October 14th, 2019
Over the past few years, many thought leaders in Functional Medicine are looking away from probiotics as a major treatment tool.
If you want to have a healthy intestinal microbiome, then you need to look at the volume of fiber that you consume. Bacteria have differing fiber choices to eat with a diverse whole foods diet. When we consume oats, seeds, buckwheat, quinoa, amaranth, legumes and other fibrous foods in a random pattern, we allow the bacteria that exist in our intestine to have a quality food source.
The bacterial diversity that follows is expanded which is noted to be associated with better health, a better response to vaccines and chemotherapy and so much more.
When we think of probiotics as a major way to fix the microbiome, we are barking up the wrong tree. There is no evidence that anything other than a high fiber diet can make this reality come to fruition over the long haul.
Bottom line:
In 2019, fiber is the key to a healthy gut microbiome.
Dr. M
