In a new study, researchers found that short-term increases in sugar consumption could increase the risk of bowel disease and have a big impact on people’s health.
They found increased susceptibility to chemically induced colitis and more severe symptoms after only two days of a high-sugar diet.
The results echo what many patients with colitis have been saying for a long time: small changes in their diet can make their symptoms flare-up.
The research was conducted by a team at the University of Alberta.
It’s been previously shown that the type of diet that you are on can change your susceptibility to disease.
In the study, the team wanted to know how long it takes before a change in diet translates into an impact on health.
They found that fiber-rich foods act as fuel for the “good” bacteria that live in the gut and produce short-chain fatty acids, which are critical for an efficient immune response.
Eating high-sugar diets and decreasing the intake of fiber feeds “bad” microbes, such as E. coli, that are associated with inflammation and a defective immune response.
The study showed that the mice on the high-sugar diet had greater intestinal tissue damage and a defective immune response.
These problems were alleviated when their diet was supplemented with short-chain fatty acids normally produced by good bacteria.
The study shows that short-term sugar consumption can really have a detrimental impact, and so this idea that it’s OK to eat well all week and indulge in junk food on the weekend is flawed.
Follow-up studies could pave the way to possibly using short-chain fatty acids as dietary supplements.
The team also showed that just two days on the high-sugar diet and the absence of short-chain fatty acids caused an increase in gut permeability, opening interesting research on how diet may affect the bacteria in our gastrointestinal tract and brain health.
The lead author of the study is Karen Madsen.
The study is published in Scientific Reports.
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