The Times - UK (2021-12-21)

4 Tuesday December 21 2021 | the times

times2health

A

s the annual

stockpiling of festive

foods gathers pace

and we prepare to

hunker down for

the calorie-fest,

are our digestive

systems primed for

what will follow? Over-indulgence on

the wrong sorts of everything is a

given, yet even nutritionists agree

that we should cut ourselves some

dietary slack at Christmas.

“We really need to temporarily

reframe our views of healthy eating

over the festive season,” the nutrition

therapist Ian Marber says. “Eating

leftovers straight from the fridge can

be seen as a sensible recycling of

resources, for example.” And lurking

among the Christmas fare are gut-

friendly foods that might serve to

offset some of the damage. Here’s

what your gut would really like you

to be eating this Christmas:

Breakfast on scrambled

eggs and smoked salmon

A breakfast of eggs will set you

up for the day, warding off the

hunger pangs that would

otherwise result in you attacking

the selection box, Marber says.

“Adding smoked salmon means you

get beneficial omega-3 fats and some

extra protein. That should stem your

appetite until the big meal.” Allow

yourself a buck’s fizz if you want one.

“It is a mix of orange juice and

fermented grapes so there’s plenty of

vitamin C and antioxidants in there,”

Marber says. “But the point is to enjoy

it as you don’t do this every day.”

Nibble on dates

You could do worse than switching to

a few dates instead of more Quality

Street. Dates’ natural sweetness means

they aren’t low in calories — a single

date provides an average 23 calories,

while a large Medjool date can provide

66 — but they make up for it by

providing high amounts of fibre and

beneficial polyphenols as well as

nutrients including potassium,

magnesium and iron.

Dr Megan Rossi, a research fellow

in gut health at King’s College

London, says they are “a good source

of prebiotics that feed your gut

microbiome, helping it to flourish”.

Indeed, nutrition scientists at the

University of Reading found that

adding 50g of dates, equivalent to

about seven regular dates or two to

What your gut

wants you to eat

this Christmas

The experts say you can indulge a little at this time of

year. Peta Bee looks at what makes a healthier feast

three Medjool dates, to the daily diets

of 22 healthy participants significantly

improved digestive function after

three weeks. And measures of

metabolic markers indicated that

eating dates regularly “may reduce

colon cancer risk”.

Pick the walnuts in the mixed

nuts selection

Eating more walnuts will bring a host

of benefits with studies showing that,

thanks to their heart-healthy omega-3

fatty acids, they can help to lower

cholesterol levels and blood pressure

if consumed often. “Eating them

regularly has also been shown to

decrease specific compounds linked

to colon disease,” Rossi says. “And a

handful of walnuts every day for

three weeks has been shown to

increase microbes that produce the

beneficial short-chain fatty acid

butyrate that promotes gut health

and helps to make energy for

some of your gut cells.”

In the Journal of Nutrition

Kristina Petersen, an assistant

research professor at Penn State

University, reported how a

walnut-enriched diet boosted

levels of gut bacteria called

Roseburia, which have been

associated with protection of the

gut lining. Researchers at Louisiana

State University found that walnuts

aided digestive health by bumping up

“good” bacteria such as Lactobacillus

and Ruminococcaceae in the gut.

Pile up the Brussels sprouts

and broccoli

Love them or loathe them, Brussels

sprouts and broccoli are too nutrient-

packed to ignore. They have high

amounts of fibre — which feed

your gut microbiome — vitamin C,

folate and phytonutrients called

glucosinolates, which are unique to

these cruciferous vegetables and have

an anti-inflammatory effect that

protects against disease.

Both vegetables are also a source of

vitamin K, which, according to a study

in the British Journal of Nutrition, may

be involved in keeping our arteries

healthy. Women who consumed more

than 45g of cruciferous vegetables

every day — that’s three trimmed

sprouts or two to three broccoli florets

— were 46 per cent less likely to have

a build-up of calcium on their aorta,

the main artery carrying blood from

the heart, compared with those

consuming none.

And serving your sprouts with

chestnuts — which contain only 2.2

per cent fat — is a good move, Marber

says. “They are a source of fibre, of

protein and, like other nuts, provide

some zinc, copper and other minerals.

The antioxidants they contain,

including gallic acid, ellagic acid and

various polyphenols, could help to

reduce inflammation.”

Put more turkey on your plate

“Turkey provides selenium, a potent

antioxidant needed for the conversion

of thyroid hormones into their useable

form,” Marber says, and zinc that

supports immune function. In 2020

a research team from McMaster

University in Canada reported that

tryptophan, an amino acid found in

high concentrations in turkey meat,

may help gut-healing in people with

Coeliac disease, a condition in which

the immune system attacks the body’s

tissues if gluten is eaten. According to

the McMaster scientists, a tryptophan-

rich diet in combination with a

lactobacilli-containing probiotic

helped to activate a pathway

that reduced gluten-triggered

inflammation and accelerated healing.

If you’re planning to keep exercising

over the festive season, there are other

benefits. Turkey breast meat contains

one of the highest concentrations of

the amino acid called beta-alanine,

which is converted in the body to a

compound called carnosine that is

stored within muscles.

Performance nutritionists have

shown in studies how beta-alanine and

carnosine help to buffer hydrogen ions

that are produced alongside lactic acid

during intense exercise and, in high

levels, cause feelings of muscle fatigue.

Trials conducted at the University

of Chichester’s School of Sport,

Exercise & Health Sciences showed

that eating 150g turkey, the amount

in a single breast, increased muscle

concentrations of beta-alanine by

40 per cent to improve cycling

performance by 13 per cent.

Have some cranberry sauce

An extra dollop of cranberry sauce,

preferably made from fresh

cranberries for a maximum

antioxidant hit (processing will reduce

some nutrient levels), will bring a host

of benefits. For a study in Journal of

Agricultural and Food Chemistry,

researchers reviewed 20 common

fruits and found cranberries to have

the highest level of phenols, a type

of disease-fighting antioxidant,

beating pears, red grapes and apples,

which made up the top four.

Cranberries are also high in

anthocyanins, compounds that give

them their dark red colour and have

anti-inflammatory properties.

Studies have shown that they can

help to put good bacteria back into the

digestive system of people who eat a

lot of meat, dairy and sugar.

For a sweet treat, opt for dark

chocolate-covered almonds

These were one of the few snacks

ranked highly in an assessment of

more than 8,000 foods for a recent

study by Dariush Mozaffarian, a

cardiologist and professor of medicine

Smoked

salmon and

scrambled

eggs

Walnuts

Potatoes

Cranberry sauce