Low-fibre diet puts gut at risk

Nature: Mice eating a low-fibre diet have a higher risk of bowel infection, thanks to bacteria that normally live in the gut. Eric Martens at the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor and Mahesh Desai, now at the Luxembourg Institute of Health, together with their colleagues, compared the effects of fibre-poor and fibre-rich diets in mice that lacked their own bacteria and were given a mix of 14 species of human gut bacteria. These microbes normally consume carbohydrates from dietary fibre, but without these nutrients, the bacteria instead degraded the mucus barrier that lines the intestinal wall.

High-fiber diet keeps gut microbes from eating the colon’s lining, protects against infection, animal study shows

Ann Arbor: It sounds like the plot of a 1950s science fiction movie: normal, helpful bacteria that begin to eat their host from within, because they don’t get what they want. A thick mucus layer, generated by the cells of the colon's wall, provides protection against invading bacteria and other pathogens. This image of a mouse's colon shows the mucus (green) acting as a barrier for the "goblet" cells (blue) that produce it. But new research shows that’s exactly what happens when microbes inside the digestive system don’t get the natural fiber that they rely on for food.
Starved, they begin to munch on the natural layer of mucus that lines the gut, eroding it to the point where dangerous invading bacteria can infect the colon wall.

Eating a dietary fibre supplement could help control weight

A University of Calgary study has found that rats fed a fibre supplement while on a high-fat and high-sugar diet show a much lower weight gain than those who did not eat the fibre. A team of researchers from the university’s Cumming School of Medicine and the Faculty of Kinesiology says the study helps scientists better understand the mechanisms of weight control and energy balance. “Our data shows that a simple dietary intervention, with a prebiotic oligofructose fibre, reduced weight gain, and this may also lead to the long-term maintenance of a lower body weight in the face of continued dietary challenge,” says Keith Sharkey, PhD, senior author of the study and deputy director of the Cumming School of Medicine’s Hotchkiss Brain Institute (HBI).