RR Phantom
Location : Wasted Space Job/hobbies : Cayman Islands Actuary
| Subject: Allergy and asthma - is lack of fibre the culprit? Sun Jun 01, 2014 8:10 pm | |
| There’s a new story emerging about the value of eating fibre rich foods and it’s got nothing to do with constipation. Instead it’s about allergy, asthma and autoimmune disease and how lack of fibre in the western diet may be a culprit.
The link between fibre and these diseases, all of them related to problems with our immune system, is the microbes living in our gut. This is a part of the body that has more to do with immunity than most of us realise – it’s home to millions of immune cells as well as trillions of bacteria. There’s a growing recognition that this colony of gut bugs, or the microbiome as it’s called, affects our health for better or worse depending on which bacteria are in residence, says Professor Charles Mackay of Monash Unversity’s Department of Immunology.
“Less fibre, more processed food and the weight gain that can result from this has altered the mix of microbes in the gut,” he explains. “This can affect our immune system and may be driving the rise in allergy, asthma and autoimmune disease in industrialised countries.”
http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/diet-and-fitness/blogs/chew-on-this/allergy-and-asthma--is-lack-of-fibre-the-culprit-20140530-398d6.html |
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