Should there be more germs on your plate?
Should there be a recommended daily intake of friendly microbes, often found in foods such as kimchi and yogurt? For the first time, scientists have measured the amount of friendly microbes in the foods Americans eat. Photo by Leah Mytchyk on Unsplash
Scientists make the first large-scale estimate of live microorganisms consumed in the US dietOur diet provides us with the building blocks we need to stay healthy and fight disease. Nutrients in food and drink can be counted to know if we are getting what our body needs. But what if a nutrient has been overlooked? For example, friendly microbes in raw and fermented foods have not been measured as part of our diet - until now.
"Ultimately, we want to understand whether there should be a recommended daily intake of these microbes to keep us healthy, either through food or probiotic supplements," said Maria Marco, Professor in the Department of Food Science and Technology at UC. Davis. "To do this, we must first quantify the number of living microorganisms that we consume in our diets today."
Marco co-authored a new study with a group of scientists that looked at the number of live microbes per gram of more than 9,000 different foods eaten by nearly 75,000 adults and children. It found that about 20% of children and 26% of adults consumed foods containing high levels of live microorganisms in their diet. Both children and adults increased their consumption of these foods over the 18-year study period. The study, published in the Journal of Nutrition, is the first large-scale estimate of the number of live microbes Americans eat each day.
“This trend is going in the right direction. Exposure to friendly microorganisms in our food can be good for promoting a healthy immune system,” says Marco.
Gut Health FoodsThe study authors looked at the National Health and Nutrition Survey to create the estimate. The Health and Food Database contains detailed information on the foods Americans eat daily. Food science and fermentation experts have assigned each food an estimated range of live microbes per gram, creating food categories with low, medium, and high levels of live microbes. Foods in the top category included fermented dairy products such as yogurt, fermented pickles and kimchi. Fresh uncooked fruits and vegetables were also good sources of live microorganisms, represented in the medium category.
The analysis was supported by a grant from the International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics, or ISAPP. The microorganisms quantified in this study are not necessarily probiotics.
“By definition, a probiotic must be well-defined and have a demonstrated health benefit at a quantified dose. However, live microbes associated with food as a category generally do not meet the criteria of a probiotic,” said corresponding author Mary Ellen Sanders, chief scientific officer of ISAPP.
The publication is part of a larger global effort to determine how live food microbes might contribute to health.
“There is no doubt that the microbes we eat affect our health. When we think of microbes in our food, we often think of either foodborne pathogens that cause disease or probiotics that provide a documented health benefit," said co-author Colin Hill, professor of microbial food safety at University College Cork, Ireland. "But it's important to also explore the food microbes we consume in fermented and uncooked foods It is very timely to estimate the daily intake of microbes by individuals in modern society as a first step towards a scientific assessment of the importance of food microbes in human health and well-being. »
Other scientists who co-authored the paper were ISAPP board members Robert Hutkins, Dan Merenstein, Daniel J. Tancredi, Christopher J. Cifelli, Jaime Gahche, Joanne L. Slavin and Victor L. Fulgoni III.
Editor's Note: Maria Marco is affiliated with UC Agriculture and Natural Resources as a faculty member of the Agricultural Experiment Station.
/h3>/h3>Focus area tags: food, health
Tags: CAES (1),
Should there be a recommended daily intake of friendly microbes, often found in foods such as kimchi and yogurt? For the first time, scientists have measured the amount of friendly microbes in the foods Americans eat. Photo by Leah Mytchyk on Unsplash
Scientists make the first large-scale estimate of live microorganisms consumed in the US dietOur diet provides us with the building blocks we need to stay healthy and fight disease. Nutrients in food and drink can be counted to know if we are getting what our body needs. But what if a nutrient has been overlooked? For example, friendly microbes in raw and fermented foods have not been measured as part of our diet - until now.
"Ultimately, we want to understand whether there should be a recommended daily intake of these microbes to keep us healthy, either through food or probiotic supplements," said Maria Marco, Professor in the Department of Food Science and Technology at UC. Davis. "To do this, we must first quantify the number of living microorganisms that we consume in our diets today."
Marco co-authored a new study with a group of scientists that looked at the number of live microbes per gram of more than 9,000 different foods eaten by nearly 75,000 adults and children. It found that about 20% of children and 26% of adults consumed foods containing high levels of live microorganisms in their diet. Both children and adults increased their consumption of these foods over the 18-year study period. The study, published in the Journal of Nutrition, is the first large-scale estimate of the number of live microbes Americans eat each day.
“This trend is going in the right direction. Exposure to friendly microorganisms in our food can be good for promoting a healthy immune system,” says Marco.
Gut Health FoodsThe study authors looked at the National Health and Nutrition Survey to create the estimate. The Health and Food Database contains detailed information on the foods Americans eat daily. Food science and fermentation experts have assigned each food an estimated range of live microbes per gram, creating food categories with low, medium, and high levels of live microbes. Foods in the top category included fermented dairy products such as yogurt, fermented pickles and kimchi. Fresh uncooked fruits and vegetables were also good sources of live microorganisms, represented in the medium category.
The analysis was supported by a grant from the International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics, or ISAPP. The microorganisms quantified in this study are not necessarily probiotics.
“By definition, a probiotic must be well-defined and have a demonstrated health benefit at a quantified dose. However, live microbes associated with food as a category generally do not meet the criteria of a probiotic,” said corresponding author Mary Ellen Sanders, chief scientific officer of ISAPP.
The publication is part of a larger global effort to determine how live food microbes might contribute to health.
“There is no doubt that the microbes we eat affect our health. When we think of microbes in our food, we often think of either foodborne pathogens that cause disease or probiotics that provide a documented health benefit," said co-author Colin Hill, professor of microbial food safety at University College Cork, Ireland. "But it's important to also explore the food microbes we consume in fermented and uncooked foods It is very timely to estimate the daily intake of microbes by individuals in modern society as a first step towards a scientific assessment of the importance of food microbes in human health and well-being. »
Other scientists who co-authored the paper were ISAPP board members Robert Hutkins, Dan Merenstein, Daniel J. Tancredi, Christopher J. Cifelli, Jaime Gahche, Joanne L. Slavin and Victor L. Fulgoni III.
Editor's Note: Maria Marco is affiliated with UC Agriculture and Natural Resources as a faculty member of the Agricultural Experiment Station.
/h3>/h3>Focus area tags: food, health
Tags: CAES (1),
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