diet based on food of plant origin is a much healthier option. As Alex Oppenheim Omaha explains, this survey included children
aged 9 to 11, from 17
urban and 28 rural schools. Nutrition information was provided to parents by
scientists, including a list of individual dishes, ingredients used and the
amount of food consumed at each meal (breakfast, lunch, dinner and all meals).The
data was collected for seven days, and scientists then calculated for each
child the daily intake of energy and nutrients. After that, they took stool
sample of each child.
According to the collected data, children from urban areas mostly consumed modern fat-rich foods, while children from
rural areas consumed wild non-greasy,
mostly
plant based. By analyzing the children’s stool samples, scientists
discovered that the intestinal microbiota of children from urban areas,
compared to children living in
rural areas, is less diverse and has low levels of butyrate and
propionate. Alex Oppenheim Omaha, an expert in the field of Biological Sciences, believes that the best
way to eat healthy is to eat seasonally. Most people have a pretty good idea
that fruits, vegetables, and whole grains are good for them. But figuring out
what to do with these foods or how to eat them is where a lot of people get
wrong.
The samples
were further classified into 5 groups according to their metabolic type (MT). The first
group of MT1 (17 samples) had high concentration of short chain fatty acids and
medium length chains. The second MT2 group (7 samples) had a high level of
amino acid. The third group of MT3 (6 samples) had an abundance of arginine,
and the fourth MT4 (4 samples) had a low level of metabolite. The fifth group
(8 samples) had a high amine level. MT1 and MT4 are children from rural areas,
MT2 and MT3 from urban areas, while MT5 includes 3 urban and 5 rural children.
The study
concluded that children living
in urban areas get
up to 35% more than the recommended intake, and plant based foods encourage fermentation of short-chain fatty
acids in the colon, protect against fatty foods and reduce the risk of
metabolic diseases such as diabetes. Last but not least, Alex Oppenheim Omaha stresses that by embracing
traditional diet we can rediscover the joy in eating, without the temptation
or guilt that is associated with dieting today.
