Gut-Boosting Revolution for Weight Loss and Health

Boost your gut health and transform your wellness! The NiMe Diet fuses tradition and science to lower disease risks and enhance overall health.

A novel diet that helps people lose weight without tracking calories by fusing traditional knowledge with contemporary research has been designed by researchers. The diet can aid in weight loss by lowering blood sugar and cholesterol levels while also improving gut flora diversity and promoting general health.

What is NiMe Diet?

The NiMe Diet is an eating pattern that lowers the risk of several chronic diseases, including diabetes and heart disease, by taking inspiration from the traditional food practices of non-industrialized countries.

This diet demonstrated notable health benefits in a human experiment, according to a study published in the scientific journal Cell(1). Participants in the study reported improvements in their immune system and metabolism three weeks after beginning this diet. They lost weight, and had a 17% drop in bad cholesterol, a 6% drop in blood sugar, and a 14% drop in C-reactive protein, a sign of heart disease and inflammation.

Modification of the Gut Microbiota

The diet contained foods that contributed to the transformation of the gut microbiome, which is home to billions of bacteria that are vital to our immunity, metabolism, and digestion.

An international team of scientists led by Professor Jens Walter, a distinguished scientist from University College Cork who holds a Research Ireland Professorship, carried out the study. The human experiment was conducted at Prof. Walter’s former school, the University of Alberta in Canada.

As a Principal Investigator at the internationally recognized Research Ireland center APC Microbiome Ireland, Prof. Walter noted, “Industrialization has drastically impacted our gut microbiome, likely increasing the risk of chronic diseases. In order to combat this, we created a diet that is consistent with our knowledge of food-microbiome interactions and resembles traditional, non-industrialized eating practices. Participants in a closely monitored human study ate this diet and ingested L. reuteri, a helpful bacterium that is common in Papua New Guineans’ guts but infrequently present in industrialized microbiomes.”

What Foods are Part of the NiMe Diet?

The NiMe (Non-industrialized Microbiome Restore) diet improved the short-term persistence of L. reuteri in the gut, decreased pro-inflammatory bacteria and bacterial genes that break down the gut mucus layer, and improved cardiometabolic markers of chronic disease risk. Participants on this diet followed the same calorie intake but experienced notable health benefits.

The NiMe diet consisted of plant-based foods plus a small amount of animal protein. This featured a modest daily serving of animal protein in addition to vegetables, lentils, and other whole-plant foods. Since dairy, beef, and wheat were not typical foods of rural Papua New Guineans, they were not included in the diet. This diet’s 22 grams of fiber per 1,000 calories even surpasses the current nutritional guidelines.

Using Diet to Improve Gut Health and Lower Disease Risk

This study demonstrates how certain diets can be used to target the gut microbiota in order to enhance health and lower the risk of disease. According to Prof. Paul Ross, Director of APC Microbiome Ireland, “these findings could influence future dietary guidelines and stimulate the development of new food products and ingredients, as well as therapeutics, that target the microbiome.”

The NiMe Diet dishes will soon be featured in an online cookbook and shared on Facebook and Instagram accounts (@nimediet). Making these recipes publicly accessible is crucial to us so that everyone may benefit from them and enhance their gut microbiota, according to Dr. Anissa Armet, a registered dietitian from the University of Alberta who created the NiMe diet and lead author of the study.

References:

1. Cardiometabolic benefits of a non-industrialized-type diet are linked to gut microbiome modulation
   (Cardiometabolic benefits of a non-industrialized-type diet are linked to gut microbiome modulation
   Li, Fuyong et al.
   Cell, Volume 0, Issue 0
   DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2024.12.034)

Source-Medindia