Berlin, Jan 14 (PTI) Eating muesli, fruits and vegetablesevery morning may lead to stronger bones and help preventarthritis, scientists say.
Researchers at Friedrich-Alexander-Universitat Erlangen-Nurnberg (FAU) in Germany discovered that a fibre-rich dietcan have a positive influence on chronic inflammatory jointdiseases, leading to stronger bones.
The key to the effect our diet has on our health areintestinal bacteria, researchers said. Every adult carriesabout two kilogrammes of benign bacteria in their intestines.
They help our digestion by breaking fibre down into itsindividual components, which can then be absorbed by the body.
A by-product of this process are short-chained fattyacids which are important for the body, providing energy,stimulating intestinal movement and having an anti-inflammatory effect.
The intestinal bacteria also fight against pathogenswhich have found their way into the gastrointestinal tract. Itis known that intestinal flora can either protect againstillness or cause illness, depending on its composition.
In the study published in the journal NatureCommunications, researchers showed that it is not theintestinal bacteria themselves, but rather their metaboliteswhich affect the immune system and therefore have a knock-oneffect on autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis.
How intestinal bacteria and the immune system communicateis still unclear, and scientists are still unsure about whatmay be done to have a positive effect on the bacteria.
The researchers focused on the short-chain fatty acidswhich are formed during the fermentation processes caused byintestinal bacteria.
These fatty acids can be found, for example, in the jointfluid and it is assumed that they have an important effect onthe functionality of joints.
Scientists showed that a healthy diet rich in fibre iscapable of changing intestinal bacteria in such a way thatmore short-chained fatty acids are formed.
"We were able to show that a bacteria-friendly diet hasan anti-inflammatory effect, as well as a positive effect onbone density," said Mario Zaiss, who led the study.
"Our findings offer a promising approach for developinginnovative therapies for inflammatory joint diseases as wellas for treating osteoporosis, which is often suffered by womenafter the menopause," said Zaiss.
"We are not able to give any specific recommendations fora bacteria-friendly diet at the moment, but eating mueslievery morning as well as enough fruit and vegetablesthroughout the day helps to maintain a rich variety ofbacterial species," he said. PTI MHNMHN.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.