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New Research: A Whole Food Diet Leads to Better Health Through Good Gut Bacteria


What kind of study was this?

This was a single-arm (meaning there was only one group in the study rather than different groups randomly assigned to different treatments) intervention (meaning the participants received some sort of treatment or underwent some change) research study.

Many nutrition studies are not interventions, but are rather observational, meaning the researchers only measure biological markers but don’t “intervene” by changing anything about the participants’ lives.

What did researchers want to know?

Scientists have known for a long time what the “average” metabolic responses (blood sugar, insulin, cholesterol, etc.) to most types of food are.

In this study, researchers wanted to know how personal characteristics (such as age, gender, genetics, gut bacteria, and general health influence) and meal context (such as time, sleep, and exercise) influence people’s metabolic response to different foods.

What did the researchers actually do?

They first measured a large range of participant biological markers from weight, fasting blood sugar, and cholesterol to genetics and gut bacteria patterns.

They also measured what people ate in their normal lives. Then they fed the participants carefully prepared and measured meals and then re-measured their metabolic responses.

What did the researchers find?

In this particular article, the researchers reported finding that participant’s gut bacteria patterns fell into two groups. One of the groups had a much healthier metabolic response to the intervention meals than the other.

The group with the healthier metabolic response ate more unprocessed, whole foods (animal protein included) and the group with the worse metabolic response ate more processed foods.

This suggests that a healthy gut bacteria pattern is one of the links between eating whole foods and good general health.

What does this mean for parents and kids?

When we focus our family meals on less processed, whole foods, we’re promoting a healthy metabolism (weight, blood sugar, cholesterol) through building a healthy gut bacteria pattern. To learn more about using unprocessed, whole foods in family meals, check out The Family Thrive’s Nourish Masterclass!

Original Article:

Asnicar, F., Berry, S.E., Valdes, A.M. et al. Microbiome connections with host metabolism and habitual diet from 1,098 deeply phenotyped individuals. Nature Medicine (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-020-01183-8

New Research: A Whole Food Diet Leads to Better Health Through Good Gut Bacteria

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New Research: A Whole Food Diet Leads to Better Health Through Good Gut Bacteria

Researchers found that a diet of unprocessed, whole foods (animal protein included) promoted gut bacteria linked to a healthy weight, good blood sugar control, and strong heart health

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The Family Thrive Expert Team

June 3, 2021

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What kind of study was this?

This was a single-arm (meaning there was only one group in the study rather than different groups randomly assigned to different treatments) intervention (meaning the participants received some sort of treatment or underwent some change) research study.

Many nutrition studies are not interventions, but are rather observational, meaning the researchers only measure biological markers but don’t “intervene” by changing anything about the participants’ lives.

What did researchers want to know?

Scientists have known for a long time what the “average” metabolic responses (blood sugar, insulin, cholesterol, etc.) to most types of food are.

In this study, researchers wanted to know how personal characteristics (such as age, gender, genetics, gut bacteria, and general health influence) and meal context (such as time, sleep, and exercise) influence people’s metabolic response to different foods.

What did the researchers actually do?

They first measured a large range of participant biological markers from weight, fasting blood sugar, and cholesterol to genetics and gut bacteria patterns.

They also measured what people ate in their normal lives. Then they fed the participants carefully prepared and measured meals and then re-measured their metabolic responses.

What did the researchers find?

In this particular article, the researchers reported finding that participant’s gut bacteria patterns fell into two groups. One of the groups had a much healthier metabolic response to the intervention meals than the other.

The group with the healthier metabolic response ate more unprocessed, whole foods (animal protein included) and the group with the worse metabolic response ate more processed foods.

This suggests that a healthy gut bacteria pattern is one of the links between eating whole foods and good general health.

What does this mean for parents and kids?

When we focus our family meals on less processed, whole foods, we’re promoting a healthy metabolism (weight, blood sugar, cholesterol) through building a healthy gut bacteria pattern. To learn more about using unprocessed, whole foods in family meals, check out The Family Thrive’s Nourish Masterclass!

Original Article:

Asnicar, F., Berry, S.E., Valdes, A.M. et al. Microbiome connections with host metabolism and habitual diet from 1,098 deeply phenotyped individuals. Nature Medicine (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-020-01183-8


What kind of study was this?

This was a single-arm (meaning there was only one group in the study rather than different groups randomly assigned to different treatments) intervention (meaning the participants received some sort of treatment or underwent some change) research study.

Many nutrition studies are not interventions, but are rather observational, meaning the researchers only measure biological markers but don’t “intervene” by changing anything about the participants’ lives.

What did researchers want to know?

Scientists have known for a long time what the “average” metabolic responses (blood sugar, insulin, cholesterol, etc.) to most types of food are.

In this study, researchers wanted to know how personal characteristics (such as age, gender, genetics, gut bacteria, and general health influence) and meal context (such as time, sleep, and exercise) influence people’s metabolic response to different foods.

What did the researchers actually do?

They first measured a large range of participant biological markers from weight, fasting blood sugar, and cholesterol to genetics and gut bacteria patterns.

They also measured what people ate in their normal lives. Then they fed the participants carefully prepared and measured meals and then re-measured their metabolic responses.

What did the researchers find?

In this particular article, the researchers reported finding that participant’s gut bacteria patterns fell into two groups. One of the groups had a much healthier metabolic response to the intervention meals than the other.

The group with the healthier metabolic response ate more unprocessed, whole foods (animal protein included) and the group with the worse metabolic response ate more processed foods.

This suggests that a healthy gut bacteria pattern is one of the links between eating whole foods and good general health.

What does this mean for parents and kids?

When we focus our family meals on less processed, whole foods, we’re promoting a healthy metabolism (weight, blood sugar, cholesterol) through building a healthy gut bacteria pattern. To learn more about using unprocessed, whole foods in family meals, check out The Family Thrive’s Nourish Masterclass!

Original Article:

Asnicar, F., Berry, S.E., Valdes, A.M. et al. Microbiome connections with host metabolism and habitual diet from 1,098 deeply phenotyped individuals. Nature Medicine (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-020-01183-8


What kind of study was this?

This was a single-arm (meaning there was only one group in the study rather than different groups randomly assigned to different treatments) intervention (meaning the participants received some sort of treatment or underwent some change) research study.

Many nutrition studies are not interventions, but are rather observational, meaning the researchers only measure biological markers but don’t “intervene” by changing anything about the participants’ lives.

What did researchers want to know?

Scientists have known for a long time what the “average” metabolic responses (blood sugar, insulin, cholesterol, etc.) to most types of food are.

In this study, researchers wanted to know how personal characteristics (such as age, gender, genetics, gut bacteria, and general health influence) and meal context (such as time, sleep, and exercise) influence people’s metabolic response to different foods.

What did the researchers actually do?

They first measured a large range of participant biological markers from weight, fasting blood sugar, and cholesterol to genetics and gut bacteria patterns.

They also measured what people ate in their normal lives. Then they fed the participants carefully prepared and measured meals and then re-measured their metabolic responses.

What did the researchers find?

In this particular article, the researchers reported finding that participant’s gut bacteria patterns fell into two groups. One of the groups had a much healthier metabolic response to the intervention meals than the other.

The group with the healthier metabolic response ate more unprocessed, whole foods (animal protein included) and the group with the worse metabolic response ate more processed foods.

This suggests that a healthy gut bacteria pattern is one of the links between eating whole foods and good general health.

What does this mean for parents and kids?

When we focus our family meals on less processed, whole foods, we’re promoting a healthy metabolism (weight, blood sugar, cholesterol) through building a healthy gut bacteria pattern. To learn more about using unprocessed, whole foods in family meals, check out The Family Thrive’s Nourish Masterclass!

Original Article:

Asnicar, F., Berry, S.E., Valdes, A.M. et al. Microbiome connections with host metabolism and habitual diet from 1,098 deeply phenotyped individuals. Nature Medicine (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-020-01183-8

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