Low-carb diets are bad for health
There is growing evidence that low-carb diets are bad for your health, according to experts on gut microflora.
Speaking at a seminar in Paris organised by starch-based sweeteners giant Syral, Dr Petra Lewis, research scientist at Rowett Research Institute (RRI), said: "If you study the faeces of people on a low-carb diet, you see a significant decrease in microbial activity in the colon and a four-fold decrease in levels of butyrate (a beneficial short chain fatty acid produced when soluble fibres are fermented in the large intestine). This is bad news, as butyrate plays a key role in the prevention of gut diseases through anti-inflammatory and anti-carcinogenic effects."
There was also emerging evidence that gut microflora played a role in obesity, she said. Clinical studies had revealed differences in the composition of gut microflora in obese compared to lean subjects, she said. However, it wasn't clear whether the obese subjects' higher proportion of firmicutes microbes were a cause or effect of obesity, she added. "If you give some normal weight mice gut bacteria from obese mice and then feed them the same diet, they put on more weight."
