While there are routine reminders to eat fiber, whole foods, the right vegetables and the right carbohydrates, one important topic is typically left out of the conversation on a diet for a healthy gut, said Dr. Chris Damman, a gastroenterologist with the University of Washington School of Medicine. He studies the effect of nutrition on health by way of the microbiome.
In his clinical research and his new blog, Gut Bites, Damman explores how nourishing gut bacteria with the right foods will generate the necessary short-chain fatty acids that protect against, or reduce, symptoms in a variety of conditions. Recent studies have found that butyrate or butyrate-producing microbes protect against or are associated with less severe symptoms from a long list of chronic inflammation-related conditions: allergies, irritable bowel syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, Parkinson’s disease, high blood pressure, insomnia, anxiety, type 2 diabetes, and even some symptoms of long COVID.
In the past couple of years a growing number of high impact papers have pointed to the importance of the molecule.
“These studies are still early, and many are in the realm of animal models or epidemiological associations, but the building body of evidence might just be a guiding light. The majority of people, especially in high income settings, may have a microbe-related nutrient deficiency that has been linked to many of the chronic diseases that affect our society,” Damman said.
“Butyrate could be the vitamin D of the next decade: the sunshine from within molecule.” Damman said. “Only 5% percent of us are eating enough fiber, and in effect, getting enough butyrate from our microbiomes. I think that contributes to some of these chronic diseases we’ve been seeing in high-income countries, and that are now on the rise in lower- and middle-income countries.”
