The addition of raw fruit and vegetables to a child’s diet ensures their beneficial bacteria are thriving. Without a healthy diet, children are prone to many more health issues. It is really easy to add raw fruit to their diet, but what about vegetables? I always recommend putting a whole lot of raw vegetables such as lettuce, carrots, cucumber, celery, capsicum into a food processor each morning to make a tabouli-like mix. Placing this in a glass or stainless steel container in the fridge ensures freshness throughout the day. Then, you can add a tablespoon or two to each meal and mix them with foods like pumpkin and avocado to disguise the taste. Feeding your child raw vegetables from a young age not only develops a healthy gut, it programme’s them for a lifetime of healthy eating. What greater gift could you give?
Two recent studies (Jan 2018) highlight the importance of fibre in the diet to prevent metabolic syndrome, obesity and inflammatory bowel disease. After three days without fibre (raw fruit and vegetables), mice developed metabolic syndrome, weight gain and poor gut barrier integrity. Poor gut integrity leads to inflammatory bowel conditions which eventually impact immunity, metabolism and neurotransmitter production. Poor gut health means children are constantly getting sick with colds and flu’s, they are more likely to develop weight issues such as obesity or failure to thrive and poor production of neurotransmitters impacts their sleep, ability to focus and behaviour.
The first study (Atlanta, USA) examined the beneficial effect of a prebiotic fibre supplement – inulin, on metabolic syndrome and preventing obesity. Researchers put mice on a low fibre diet, (low in raw fruits and vegetables), and the mice developed metabolic syndrome and weight gain. When they added high fibre inulin to the same high fat, low fibre diet, the mice lost weight. The addition of inulin also lowered their cholesterol, balanced blood sugar levels and reduced fatty liver disease.
Inulin also increased proliferation of the cells lining the colon, which prevents leaky gut. It reduced pathogenic bacterial numbers and increased Bifidobacteria and Akkermansia, which prevents gut permeability. However, inulin did not fully restore the composition of gut bacteria to that of mice on a high fibre diet. Inulin prevented the migration of bacteria through the gut membrane.
Antibiotics reduced the beneficial effects of inulin on the gut.
Inulin stimulates gut bacteria to produce Interleukin-22 – a cytokine which is made by gut bacteria in response to inflammation, and is designed to restore gut integrity. Inulin does this via the gut bacteria and not on its own.
The second study from Sweden, examined the effect of B. Longum + Inulin on gut permeability. Mice were fed a low fibre diet for 8 weeks which altered their microbiome and increased gut permeability – a risk factor for inflammatory bowel disease – and reduced the growth rate of the mucous membrane after only 3 days.
Feeding mice a low fibre, high fat (Western style) diet led to increased mucus production- the body’s compensatory response to damage. Administration of B. Longum restored mucus growth and Inulin prevented bacteria from penetrating the mucus membrane.
“On the whole, the study by Zou et al. shows that the fermentable fibre inulin’s benefits on metabolic syndrome are mediated via the gut microbiota to increase intestinal epithelial cell proliferation, prevent colonic atrophy, and reduce microbiota infiltration to the mucus layer. The second study by Schroeder et al. adds to the former one that WSD-mediated alterations of the gut microbiota composition cause defects of the inner mucus layer. Bifidobacterium longum or inulin supplements prevent mucus defects and could open new potential management strategies for diseases with an affected mucus layer, such as ulcerative colitis.”
If you are interested in improving your child’s gut health and adding supplements like inulin safely, please contact me for an appointment at c-pod@outlook.com or www.theconsciouspod.com . The addition of inulin to a child’s diet has wonderful benefits for the gut and development, but if supplemented poorly can lead to overgrowth of pathogenic bacteria. Working with a practitioner will help to avoid side effects and enhance benefits.
INULIN + RAW VEGETABLES FOR EXCELLENT GUT HEALTH