The Sourdough School

BALM – Proven as one of the healthiest approaches to bread in the world.

Based in the walled gardens of Dr. Vanessa Kimbell's beautiful Victorian home in rural Northamptonshire, UK, we tutor individuals and train bakers and healthcare professionals in Baking as Lifestyle Medicine (BALM). Personalising bread to your lifestyle, gut microbiome, and unique genetics for optimal health—tailoring fermentation, fibre, and diversity so that your daily bread becomes the foundation of your health.

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162 - ‘Walnut Consumption Alters the Gastrointestinal Microbiota, Microbially Derived Secondary Bile Acids, and Health Markers in Healthy Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial’. The Journal of Nutrition. 148(6): 861–867

Reference Number: 162

Year: 2018

Authors: Hannah D Holscher,1,2 Heather M Guetterman, Kelly S Swanson, Ruopeng An, Nirupa R Matthan, Alice H Lichtenstein, Janet A Novotny and David J Baer

Link: Link to original paper

Inclusions: Nuts>Walnuts

Summary

Summary

Epidemiologic data suggest that diets rich in nuts have beneficial health effects, including reducing total and cause-specific mortality from cancer and heart disease. Although there is accumulating preclinical evidence that walnuts beneficially affect the gastrointestinal microbiota and gut and metabolic health, these relations have not been investigated in humans. This study aimed to assess the impact of walnut consumption on the human gastrointestinal microbiota and metabolic markers of health. The results indicate that walnut consumption affected the composition and function of the human gastrointestinal microbiota, increasing the relative abundances of Firmicutes species in butyrate-producing Clostridium clusters XIVa and IV, including Faecalibacterium and Roseburia, and reducing microbially derived, proinflammatory secondary bile acids and LDL cholesterol. These results suggest that the gastrointestinal microbiota may contribute to the underlying mechanisms of the beneficial health effects of walnut consumption.

 

Significance of this study

Walnuts can have beneficial health effects. This study suggests there may be a link between including walnuts in the diet and changes in the gut microbiota. It is these changes which may be linked to the health benefits. These findings are based on eating 42g of walnuts each day.

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All reasonable care is taken when advising about health aspects of bread, but the information that we share is not intended to take the place of treatment by a qualified medical practitioner. You must seek professional advice if you are in any doubt about any medical condition. Any application of the ideas and information contained on this website is at the reader's sole discretion and risk.

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