Health
Unlock the Secret: How Protein Pacing Diets Boost Health Through Gut Bacteria
Intermittent fasting and protein pacing have steadily gained popularity as weight loss strategies. Recent research indicates these diets might also promote a more diverse gut microbiome, potentially explaining some of their success. Prior studies have drawn links between the mix of bacteria residing in our gut and our propensity to gain weight. These latest findings offer fresh insights into how we can potentially manipulate our gut bacteria to maintain healthy body weight.
The experts leading the research, a study primarily financed by Isagenix, a nutrition supplement company, believe their discoveries will help us better understand how our gut microbiome adjusts in response to alterations in our eating patterns. This reflects the constraints imposed by both intermittent fasting and protein pacing diets on what and when we consume food.
“To maintain a stable community and ecosystem, the gut microbiome must regulate its growth rate and diversity in response to nutrient availability and population density,” says Alex Mohr, a microbiome researcher at Arizona State University and co-author of the study.
The research enlisted 41 overweight or obese volunteers who followed either a calorie-restrictive Mediterranean-style diet based on American dietary guidelines or a combined regimen of intermittent fasting and protein pacing (IF-P) for two months. The premise of a protein pacing diet is to regulate protein intake at specified meals, while intermittent fasting restricts food intake to particular periods on some days.
Compared to the calorie-limited diet, the IF-P diet offered about 250-300 additional calories per non-fasting day but also incorporated more protein by gram during those periods. After eight weeks, stool tests revealed that those on the IF-P diet hosted a more varied collection of microbiota compared to their counterparts.
While the effects differed among individuals, overall, the IF-P group reported fewer gastrointestinal issues and lost more visceral fat, the body fat that poses the riskiest metabolic health threats, including diabetes and heart disease.
Moreover, those following the IF-P diet displayed several biological changes correlated with weight loss, such as an increased count of the gut bacteria found in leaner body types, such as Christensenellaceae, and a higher concentration of proteins and protein fragments related to various facets of weight loss.
“This novel work provides insight into the gut microbe and metabolomic profile of participants following an IF-P or calorie-restricted diet and highlights important differences in microbial assembly associated with weight loss and body composition responsiveness,” the researchers observe. They note, however, that the study was relatively small, and larger trials are necessary to confirm the findings.
Nevertheless, the results suggest that specific diets might aid in reshaping the gut, thus assisting in weight management. Obesity, which affects over a billion people globally, is a major health concern, leading to several other issues, including increased cardiovascular risks and certain cancers.
Fortunately, the enhanced gut microbe diversity observed in the IF-P group correlates with other benefits besides weight loss, such as improved digestive health and a more robust immune system.
“These findings shed light on the differential effects of intermittent fasting regimens, including intermittent fasting and protein pacing as a promising dietary intervention for obesity management and microbiotic and metabolic health,” the team concludes.
The study is published in Nature Communications.
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