Study states that a vegetarian diet keeps the Indian gut healthy

Alisha Alam | Jul 22, 2018, 15:00 IST
A recent study has found that the vegetarian diet that most rural Indians follow is what might be keeping their gut healthy. “Past studies of the India microbiome had shown that the gram negative bacteria was more populous in the Indian gut, but that was because the kit being used to analyse the DNA was more sensitive to gram negative bacteria than gram positive ones,” said the lead researcher.



“The finding that the Indian gut dominantly has gram negative bacteria found in the gut of meat-eaters did not fit in with the diet of our population, which is primarily vegetarian,” he added. “We now know that abrupt changes in the microbiome of a person’s digestive tract can lead to malnourishment, several metabolic disorders, colorectal cancer, coronary heart disease, autoimmune diseases and even psychiatric ailments,” another doctor added.



“This understanding of Indian gut is important, especially as the field of faecal microbiome transplant is expanding and is now being considered for metabolic diseases and liver disorders,” he added. Well, it certainly looks like opting for a vegetarian diet is more beneficial.

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