A new study suggests eating too much fat and sugar as a child can alter one's microbiome for life, even if you switch to a healthier diet as an adult. Researchers at UC Riverside conducted a research to reveal a significant decrease in the total number of gut bacteria in mature mice fed an unhealthy diet as juveniles. UCR evolutionary physiologist Theodore Garland said, “We studied mice, but the effect we observed is equivalent to kids having a Western diet, high in fat and sugar and their gut microbiome still being affected up to six years after puberty.”
The paper was recently published in the Journal of Experimental Biology. The microbiome refers to all the bacteria as well as fungi, parasites, and viruses that live on and inside a human or animal. Most of these microorganisms are found in the intestines, and most of them are helpful in stimulating the immune system, breaking down food, and helping synthesize key vitamins.
Garland's team in their study, looked for impacts on the microbiome after dividing their mice into four groups – half fed the standard healthy diet, half fed the less healthy Western diet, half with access to a running wheel for exercise, and a half without. All mice were returned to a standard diet and no exercise after three weeks. The team examined the diversity and abundance of bacteria in the animals at the 14-week mark.
The researchers found that early-life Western diet had more long-lasting effects on the microbiome than did early-life exercise. They said it is significant that they were observed so long after changing the diet. Garland said, “You are not only what you eat, but what you ate as a child.”
