The Big Picture: Dr. Puja Uppal, Family Medicine. says, “Another reason to love beans!”
Doctor’s Expert Insights About Gut Health and Colorectal Cancer in Indiana
Know this: “Something that not a lot of people are fully understanding is that the rates of colorectal cancer are skyrocketing in America and the world–particularly among younger people. This new study adds to our understanding that improving our gut health can lead to colorectal survivorship. It’s a big deal! Fiber helps with motility and absorption in our body. Beans help with enhancing our gut bacteria diversity–this helps reduce inflammation and improve overall gut health. Eating beans is a simple, affordable, and powerful way to improve our gut health. Also of note, new guidelines suggest that if you’re 45 and older–it’s time to get a colonoscopy.” Dr. Shelandra Bell, Family Medicine.
Beyond the news: By showing that specific dietary interventions can reduce cancer risk and increase survivability–this opens the door for more research into how different foods can influence our microbiome and cancer risk.
Further Steps: Schedule a colonoscopy if you’re 45 years and older–do it sooner if you have any family relatives who’ve had colon cancer in their past. The CDC has a comprehensive page about these new guidelines. (Visit Here)
Health Alert for Indianapolis
Key Drivers in Marion County:
The study showed that colorectal cancer survivors who ate a cup of navy beans every day saw a big change in the mix of bacteria in their guts.
This shift was marked by an increase in beneficial bacteria and a decrease in pathogenic bacteria, suggesting a link between diet and gut health.
“Observing a shift in microbiome diversity with diet intervention alone is rare, and this study underscores the ability of a readily available prebiotic food to bring about such changes.” Carrie Daniel-MacDougall, Ph.D
What they’re saying: “The BE GONE trial supports that adding navy beans to the usual diet of high-risk patients provides a viable prebiotic food source to target and shift both the gut microbiome and host metabolome. Taken overall, the gut microbiota findings suggest that changes in the relative abundance of individual bacteria reflect early or transient shifts in dominant dietary fiber sources and amino acids within the usual diet (e.g., on-intervention decreases in Oscillibacter and Roseburia with increases in Odoribacter and Eubacterium) and in several potentially pathogenic or opportunistic bacteria that threaten the integrity of the gut barrier and colorectal cancer prevention (e.g., decreases in Streptococcus, Collinsella, and Ruminococcus torques). Increased alpha diversity and potential markers of a healthy or homeostatic gut microbiome (e.g., Faecalibacterium and Bifidobacterium) with therapeutic potential in inflammatory bowel disease, colon and other cancers were more readily apparent within 8 weeks post-intervention. Intervention-responsive nutrient and microbiome-derived circulating biomarkers and metabolites, including pipecolic acid, an indole derivative, FGF-19 and Il-10ra, highlight potential mechanisms whereby the simple addition of this prebiotic food modulates both gut and host health.” (Study Source)
Health Standard Newswire: These findings underscore the prebiotic and potential therapeutic role of beans.
Living in Indiana, the following health facts impact your physical health directly!
Did you know there were 13983.0 deaths from cancer in Indiana in 2021?
71.6% of you in Marion County, 50 and older, have had a colonoscopy.
12.0% of you in Marion County have diabetes.
38.0% of you in Marion County are obese.
All of these variables above play an important role in the outcomes of your overall health.
The Health Standard Newswire.