Yahoo News: McDonald's Destroyed the Gut Bacteria of a College Kid in 10 Days

[proverbialwisdom]

https://www.yahoo.com/food/mcdonalds-destroyed-the-gut-bacteria-of-a-college-118784365977.html

McDonald's Destroyed the Gut Bacteria of a College Kid in 10 Days

May 12, 2015
By Khushbu Shah

It’s common knowledge that fast food isn’t exactly healthy, but just how unhealthy is it? According to Tim Spector, a professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College London, it is devastating to a human’s gut bacteria. He writes in The Conversation, that eating that type of highly processed food can wreak total havoc on the healthy bacteria in a person’s digestive system. Spector wanted to find out just how bad McDonald’s is for gut bacteria for his upcoming book The Diet Myth.

Spector had his son, a student at the University of Aberystwyth, eat only McDonald’s for 10 days straight. Tom was allowed to eat Big Macs, chicken nuggets, fries, and Coca-Cola. Throughout the experiment, Tom sent his stool samples out to be analyzed by different labs. Tom notes that he felt fine for the first three days, but he started to slowly go “downhill.” He became lethargic and after a week, his friends said he had taken on a “strange grey” color.

As for the lab results, they were shocking. Spector writes that Tom’s gut bacteria were “devastated.” Over the 10 days, Tom lost nearly 1,400 types of bacteria species, or nearly 40 percent of his total variety. Even after two weeks of returning to a normal diet, the microbes in his gut did not recover. Spector notes that “the loss of [gut bacteria] diversity is a universal signal of ill health.” He adds that humans rely on the bacteria “to produce much of our essential nutrients and vitamins.”

Link from: https://twitter.com/foodawakenings

[BlueJazz]

1. He should have eaten something from Checkers. (They have lots of Bacteria)

[LittleBlue]

2. Eat yogurt

We should be taking probiotics anyway

[LittleBlue]

5. Are those like supplements?

Do you know of any good probiotics other than yogurt?

[LittleBlue]

13. Thanks

[dixiegrrrrl]

39. I use these

http://www.iherb.com/Now-Foods-Probiotic-Defense-90-Veggie-Caps/6105#p=1&oos=1&disc=0&lc=en-US&w=probiotics&rc=964&sr=null&ic=14

because they have a large range of different types of bacteria:

Freeze-dried Probiotics Strains (1 Billion cfu)[Latobacillus acidophilus,
Bifidobacterium lactis, Lactobacillus brevis, Lactobacillus casei, Lacto-
bacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus rhmanosus, Lactobacillus salivarius,
Lactobacillus paracasei, Lactobacillus bulgaricus, Bifidobacterium bifidum,
Bifidobacterium brevis, Bifidobacterium longum, and Saccharomyces boulardii],
Super Green Foods [Alfalfa Juice Concentrate and Atlantic Kelp
(Laminaria digitata)]

Iherb is a great online store for buying herbs, vitamins, etc. and has free shipping and discounts depending on how much you buy.

[LittleBlue]

40. Thanks

[think]

14. There are many probiotic supplements on the market that are relatively inexpensive

I use acidophilus and get good results. Most drug stores and major chains carry them now days. I get mine online from Swanson Vitamins.

It's good to do some research and find reliable companies as there are some that suck.

But overall if you have long term digestive problems or just want to keep your digestive tract healthy taking some probiotics supplements can be helpful. IMO.

[LittleBlue]

16. Much appreciated

[Mnpaul]

30. I use Nature's Bounty brand

available at Walgreens. It works great and is very affordable.

[mainer]

17. Sauerkraut. Kim chi.

But they must both be fresh fermented, not in a can.

Or you can make it yourself. Really easy.

[zappaman]

38. Bubbies gives me amazing farts.

I'm talking better call Hazmat kind of farts.

[Aerows]

7. A little bit getting down there

has to be better than none, though.

[thesquanderer]

4. Right. That's not an indictment of McDonald's.

Nobody, not even McDonald's, would claim that a diet consisting of nothing but "Big Macs, chicken nuggets, fries, and Coca-Cola" would be healthy. If nothing else, the amount of fruits, vegetables, and dairy in that McDonald's diet is minimal. It's not surprising that you need other things to be healthy, whether yogurt, or other healthy foods. Though that McDonald's diet would probably be healthier if he just replaced the coke with water. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if it was the coke that was doing a number on the gut bacteria.

[libdem4life]

10. Right...my dad poured Coke on some nails or something, and it ate the iron coating off of them.

Thus, I have never drunk soft drinks, to any extent. Pretty sure wine doesn't do that

[840high]

32. Right. I clean rust with coke.

[GoCubsGo]

37. No doubt the Coke is a huge part of the problem, if not all of it.

It eats the enamel off one's teeth, and contributes to osteoporosis, as well. Terrible stuff. I used to be addicted to Diet Coke Glad I got off of that shit.

[lpbk2713]

6. Taco Bell would get him back on the right track.

He'd have more bacteria than he would know what to do with.

[progressoid]

18. Mmmm...

Now I need a chalupa.

[libdem4life]

8. It's called "Junk Food" for a reason. It's not that people don't know it's terrible for them, it's

just that they don't know what it does, and most don't make a diet of it. But many a harried parent coming home from work and not wanting to cook and clean up will stop.

I wonder what KFC would do with the same test...except they actually do have some vegetables like cole slaw. Still...all that grease...yuck.

[bemildred]

11. It's the GMOs!

[progressoid]

22. I only eat organic GMO fries.

[IcyPeas]

19. Solaray - Multidophilus 12

There are 12 probiotic strains in this one, including acidophilus. I've been taking these for a couple of years (ever since I had a bad sinus infection and had to take antibiotics). They have a special coating so it does get into your small intestine - from website:

To maximize survival of the microorganisms, each vegetarian capsule is enteric coated to help allow for passage through harsh stomach acids and into the small intestine.

http://www.vitacost.com/solaray-multidophilus-12-20-billion-microorganisms-100-vegetarian-capsules-2

[Ed Suspicious]

25. 12 strains is going to do little to replace the 1400 he lost, however.

[Codeine]

20. That's not "McDonald's" that's just a shitty diet.

Eat a fucking vegetable, for gawd's sake. Eat some fermented foods like sauerkraut -- those are great for digestive health.

[Aerows]

27. I saw this recipe for home made sauerkraut

http://www.culturesforhealth.com/sauerkraut

ngredients:

1 medium head of cabbage
1-3 tablespoons sea salt


Instructions:

Chop or shred cabbage. Sprinkle with salt.
Knead the cabbage with clean hands, or pound with a potato masher or Cabbage Crusher about 10 minutes, until there is enough liquid to cover.
Stuff the cabbage into a quart jar, pressing the cabbage underneath the liquid. If necessary, add a bit of water to completely cover cabbage.
Cover the jar with a tight lid, airlock lid, or coffee filter secured with a rubber band.
Culture at room temperature (60-70°F is preferred) until desired flavor and texture are achieved. If using a tight lid, burp daily to release excess pressure.
Once the sauerkraut is finished, put a tight lid on the jar and move to cold storage. The sauerkraut's flavor will continue to develop as it ages.


Makes approximately 1 quart.

I might try this. I don't ever even recall eating sauerkraut, but I like cabbage, so it sounds interesting.

[Codeine]

29. I grew up eating homemade sauerkraut.

Probably the only veg we ate for weeks on end, truth be told. We had a rather game-heavy diet living in Wyoming.

[central scrutinizer]

42. We make gallons every year

A five gallon crock will hold about thirty pounds of chopped cabbage. We usually use red cabbage and it is wonderful. About one tablespoon of kosher salt per five pounds of chopped cabbage. Mix and pack into the crock and pound it down. Use a plate and a half gallon jar of water to weight it down and keep everything under the liquid. Depending upon the ambient temperature, it is usually done in about 4 weeks. Spoon off the scum every few days.

[Dont call me Shirley]

23. Kombucha Tea is live cultured plus it tastes great.

[MisterP]

24. quick! someone call Steve Novella!

[davidn3600]

26. Not that Im a fan of McDonalds, but these kind of studies are dumb

If you eat only 1 type of food for 10 days straight, no matter what it is, it will mess something up inside you.

Big Macs, Chicken nuggets, fries and coke is not sufficient nutritional material. So the study is going to get the results its looking for no matter what. But who ONLY eats big macs and chicken nuggets 10 days straight?

This is like saying asparatame is deadly because it causes cancer in rats. Sure...when you give them a dose that is 1,000 times what is found in a can of diet coke. No human being has anything ever even remotely close to that kind of dose.

Too much of anything is bad. If you drink way too much orange juice for a long time, you'll kill your kidneys. Yet I dont see anyone claiming orange juice is bad for you.

[giftedgirl77]

28. Everything in moderation..

Except rum & tequila

[Diclotican]

31. proverbialwisdom

proverbialwisdom

Another reason not to eat at McDonald anymore - even if I suspect the laws is little stricker in Norway than in mos of the US.... I have problem enough with my gut, if I am not to get into problems becouse of eating McDonald...

Diclotican

[totodeinhere]

33. Nobody should eat only McDonald’s for 10 days straight.

I eat there perhaps twice a month and I'm perfectly healthy. And McDonald's does sell yogurt.

[niyad]

41. does their yoghurt contain live cultures?

[totodeinhere]

43. I'm not sure. I couldn't find info on the Web about it one way or the other.

n/t

[MJJP21]

34. First of all

First of all this isn't the first time someone has gone on a McDonalds only fast and for far longer than the 10 noted here. No serious ill effects were noted in those instances. Let me say now I don't eat McDonalds and would call myself a part time vegan as I probably get less than 5% of my calories from animal products. What makes this story sound suspicious as I doubt the Health services of Great Britain would be doing all the expensive testing to prove how bad McDonalds food is. The fact he is using different labs at his whim is also unbelievable. I would have to see harder evidence to the claims than this story implies.

[NaturalHigh]

35. Interesting article, but is anyone else slightly creeped out...

that he basically used his son as a walking, living experimental specimen?

[phylny]

36. I've started to see a functional medicine doctor because I can't lose weight, and after many tests,

we found out that not only is my intestinal flora messed up, but I am overrun with two types of bacteria that MAKE YOU GAIN WEIGHT.

Fun, huh?