Tummy bugs also called the friendly bacteria could hold the secret to a healthy old age, revealed a milestone study at the Neuroscience Open Forum. The study suggests with the food eaten affecting the type of bugs that flourish, sometimes eating a mixed diet that is rich in fruit and vegetable could fend off a host of problems from infirmity to memory loss.
This is first study that makes a clear link between a boring diet, lack of variety of bugs in the gut and poor health. For their analysis researchers from the University College Cork, asked nearly two hundred men and women aged between sixty-four and seventy-two, about their diet, examined the bugs in their gut and put them a series of health tests.
Some of study participants lived at home while others were stayed in hospital. The study showed that those who had been in hospital for more than six weeks had less variety of bugs in their gut compared to those who lived in home. Besides, they were also in poorer health and had less varied diets.
People living at home consumed a small variety of fruit and vegetable, ate more fatty and sugary foods, more meat and fewer amount of wholegrain bread and cereals. It was not mean that pensioners were being given the inferior food. The list of options was varied, but pensioners usually made less exciting options because of problems with their teeth or digestion or loss of interest.
It led them to subsist on snacks like tea and toasts. Lead researcher Paul O’Toole, explained there are several ways through which the bugs in the guts help keep pensioners fit. Some help release energy from fruit and vegetables and keep the bowels healthy. Others are thought to strengthen muscles and keep the brain working quickly and both are essential in preventing slips and falls.
He added more effort should be made to ensure those in long-term care eat a varied diet. And if they cannot eat the foods on offer, the food industry might be able to come up with easier to eat alternatives. This work gives people strong motivation not to just give pensioners enough calories and vitamins but also in diversify because they are feeding the bacteria in the intestine.
Some of suggested foods include fruits such as apples and grapes, as well as nuts, bean sprouts, oily fish and wholegrain bread and cereals.